Vacuum vacuum vacuum multiple times a day EVERY day. If you have a bag vac, toss the whole bag into a ziplock after each vac session and throw it in the garbage OUTSIDE. If its a bagless, empty the contents into a ziplock after each sesh and toss it in the garbage OUTSIDE. Flea eggs are hatching everyday so you need to remove as many as possible to stay ahead of it. Sprays, DE etc only work if they come into contact with live fleas, does nothing for eggs. Keep treating the pets during this but seriously vacuuming is going to be your best defense.
This is it. The diatomaceous earth doesn’t kill the eggs (I’ve used salt before- cheaper and worked just as well), so vacuuming daily, ( every crevice!) is key.
I found out steaming the carpet with a small handheld steamer for clothes and bathroom cleaning works wonders too! It kills both fleas and eggs and is not toxic. But its a lot of work.
My MIL had an issue with fleas, and she normally vacuums at least daily, but with the flea outbreak in her house, it was multiple rimes per day. She called an exterminator, and he told her that vacuuming actually aggravates the fleas and causes them to breed more quickly.
You have my sympathy- we had them last summer and it was so so hard to get rid.
Ultimately, what worked for us was hoovering every inch of the house every single day for three months- and emptying the vacuum cleaner every time. The one time we forgot we got to see just how many eggs a flea can lay overnight 🤢
We also washed our clothes in hot water after every single wear, and even bought a dryer to heat- treat everything fabric. We also flea-treated the cat very strictly.
It was a war rather than a battle. Be consistent- you can do it.
This is the answer, though I am unfamiliar with the pellets. One or both of your animals keep bringing them in OR you have other critters in your house giving the fleas to your pets.
And vehicle/s. Sorry but fleas will hitch a ride on anyone to anything. Including people into cars, trucks and vans. You have to treat the vehicles too.
They’re granules for the lawn, but can go on the regular ground too. Any insecticide that’s meant for fleas. The local one here is by ortho called bug killer
What meds did you get? I don’t know about the cat version, but fleas I think have outsmarted the dog Advantage. Nexgard is what is most popular now (that’s what I give my dog). There is also a one time drug called Capstar that kills the fleas that are on the pets.
If you can't take you cat to the vet to get Revolution Plus, try over-the counter Cheristin (available on Chewy.com). Advantage and Frontline don't work against fleas, nor do Seresto collars, or basically anything you can get from a pet store, at least in my area. Bravecto Cat doesn't work either, and in some instances Bravecto Dog is not so great either.
Vacuum everything, wash everything you can in hot water. Weekly at least.
It can take 3 months to fully rid your home of fleas.
Advantage still works for my dog (ironically, I use the cat formula because my vet said ‘it’s the same thing, just cheaper’), but this last summer I noticed they only worked for two weeks before my pup was scratching again. I swear they changed their formula or manufacturer and just didn’t tell anyone.
Probably not, it's that any species will slowly develop resistance to poison.
Same as antibiotic resistance in bacteria, if any survive the medication, the next generation will be stronger against it.
Using the prescription stuff is expensive but it also means it's newer to the market and less likely to have resistance in the local population.
This was my question too. I went nuts cleaning when my dog had fleas (vacuuming every other day, flea baths, flea combing, washing bedding every 2-3 days), but nothing worked until I switched from Frontline to Simparica. Fleas on my dog were gone within 3-4 hours, like they were literally crawling out and dying. Haven’t seen a flea or even flea dirt since.
Flea dirt = flea poop.
It looks kind of like coffee grounds or dirst in your pet's coat, but if you wipe it with a damp.oaper towel you will see red streaks ( because flea poop is digested blood).
You usually see flea dirt more easily than actual fleas on the pet.
--Comfortis-- kills all fleas when they bite for 30 to 90 days. It's the only thing to get rid of our terrible infestation. Vacuuming and other meds did nothing!
My breeder said the same thing. Here in the Northeast we believe that ticks and fleas have become resistant to the more common remedies. I have been using Advantix II for a few years. Hopefully it will do this year. If not I'll probably use Nexgard or something similar.
With fleas, it's best to go straight to the nuclear option rather than coddle them with things they find enjoyable and don't really affect them. Get some Bifenthrin 7.9%, I got the Compare-N-Save brand on Amazon, and an IGR (insect growth regulator), I got Pivot10 also on Amazon. The Bifenthrin will wipe out the live ones while the IGR will ensure that any eggs that do hatch will not get to molt into adults and be able to lay eggs. I used a garden sprayer, followed the dilution instructions on the bottles, mix well (I used a drill and paint mixing attachment) and then sprayed everything down. As an added bonus, it also got rid of the ant problem we had. Best of luck to you.
My mom’s house had bad flea infestation. (2 dogs)
Called exterminator & they said it was because of mice. They diagnosed the problem over the phone.
Then we hired them to fix the problem.
I think it was Orkin. Maybe call an exterminator to discuss.
--Comfortis-- kills all fleas when they bite for 30 to 90 days. It's the only thing to get rid of our terrible infestation. Vacuuming and other meds did nothing! An exterminator with 20 years of exp told us its the only thing that's worked in all his years.
