Flea infestation!! HELP!

[LexsPeeps]

We are at our wits end with fleas! We have tried just about everything we could think of, frontline, home foggers, flea collars, bathing every 2-3 days, diotomecous earth, baking soda, salt, the list goes on and on...
We have 6 dogs and 3 cats so it gets pretty tedious and back aching to give 9 baths every 2-3 days for them to begin scratching again within 20 minutes of a medicated bath, not to mention frustrating.
Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with these evil creatures that not only reek havoc on our animals but us as well at night when we are sleeping

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You have to treat the environment, and vacuum. Fleas only feed on the host, they live in your carpeting or floor cracks. I would suggest treating everyone once again with a topical like frontline while treating the environment with a spray or I've had good luck with the carpet powders. You have to treat the environment for a few weeks to make sure you kill anything that hatches. Dispose of any vacuum bags as fleas can live in there, so changing them out often works too.

Otherwise I think if everyone is on a topical treatment for 6 months steady you should eventually eradicate the population, maybe.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have had no luck with frontline at all. I sprinkle the carpets with borax and some stuff i bought at the store. I really like the Ultraguard Plus spray for Cats i bought at Walmart. Kills fleas for 7 days, prevents eggs from hatching for a month. The thing is you have three things to deal with. 1) the fleas on the pet 2) the fleas in the house 3) the fleas in your yard. Unless you treat all three you will never win the war. We had no fleas here for quite a while, then a few and suddenly way too many. The cats are all indoors only so i blame it on the dogs for sharing. Bathing helps only to kill off the ones on the pet. As soon as the pets dry off the fleas in the house jump right back on. Good luck.

 

[LexsPeeps]

Thanks for sharing the advice, we have treated all 3 areas but still to no avail, they were dissapearing for a while then all of a sudden BAM they're back. Is the borax safe for cats to be around? I have also heard 7 dust helps on dogs but I'm not sure if its safe for cats.

 

[cassie]

You might try spraying the yard. To get rid of fleas you have to do a multi pronged approach. Bear in mind that fleas spend only part of their life cycle on the dog or cat. For control of fleas on the animal, I have had as much luck with a good flea powder as anything else. Be sure to apply the powder to the feet and up the legs because when fleas jump on the dog, they usually land of the legs first. Very frequent vacuuming of all carpets, floors, and upholstered furniture helps a lot, as does washing the pets' beds. Fleas breed in the carpets, pet bedding, and upholstered furniture. You will need some sort of insecticide in the vacuum bag, too.

 

[LexsPeeps]

See, thats the problem. I vaccum daily and have treated the yard frequently throughout the entire summer, along with treating the home and the pets, and they just won't go away something will seem to work for a while and then seem to stop working altogether. I haven't tried any carpet powder though only foggers, so the powder will be my next mission. We live very close to a wooded area, could they be coming from there? Or a neighbors yard? Although the neighbor is a fairly good distance away, but I do know they aren't the cleanest people or best pet owners. Does anyone know if 7dust or borax is safe for cats?

 

[cassie]

Borax would be safe but I don't know how effective it would be. There are products that interfere with the flea's reproductive and growth cycle. If all else fails, you may want to try an exterminator.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

See, thats the problem. I vaccum daily and have treated the yard frequently throughout the entire summer, along with treating the home and the pets, and they just won't go away something will seem to work for a while and then seem to stop working altogether. I haven't tried any carpet powder though only foggers, so the powder will be my next mission. We live very close to a wooded area, could they be coming from there? Or a neighbors yard? Although the neighbor is a fairly good distance away, but I do know they aren't the cleanest people or best pet owners. Does anyone know if 7dust or borax is safe for cats?

Rabbits and squirrels can carry fleas from yard to yard, so you are probably being reinvested. It might not be about eradication but management. Here it freezes hard each winter, so fleas aren't much of a problem.

 

[LexsPeeps]

Last winter it hardly got cold long enough to call it a winter, a vet said this year was going to be bad for fleas and ticks I would say she is right. Hardly got any snow too, which is unusual for our location. We have ALOT of squirrels around here, the dogs are constantly chasing them out of the yard. I will need to look into products that disrupt the growth cycle of fleas.

 

[pennyJo1960]

they have a whole house spray as long as it has "growth inhibitor" that was bombs and powders miss if you can take 1 or two to a vet get script for bravecto fluralaner chews
does not cost much more than frontline problem is getting a script from the vet we have five dogs 8 cats used advantage since it's inception now all of a sudden not working but the bravecto does