Fleas!

[Coffeemama7]

For those who do not use any pesticides, Diatomacious Earth is your best bet.
We have horses (4), rabbits (8), cats (barn?), dogs (8), ducks, (12) and chickens (over 100).

We use DE all over the yard, in the house, rubbed on the dogs and cats, in the barn and in the ducks pen.
It really works well. Neem oil also works well. We put a few drops on the animals after they have had a bath.

Good Luck!

 

[SourRoses]

I was just coming in search for an answer to ths same question. Our dogs have always been treated with flea drops.... living here in Florida.. this spring has been HORRIBLE! For fleas! We went from perfectly flea-less, to an infestation in a week or so! I spent 50 dollars at Petmeds trying a different flea drop bran... that one didn't do a darn thing.. combined with flea baths, vaccuming, constant laundry, borax, ect! 2 weeks later I woke up with more than one flea, in my bed.. and hoped onto Petmeds and spent a hundred dollars on another kind of flea drop, capstar, and Bio Spot carpet spray. It worked! I was so relieved.. the carpet spray and the capstar seemed to do a great job especially... and we gave baths the next day and scoured the house.. then sprayed every nook and cranny... It was a week of blessed peace!
Sure I had gotten rid of them.. and the dogs had been treated with advantix (over their body weight dose)... and lo and behold, Rosie comes in from playing frisbee with my mother.. and she was just swimming in fleas!

She got a bath and another capstar. I am so fustrated. I sprayed more spray everywhere. The 1 year old vaccum died last week from over-use. I can't afford another one. What on earth am I supposed to do? The dang things are everywhere!

I'm sorry, I'm ranting.

People keep talking about DE... I dunno

... If all my poison doesen't kill these genetically modified radioactive fleas... how is a little dehydration going to??

I am concerned too, about preventing the things getting started in on my chickens!

 

[Denab]

De works wonders..I also sprinkle It In my yard to help with the Fleas...Ticks on the other....we've got lots in our yard. Even after we spray the yard..... Nothing on my Birds though

 

[Dawneebird]

I am going to try DE today. I have been using Comfortis on my dogs and cats but I think they just pick up more fleas when they go outside. So today I am going to take up all the leaves and spread DE everywhere and maybe add a little Sevin! Ugh! I hate fleas!!

 

[Moose364]

I use Pyrethrin for Fleas and it works. don't be so quick to blame the dogs next door. yes they may have fleas but they came from somewhere, and if you use pine shavings or hay in the floor of your coop you may have the perfect breeding ground for fleas, they love a moist warm place to breed, and under hay and pine shaving is perfect. (I learned this the hard way) the biggest killer of fleas is direct sun,
I once had an Old man tell me back when he was younger at night you could drive by people's houses and see little small fires built all over the yard, he swore that they done it so the fleas would jump in the light and land in the fire, and thats how they controlled fleas back in the old days.
I know you can take a black light bulb put the light about 6" above a tray of water at night and they will jump to the light and drown in the water. and thats also a good way to check to see if you have them in the house. set it out before you go to bed and check in the AM and if you do just leave it out until you see no more fleas

 

[peaceisgreen]

dawn dish soap is also extremely effective at killing fleas and even roaches! you can dilute it in water and use it in a spray bottle or put a little in with your detergants

 

[JavaFrannyEaster]

I feel your pain. We have inside/outside critters (One dog and three cats with one of the cats being only an Inside cat and the other two prefer to be outside 98% of the time) and it's a pain.

One thing to note: Topical doesn't always solve the issue with your pets. Most flea prevention for pets only work AFTER the flea bites your pet. That's still time for the flea to hitch a ride where ever, as they don't always bite. We have flea collars and use a topical and we STILL have fleas. They're just not as bad on the poor babies. I've talked to the Vet and they even said that this is natural if there's a lot of fleas in the area. And in summer in southern Texas? You bet it's flea season.

And to note we:

1. Use flea topical on the animals.
2. Use flea collars on the animals.
3. When it's flea season they get bathed once every week to two weeks.
4. We vacuum every couple of days.
5. We treat the carpet and furniture with a flea spray.
6. We mop any areas without carpet with bleach every few days.
7. Once every week we strip the furniture that can be stripped and wash the covers. (This includes pet beds.)
8. Use a deep cleaning rug cleaner on the carpet at least twice a month.
9. Make sure there's not a bunch of stuff on the floor for hiding places.
10. Mothballs under furniture and in areas that doesn't see much light. (Careful with this one, our critters leave these alone on their own but there's plenty out there that will play with/eat these)

And during summer it can STILL feel like we aren't doing anything at all. Thankfully our chickens don't seem to be affected by the fleas. I've checked and they're very much flea free. (I'll admit, I'm a little jealous.)

Something that can help with this is to (sort of) treat your yard. If you have grass, fleas LOVE tall grass, grass clippings and leaf litter. This can provide the right environment for breeding. In the summer try to keep your grass fairly short and try to avoid leaving grass clippings if you can. This also helps to keep up with other pests, such as those pesky flying tree roaches that like to kamikaze your head or those sneaky scorpions that like to drop from your ceiling and onto the couch beside you to chill with you and your Netflix. (.... Okay, yes, I've had some experiences.)

Something you can do inside your house WHILE YOU ARE HOME (do not do leave this going while no one is there) is something my mother sent to me from YouTube. You need a desk lamp with a regular fluorescent bulb (It needs to produce heat), a plate or wide saucer of water and Dawn dish liquid. You pour a good amount of the soap into the water and stir it around to mix it until it turns blue. You don't want bubbles for this. Then you set this on the floor in an area you've been having issues with fleas and put a lamp over it. The fleas are drawn to the heat and they'll bounce off the lamp and land in the water, where they'll either sink or die from the soap.

As a note, you do really want to try and use Dawn dish soap. The stuff that cuts through grease? Their chemical formula also eats through the protective layer on fleas and sort of starts to 'melt' them. This is what kills them. It's also what we use to bathe our animals instead of flea shampoo. It does SO MUCH BETTER and it's safer on the cats. Plus it's cheaper.

I hope this all helps to at the very least lessen the infestation. It's a tough battle, especially when you live in neighborhoods and especially if you live in the southern areas where it can get REALLY hot.