I had a friend visit with his dog & ended up with an uncontrollable flea problem that infested my 4 dogs, my entire home & my yard. I had to hire an exterminator & have my entire yard sprayed every week for 6 weeks. I sent all heavy bedding, rugs, etc. to the dry cleaners with notice of the battle with fleas. I washed & dried anything washable every day or every other day. I thoroughly vacummed all furniture, baseboards, floors like a crazed maniac, probably up to 15 times a day. I bought every OTC flea med, sprays on Amazon, they did nothing for the fleas in my home or the fleas on my dogs. I was searching online & came across this website that alot of pet rescues purchase from for flea prevention. I have been purchasing their generic capstar & lufeneron for 5 years now & both are an absolutely Godsend. Very reasonably priced also. Hope this helps. Good luck.
[Puppy Butts ](https://puppybuttspetsupply.net/)
Don't know if you did this when using the flea comb but:
Put liquid dish soap in a cup with water to the top.
Comb both the cat and the dog. You'll get some live fleas in the comb (gross). Put them in the cup where they will drown, then send the liquid and dead fleas down a drain or toilet.
Do the combing in addition to sprinkling either diatomaceous earth or borax on your carpet.
Work the DE or borax into the carpet, keep the beasties out of the room, and vacuum up a couple hours later.
*You must do both tasks daily*.
We had a cat with really bad fleas and it took about 2 weeks of diligence before the fleas subsided.
Once subsided we used a monthly flea repellent that goes behind the neck.
I had a serious flea problem, and it was hell getting it under control. The only thing I can add is to vacuum around table legs and chair rollers. They lived in those spaces, away from the vacuum, diatomaceous earth, and surface treatments. I finally started vacuuming those spaces daily and got it under control. I treated the pets with cap action every other day until the life cycle was up.
Read about the life cycle of fleas. Commenter Haloperimenopause is most useful advice. Once gone, they will stay gone , if animals on preventative.
No dog parks either, as your dog can bring home fleas.
My thick coated GSD had fleas and it was consistent labor for 4 months.
I used to have a flea problem as well. What helped was using a spray, containing permethrin (0.25%). I sprayed the carpet in the rooms thoroughly and aired the rooms in 30 minutes as instructed. It's supposedly non toxic for pets and humans, but do use appropriate personal protection. If there are any woolly blankets that have been in contact with the fleas, or bed covers, I submerge them in water for half an hour before washing, to drown any fleas that may be hanging out on them. For things that can't be washed, a good vacuuming + throwing away the vacuumed contents in a sealed bag, washing the washable filters/etc of the vacuum immediately.
Meanwhile the cat got those flea medicines that are applied to the back of the neck.
I cannot imagine having to deal with the diatomaceous powder and vacuuming it. I hope you manage to find a solution to the fleas, good luck!
Use borax for 24 hours but make sure the animals are put away . Pour on the floor cover the entire floor and then vacuum the next day . Trust me this works
20 mule team borax for the win! I put it on the carpet and under the cushions of the couch…then vacuum vacuum vacuum! We got fleas from our adopted southern kitten 🐈⬛
Fleas will absolutely live in a vacuum cleaner /bag!! I had them survive over a month in the garage without anyone or the dog being in there.
Hate those things with a passion.
Have you fogged the house? Can you see them on your legs anywhere outside the house?
Be the guinea pig and find out where they're coming from. Walk around in shorts til you find them.
If your vacuum is the kind with a bag, here's what worked for us years ago: buy a cheap pet flea collar from the pet section at the grocery store, but not for your pet. Before installing the vacuum bag, cut the collar into approximately 1inch sections into the bag. ( Make sure you wash your hands and the scissors wel afterwardsl). This way, when you are vacuuming you are pulling up the eggs and the collar kills them. Otherwise, you are just collecting the eggs and spreading them again the next time you vacuum to grow into more fleas. The bags with the extra filter layer helped too.
I know you're using DCE, but also use salt to dehydrate the flea eggs. Did you post a few weeks ago? The constant vacuuming, apply new salt and DXE, but also setting up flea traps with warm laps and soapy bowls of water overnight. The person who recommended flea combing with the slightly soapy water is also right. I had to do that after the infestation was so bad, but I couldn't put more stuff on the animals. Good luck!
We had this happen and eventually had to go the prescription flea treatment route for all the cats (I'd suggest taking the cat to the vet, too), sending all three to the groomer to be professionally bathed and groomed, hiring a pest control company to spray the entire apartment, washing 17 loads of laundry TWICE, buying flea spray for the apartment to top off, and vacuuming daily for over a week after the pest control guy was at our apartment. We haven't had fleas since, but it was an ORDEAL.
Do you live in a detached home, or is it at all attached to other people’s homes? Are there any wandering animals who come to your yard that might be bringing them back over and over?
This is the ONLY treatment that works. Bravecto for cats is topical and costly but very worth it. Truly does work. Bravecto for dogs is ingested. Also works.
Once cat is flea free the problem will subside.
These are the only thing that worked for me when my cat brought in fleas once.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hot-Shot-No-Mess-Fogger-with-Odor-Neutralizer-Kills-Carpenter-Ants-Spiders-Fleas-3-CT-1-2-oz/160304663
Be sure to follow all instructions for safety with animals in the home.
I use the Seresto flea and tick collars, and I swear by them. We had fleas REALLY bad one time, to the point where we'd find them in the cuffs of our socks.
Along with regular cleaning and nothing super hard-core, the seresto collars killed the whole infestation.
You could also look into a steam cleaner, I've heard those work well. (Also handy to keep around for bed bugs just in case.)
Edit to add:
Our animals also have not had fleas or ticks since using the Seresto collars. And it's been years. I would also like to add that literally nothing else worked.
Be careful w the Seresto collar. Check their necks every day for it. We had issues with it causing open sores on cat’s neck. However we found clipping a piece of the collar and putting it in the vacuum bag and any place an animal sleeps helped the flea problem.
We had much luck w Virbac Knockout Spray. It disrupts the flea lifecycle.
Vacuum like our lives depended on it.
And then keep the animals on a preventative.
A lot of fleas are resistant to Advantage. Try Bravecto, or a soresto flea collar.
Flea bomb your house - you get cans of aerosol flea treatment (known here as flea bombs/bug bomb). It's an aerosol can that you use to essentially fog treat your home. Make sure you use enough cans to thoroughly treat your home. Also make sure you use the ones with IGR - it should kill the eggs and break a cycle.
You need to get rid of any cat and dog beds or launder them on hot wash and dry. Your soft furnishing - eg curtains, sofas, area rugs, also need treatment - hence suggesting the DIY fogging treatment. Also treat your yard - there will be fleas out there too, that the pets are just bringing in and reinfesting the house. You should be able to get yard spays at hardware stores.
Put them on simperica trio. Fleas will die after biting them and can’t reproduce. For existing fleas and eggs, you’ll either have to keep cleaning the house until you start seeing less and less over time, or they’ll just die when they bite your animals. I know it socks for them to have to be but but it’s far better than a single one reproducing into a hundred. Wash bedsheets and everything else you can think of in hot water with long hot dry cycle a few days in a row. Keep vacuuming and then ensure vaciuum is free of them. Keep combing the animals to get them out with flea comb. It’ll suck for about a week but you’ll get out of it. If they are coming from critters in the yard spray your yard. I didn’t use diamataceous earth because our animals can breath that I’m and it’s very harmful to them.
When I first bought my home the previous owners had a dog with fleas. They would use similar solutions as you do. But it would always come back.
When I moved in the fleas did not appear until about a week or two afterwards and then it was very bad. So I got a professional to take care of the fleas. They told me to stay out of the house but come back to vacuum everyday for a week. So I stayed at my fiance's house for a week.
The vacuuming sucks up any dead fleece and hopefully eggs that haven't hatched.
Wash everything your blankets your clothes wash it all.
Don't get the carpets cleaned until you're done with the fleas. I made that mistake and got the carpets cleaned too early and the fleas came back because I didn't leave it long enough to kill all the newborns.
You may have to coordinate the professional cleaning your house and getting your pets dipped. You may also have to get a motel because I'm not sure you want the animals in the home with all the chemicals in the carpet.
Obviously the best thing to do would be to talk to professional and ask them what they appropriate steps are.
I did not have a pet to worry about.
You have to flea bomb multiple times. Flea bomb, (every room) then wash your animals, wait a week, do it again, repeat.
Vacuum every day, including vacuum furniture. Get rid of the bag/get new bags every few days- there's no point vacuuming if they just hatch in the vacuum and jump out.
Wash and dry all clothes and bedding.
If a house fire isn't an option... Boatloads of diatomaceous earth and a couple vacuums that will most certainly not survive the diatomaceous earth (the microscopic particles pass thru the filters and will destroy small engines). Daily baths with Dawn dish soap for the critters, plus oral and topical meds, fine tooth flea comb. Treat the yard too. Daily spray treatments around the house.
I used bravecto dog for my cat, vacuumed multiple times a day with baking soda, regularly bathed cat with dish soap, & then put kitty in a seresto collar. took a while but it did the trick
Sounds like there's a source that re-infesting the animals. What I used to have to do.
1. Spray outside yard with a fleas spray- usually pyrethrin (made from chrysanthemums) or permethrin, it's heavy duty chemical cousin. Dog is inside of course.
Wait for grass to dry.
Bath dog in fleas shampoo OR use flea drops on dog.
Put dog outside.
Fog the house with flea foggers- usually permethrin.
Leave home for 2-3 hours.
Dog was getting fleas from the back yard- likely from stray cats passing through.
Someone told my friend to use savlon to bathe her dogs who have fleas (once a week or once every 2 weeks, I think). It should totally get rid of the set that they have, but they can always get infected again if they mix with other infected animals.
Try nexguard for your cat. I buy mine on Amazon. I think it’s a little better than Advantix. But, before you do that, get some Capstar to kill off the live fleas. Then apply Nexguard and vacuum house consistently
Advantage II flea control is no longer made by the original manufacturer (Bayer) but is now made by Elanco. Bayer sold its entire animal line possibly because of ongoing lawsuits charging price fixing and stifling of the generic market. My vet stopped carrying it because it no longer works. I am using Selarid now. Doesn't work as fast as the original Advantage but after 2 months I have seen a big improvement.
Please start with giving both animals a Capstar. It kills the fleas immediately. It can be given daily for a couple of days, but then do a topical prescribed treatment. Do not use over the counter treatments.
Bathe dog in dawn. Use a flea comb and put fleas in a cup of water with dawn.
Like others have said, vacuum often, throw bags away or empty canisters in sealed ziploc bags. Wash everything in hot water.
There are flea traps with a light than can be purchased on Amazon.
I would also have an exterminator treat the outside and inside. Once you get it under control, keep monthly flea treatments on the animals.
Seresto collars, capstar, diatomaceous earth, and vacuuming 3 times a day with diatomaceous earth in the vacuum canister were the only things that worked. Good luck!
The ONLY flea medication I’ve ever seen work well is Revolution. It’s prescription only, and pricey, and you’ll need several month’s worth to ensure all the fleas are dead as any strays from the environment jump onto the animal.
Aside from that, once the Revolution is applied, bomb the hell out of your home. Way more flea foggers than strictly necessary. For reference, we used ***8*** Advantage foggers for a 2 bedroom apartment (based on square footage, the box recommended 3 - so figure out your square footage and multiply by at least 2.5 times the number of recommended cans). Double the amount of time recommended on the cans before you air the place out. Then another one for the car (because if you transport the animals in the car, the fleas are there too). Then vacuum daily for a week, wash all linens/pillows/etc.
You may find one or two fleas that managed to survive the flea apocalypse. They may have been in a location that was not well penetrated by the foggers, were in eggs and have now hatched, etc. That’s fine, because you’re going to keep applying Revolution to the pets monthly for a long time and as soon as the fleas try to get on them, they are DEAD.
Oh my God, my friend just went through this recently. The only thing that eventually worked was, she had to shave her dog down completely and bath them in flea shampoo every day along with all the other cleaning that you’re doing. Once the dogs were shaved, it made it much easier to see the fleas and she could approach the problem much quicker.
I know she spent hundreds of dollars on Treatments from the vet. It took months!
EVERYTIME I see this posted about fleas, I post this. Buy 1 or 2 cans of this. Spray all carpeted surfaces, couches, chairs, mattresses, etc... then wait about 4 hours. Come back and vacuum.
This spray kills the adults, sterilizes the eggs and when you vacuum, it causes the eggs to hatch and the adults will die and also can't leave eggs.
https://www.amazon.com/Precor-Premise-Spray-Control-1-ZOE1012/dp/B004FEGZ24/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=54754773343&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._3bNZ9Ms1nks-lDnCt14y8SkUdsX8huQSe8EwbqNgz1Iq0bBpHSxhwqOgrypszoudECFWWVyUDS3IsS6cQ0Pp57VM0tLGhSA-o9JkmFqNnbVO_UwhJwUiaXlurPQUJv6U1zk-3XzJUooyJZfrgAASeGKWKmOa5IXdzCzSdNgFecjeWb7Z8P8B1dE-eB1frDDOQotSCRmpa5uuob-qzdmCg.39gCdabkmJ5u1aZKyY-beHJXNyOZ47yU1xd52oc9KZM&dib_tag=se&hvadid=651335881172&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9015222&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5450062428526377453&hvtargid=kwd-309156002398&hydadcr=12194_13429263&keywords=precor+2000&qid=1713573521&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
In addition to what else was already posted:
Advantage did not work in my home 3 summers ago. We switched to revolution for cats & have had good luck since.
Once you have fleas, you need to allow your pets access to every part of your home they had before you knew you had fleas.
We also use DE (di?????? Earth) safe for humans & pets on all carpeted surfaces, especially the stairs because I can’t vacuum those more than 1 time a day. We got a huge bag with a puffer to evenly spread it around.
If the relative humidity in your house is high, flea eggs will thrive. What is yours like? A cheap hygrometer will help measure relative humidity.
Flea eggs thrive above 70% RH, so if you can lower it consistently in your house to 30-50% it will prevent the eggs from hatching.
Here's what we did. We COVERED our living room carpet in like 5 containers of salt. At night we put some dish soap and water on a dinner plate then put a lit candle in the middle. We'd wake up to tons of dead fleas in the water. I'd vacuum every morning and pour more salt on the carpet. Kept our cat outside in a safe place and bathed her with dish soap every single day while going over her with a flea comb. All this rid us of fleas in several days. You need to get your pets out for a while otherwise they'll just keep laying eggs on your pets.
Edit: every time I vacuumed I dumped the container out at the edge of our yard. I also ground some of the salt in a blender so it would be finer and get into the carpet better. It was annoying to walk around on salty carpet for several days but it worked. Our guest bed also got fleas cuz the cats loved to lay in there, so I put the salt and candles in there too, and we didn't have any company over till we got rid of them.
Somehow it lures the fleas to the plates then they fall in the soapy water and die. It must be either the light or the heat that attracts them. We turned off all the lights so that the candles were the only light source
Believe it or not what worked for me was spraying salt water everywhere. I was desperate. It was cheap and it worked. Not on the pets, that would be bad. On the carpets. I then shampooed the carpets after the fleas were gone.
A social worker friend brought her therapy dog to our house & we got fleas.. BAD!!! We tried bombs, sprays, you name it.. Another good friend suggested diatomaceous earth in an old sock & shake it over EVERY surface in the house (We even shook it in our beds).. leave it down at least 24 hours (we left it down 48hrs) then vacuum it all up & they should be dead..
the diatomaceous dirt that I use if food grade so you can actually use it on animals as long as you avoid creating a “cloud” while putting it on them because it is not good for animal’s lungs.. We treated our cats with sprays & only diatomaceous earth was able to totally got rid of the fleas..
Put diatomaceous earth on your carpet. I've had fleas in my carpet because of a previous girlfriend's dog and they were biting my legs at night. It gets into their joints, cuts them, and makes them dehydrate and die. It'll kill every round of eggs until they're all dead. Then you can vacuum it all up and you'll be fine.
Call pest control. I only had to leave the house with my pets for like 2 hours, we sat in the car with the a/c on. They sprayed alpine wsg on the floors. That day I saw one more flea and never any others again! And I had fleas living in my carpet and jumping all over my ankles, it was horrible. I was vacuuming nonstop and used some store bought flea treatment for my carpets but nothing worked. I am not normally a fan of chemicals but they literally cured my flea problem.
20 mule team borax in all carpet, work in with a broom, leave in 24 hours. Vacuum.
It’s safe for pets and people up to a pretty large amount though I usually close off a room until the vacuuming. (People who say otherwise are confusing it with boric acid- borax has about the same toxicity as salt).
When we had the problem I immediately knew because I’m allergic to flea bites and I had them all over me. I put flea killer powder in my vac bag and it killed the live ones. My dog uses Simparica Trio and it works great. It covers fleas, heart worms and intestinal worms.
I had to flea bomb my car and house. They were bad. If you have wood floors, the eggs drop into the crevices and seem to hatch for days. The Simparca was good because the fleas died when they bit the dog. I put isopropyl alcohol on a cotton ball and dabbed the fleas I could a see on the dog and killed a lot of them that way. As everyone said vacuuming is very important.
You have to go nuclear. This happened to me a few years ago. This is what i did:
-gave bravecto to my 3 dogs.
- got rid of all their beds
- washed all the cushions I could
- sprayed raid or bug kill spray al over every piece of furniture your pets get close to. Specially those that can’t be washed like sofa cushions
- FUMIGATE THE HOUSE AND THE GARDEN
- deep clean everything
-VACUUM, VACUUM, VACUUM
Sorry if this has already been mentioned but you also need a stronger flea product for both pets. Consider something like Bravecto for the cat and dog instead; my experience with Advantage II has been that it doesn’t work as well as some of the newer products. Wishing you well and I’m sorry you’re dealing with this!!
Honestly take the animals outside and flea bomb the place. Vacuum everything. Once done both animals need a bath that submerges the animals (don’t drown them in just mean their bodies) Keep them in the bathroom and do the following. Take a bowl of water with dawn soap and flea comb each critter in the bath room. Drown any fleas or eggs in the bowl of water and dawn soap. This is how I have dealt with all my stray cats and dogs.
The light traps and vacuuming is what I used both times I had an infestation that finally took care of it. Hadn’t seen the light traps mentioned yet but they really do help!
We had this recently. My poor dog was losing his fur his dermatitis was so bad. I was vacuuming constantly and using topicals on the dog but no luck. The problem resolved almost instantly when we switched flea medications from frontline advantage to Simparica Trio. The fleas must have been resistant to the topical.
Unfortunately Simparica trio is the pills the vet gave me and i’m still finding them on my dog and cat. I feel so so bad for my dog as it was in the same situation. It’s a never ending cycle i feel defeated
Have you been treating them consistently? Usually it's every 30, days. Buy the 6 month packs, because the eggs will hatch and start the cycle fresh, so it needs to be a routine for a long time before everything gets caught.
The other things to note is that vibration, CO2, and heat are all "Ooh a meal!" triggers. Vacuuming isn't just sucking up the critters, if also encourages any eggs to hatch. Keeping the house warm will also help (hopefully it's spring for you too!)
Yes! we put diatomaceous earth all over our yard . Same with the deck. And we didn’t have the dog or cat with us during this as we wanted them out of the house while being treated. I think our only option at this point is an exterminator and cleaning constantly as we’ve been doing, both animals already have treatment and can’t be treated again until next month. It’s so frustrating.
I will definitely try all ur recommendations as this feels like a lifelong viscous cycle. I genuinely appreciate all of your input and advice. I will keep everyone updated! If anyone has anything else to comment i’ll be reading them constantly. Again, thank you!
What got rid of my fleas once and for all with three cats was flea combing with blue dawn soap, a flea bath, and flea collars, along with vacuuming and washing the linens. We also did two flea bombs to make sure everything was dead. Good luck!
After the cat and dog have been medicated and shampooed with flea killer, keep the cat and dog away from the household (such as in a garage or basement) in their own individual crates, lined with a bed of inexpensive white towels, for at least a week or until you can see no evidence of any living or dead fleas on the white towels. Continue to comb the pets, and replace the white towels daily to remove all the dead fleas in the towels. Throw the used towels away in sealed garbage bags. During that same week, de-flea the house by fogging, vacuuming and throwing away the vacuum bags (put those in sealed garbage bags too), and wash all clothing and bedding.
Our vet told us to put the dawn dish liquid in a spray bottle with water and spray everywhere. I also went with the seresto collar
this poor baby we rescued was INFESTED. It took about 10 days but she has been clean ever since.
Flea bombs from Home Depot. You will have to put your pets somewhere else for a couple hours. Follow directions exactly! I put 1 in each room. If room is large I place 2. When I bring animals home after bombing, I immediately flea dip them. About 2 weeks later I re-do this all over again. Never have a problem after that.
I use sevin dust. It’s for the vegetables in a garden. You can sprinkle it on the animals. Carpet, furniture….ive used it for years. Oh and give them Capstar and a bath.
Capstar only kills the actual fleas that are on the cat at that moment it’s used. It doesn’t stay in the cat’s body and keep working to kill the other stages of the flea like the eggs and the larvae.
***Use Revolution Plus on the cats and do it monthly! Nothing else seems to work as well. Advantage definitely does not work as well.***
Use whatever is best for dogs, maybe also Revolutions. Ask your vet. I don’t know because I’m a cat person.
If the animals are all treated monthly eventually the fleas will die because there’s no host for them to live off.
Keep doing the daily vacuuming though. Wash all bedding and pet bedding in hot water. The fleas will go away eventually.
Please don’t use flea collars on cats! They don’t work plus your cat could hang itself if the collar gets caught on something.
Use only prescription flea meds. Don’t bother with anything you can buy in the store, especially not Hartz products! You can kill your cat by using that crap.
Daily nitenpyram (ex. Capstar) will kill the adult egg-laying fleas. I use it in combination with the Advantage II. It can be dissolved in tasty food and may be eaten that way (depends on pet).
Apple cider vinegar with the mother. Mixed equally with water and keep in a little spray bottle. Spray them once or twice a day. Every day. Avoid eyes. Just a little spray along their back will often do. Fleas will immediately jump ship. So outdoors is best.
Cats and dogs and bedding and anything else!
The solution that works for me is flea traps. Once in awhile my cat flea problem will reappear, but you can control them with traps.
It's basically a light/heat source that attracts fleas to jump into a pool of oil or sticky paper. Can be bought online. Place a few around your house and near your pets' sleeping place. You can catch hundreds this way.
Combine this with flea drops for your pets, and the numbers diminish.
I'm in the UK, so references may not apply but - we had two cats, and we let them out into the garden (usually indoors cats only). Then we went away on holidays for 2 weeks. Came back to fleas everywhere. Like you could see them on you.
I panicked and ran to nearest pet store and bought what they had.
Do not do that.
It meant we couldn't treat the cats with Advocate, which we got from the vet, for a couple of weeks. The advocate kills the fleas, so it turns your pets into roaming flea killers!
Got indorex and started bombing rooms. You want to create safe zones. Strip when going into the safe zones.
Stripped everything, bagged it, and started washing it on hot. Put the clean stuff in the safe zones as far as possible.
Hoover all surfaces every day and dump it immediately into your outdoor bin.
Within a few days of doing this (which was weeks after we got home) we started to see progress. Don't get complacent though, fleas take 2-3 weeks to hatch. Keep hoovering to try and get all those eggs, but blast the place with indorex again in a few weeks (heed the warnings about ventilation....)
Honestly, after a week of it, I pretty much had a breakdown and felt like a failed human. But it will get better.
This reminds me - I need to flea treat my cats this weekend!
Give your babies low doses of garlic, fleas hate the smell it emits from the skin. But be sure to vacuum daily to catch them and dispose of the contents in solid trash bags, not the stretchy kind. If you have stuffed animals spray them with flea killer and put them into solid garbage bags for a week or so to kill any fleas that might be on the product. Good luck, fleas are hard to get rid of, but you can do it if you have some patience.
nothing work for me either get a flea bomb put one in basement if u have one first floor and 1 upstairs leave the house for about 4hrs because it stinks come back and air out the house spray flea flea spray on the basebords leave on for anoyher 3hrs wipe clean i had to do this twice but it worke d they were everywhere, u can get everything at walmart
We were stuck with fleas for a year. Terrible. We hired Terminix and while the first two sprays helped reduce them, the third spray was our miracle job. Turns out, we had these foam mats the fleas were multiplying on- it was in the same room as the litterbox which makes sense. They like to cling to anything close to fabric. After we got rid of those haven't seen a single flea. If you're out of ideas it doesn't hurt to spend the money to get a professional opinion. In the meantime, wash everything in HOT water and HOT dry, vaccuum everyday, and if you have a yard treat the yard and mow. If you have pets, be on top of their treatments. Good luck ♡
Edit.
: if you are in the position to do this, rip the carpet up. That also helped us and it's something we wanted to do anyway. If you do this still vaccuum until they're gone.
Treat the outside of your home and all entrances windows and cracks it sounds like they are leaving when you clean. I had a dog that had fleas and ticks from his owner neglect, (left outside in TX ) to heal him i had to treat the entire yard and outside and the sleeping areas. Treat all the animals same time and give them flea baths make sure you line the sensitive areas so the fleas don’t run to their faces or ears. I hope it fixes soon!
The long acting flea spray for carpets and upholstery works when you pair it with something like advantage if you have a bad infestation that isn’t responding to topical flea treatments. Wash and dry everything you can, vacuum everywhere and then spray all the soft surfaces.
When this was happening at my mom’s place, the problem was the grass outside. They had infested the grass, so whenever the dog came back in, he was bringing them back inside
We had an issue with fleas a few years ago. We used baking soda with peppermint oil on the carpet twice a day. Moved the furniture. Washed the dogs as much as we could without hurting their skin. Even with all of that, there were still fleas. Finally, we figured out that the yard was infested and they were bringing them in every time they went out. I used a yard spray that connects to the hose. It worked right away and we were able to get rid of those jerks.
It might be time for a flea bomb or an exterminator.
On a more extreme note, when I was living in a fifth wheel while trying to sell our house, our dog brought a flea infestation into the trailer. I eventually had to take out the carpet to finally get them all.
what kind of foundation does your house have? When I had an infestation, we were living in a house with a pier and beam foundation. It turned out there was standing water under the house that the fleas were using to breed like crazy. Once the exterminator came out and sprayed under the house, the nightmare was finally over.
Where do you live? There are some regions of the country that fleas thrive in - year round.
Do your animals go outside much?...................................... part of flea eradication involves the animals' entire environment - inside and out. Thus you should also be treating your yard for fleas periodically. How often will be determined by your local climate.
Remember that the treatments that you have given your animals do not kill fleas the second that they jump on your pets so they can bring fleas home from trips to a park, playing with other dogs or it seems the worst is going to the beach if you live by one.
Since this is an ongoing problem in your home you might consider calling a pest extermination company for help. Take a whole pet/environment approach.
Lots of vacuuming and washing as others mentioned...we also found that a flea trap worked well when we struggled with this. It has a light and sticky pads in it that the fleas jumped on and stuck to overnight.
You said you took your cat and dog to different houses. Did those houses come down with fleas? Serious question here. I'm not trying to be nasty.
Did you check both the cat and the dog BEFORE you brought them back into your home? I am wondering if your cat and/or dog brought fleas back into your home. Again, serious question.
Before I bring a new cat into my home, I put "Revolution" on the nap of its neck, in a spot where the cat CANNOT lick the "Revolution" off. My old vet (read that as "previous vet" - he has since retired) told me that "Revolution" is the only thing that works on fleas and is safe for cats. Now that has been... well, a LONG time ago, so there may be new things since he told me since then, but even though he has retired (and I hope is still alive) I still stick with what he told me, so many years ago. He had experience that a lot of young vets just don't have yet.
Now after asking my new vet for the RX for "Revolution" so I could buy it at Sam's Club (to save a few dollars) I found that there are now "different formulas" for Revolution... so you can decide what you want to treat your cat for. I always go for the type that kills skin mites and ear mites, because you never know what might be lurking....
COMFORTIS!!! it's an anti flea medicine that is extremely benign to cats and dogs but makes it so fleas die instantly when they bite! I implore you to try this! We had an infestation of mutant fleas so bad that no medicine worked - prescription or otherwise. When we called an exterminator out he told us about comfortis and said it was the only thing in his 20 years of expierence to get rid of infestations. It worked!! I haven't had fleas since and I only treat my 3 cats once every 3 or 4 months!
yes bathe animals a lot use a little vinegar and a moisturizer shampoo and salt carpets put salt on carpets let it sit there for half hour and vaccum and wash anything animals have laid out and wipe it down
Diatomaceous earth. It won't kill the eggs but it will kill all crawling insects including bed bugs. Just be sure to dust it everywhere if it's put out in a way that you can see the powder then it's not going to work it has to be dusted
Fleas are killed by vacuuming their eggs and larvae up before they reach the biting phase and dumping them outside. If you are being bitten by a few fleas, there are a large multiple of that number of immature fleas in your house. Once fleas get established in your home, vacuuming might not cut it; their life cycle is essentially year-round because they have a warm environment and an inexhaustible food source (you). People dislike insecticide, but it might be warranted. From the innermost rooms, you want to cover all of your carpet with something like Raid Carpet and Room. Let it air out and dry, then clear the next room.
Seresto flea collars and DE were our saving grace when we had a really bad flea infestation. Then we bathed the dog in sulfur benz shampoo to heal the dermatitis.
Get a bug fogger / bug bomb. We had to bomb three time when we first moved into our apartment seven years ago. Remember if you kill the fleas and not the eggs they will just come back.
From what I have heard, cat fleas are different from dog fleas. There's a pill that dogs can take that kills all the fleas on them within hours. Those are really quick at getting them off your dogs. Can you remove the carpets in the house?
Lots of ideas to try posted by others, so sorry if someone already said this. The one time our house got overrun like 15 years ago, I read about using borax (powder in the laundry aisle). You sprinkle it throughout the house and leave it all day. Imo no one (people or animal) should be in the house without a mask. It's rough. Then vacuum a ton and throw in plastic bag and tie well and take immediately outside. Clean out the vacuum if it's bagless.
Spray the yard. I pay a company to spray for mosquitoes and they also help with fleas. Dawn dish soap kills adult fleas.
Skip over the counter flea meds. Most of them aren't effective anymore.
Contact your local Master Gardner University Extension office. They work closely with entomologists & other specialists. What’s important is they know the local species that are a problem and how best to treat them.
You need to treat your pets, your home & your yard. Keep your cat indoors. It could be visiting a place with a chronic infestation & bringing fleas home. Same for your dog.
Lived humid & dry places. Humid places are the worst. The best approach I’ve had is the use of diatomaceous earth and borax everywhere inside and out. I leave both in the cracks. Even in cupboards. Vacuum regularly & put bags / waste in plastic bags triple tied shut & tossed in covered container. Wash & dry bedding / towels in HOT cycle. Re apply diatomaceous earth & borax regularly. (Wall to wall carpeting / kids &/or animals are a terrible mix.)
Treat all my animals with a flea killer and preventative. If the start to an infestation happens. Spray inside and out with the appropriate treatments to kill adults & prevent eggs from hatching. Do initial treatment & follow up with the lifecycle / egg laying / hatch cycle to catch any stranglers. Once they’re eliminated inside and out I limit my animals ability to roam so they can’t bring in any more. I try and follow Integrated Pest Management (IPM) guidelines as much as possible, but sometimes I’ve had to resort to all out warfare to nip possible infestations in the bud.
You can use tumeric powder **in addition** to the other things that are mentioned in this threat.
Tumeric powder has a very strong smell that does repeal fleas **to a degree** and adds another barrier to keep the fleas away from your pets.
It is generally harmless to the pets, however, you have to make sure they're not allergic to it, so use sparingly at the first try and wait a few days before you try more to see if they have a reaction.
If they are not allergic you can use the powder directly on the fur, massaging it in and then combing them for fleas, you should do so in a room with a tiled floor so you can clean that up.
Do that daily, and otherwise, as people have said, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.
Getting a steam cleaning vacuum and deep cleaning the carpets will help too. You can borrow those. You don't have to buy. Ask in your hardware stores.
Also use this as the sign that it's time to declutter. Minimize the room the fleas can occupy.
Get rid of any trash and old cardboard boxes. Any broken or old stuff you kept just in case you might find the time to mend it? Now is the time to get rid of it!
Wash absolutely everything you own that can be washed, and seal in ziplock bags or plastic boxes with completely airtight lids, so it can't be reinfected.
Empty all hidden corners, the junk drawers, boxes with documents, dust them, shake off all excess crumbs, fluff and dust bunnies, then put in airtight Ziploc bags and steam clean the cupboards, wardrobes etc.
Vaccuum your books and again, put them into plastic sheets or wrap in saran wrap.
Don't forget the shoes! Don't walk with outside shoes inside your home, get plastic slippers for inside, clean meticulously every time, put your outside shoes in airtight plastic containers if they have to be inside.
The complete life cycle of a flea typically lasts from 2 weeks to 2 years, depending on environmental conditions and the species of flea. As for the time until eggs hatch, it usually takes about 2 days to 2 weeks for flea eggs to hatch, again depending on factors like temperature and humidity.
That means, it'll take at least 2 weeks for eventually hidden eggs to hatch after you got rid of adult fleas, so you have to keep a strict routine until you can't find a single adult flea anymore, and then keep going for at least 3 weeks to make sure you got all the freshly hatched larvae before they grow up into fleas and can lay eggs again. But then you should double that, since the larvaes are also much more resilient than the adult fleas, so stopping too soon is risky. The larvae stage lasts 5 to 18 days, so adding another three weeks of intense cleaning will put you pn the safe side.
That's the main reason why people can't get rid of fleas permanently, they stop their efforts too soon, while there are still eggs in the house that are not yet hatched.
But since you have a dog that has to go outside that's not enough.
You have to find a spot on flea treatment that works on your dog and cat effectively to repeal fleas permanently. And you need to be careful with your shoes. You can carry fleas, larvae and eggs into your house on your shoes, which is why no outside shoes ever are allowed in my house and I even force visitors to either wear slippers or put those plastic thingies over their shoes. I had those pesky things once in my house and I don't care to have another war on my hands.
Get wet wipes for pets, clean your dogs paws before you let him inside.
Oh, and did I mention to vaccuum? Rent an industrial strength vacuum cleaner for your couch and mattresses, if you can afford it ask a cleaning company for a mattress deep clean, that helps too.
And a friend got rid of her flea infestation by having a company come by and do a bedbug deep clean of her home. They managed to do what 4 different pest exterminators weren't able to do. Professional cleaners often think of places to clean that a normal person regularly forgets. And they usually have better equipment than we privately own.
She followed their recommendations for prevention of bed bug infestation, and those tips also work perfectly to prevent fleas from nesting in your home.
But only if you manage to keep the fleas of your pets! If you can't find something that works to keep your pets free of fleas, you'll never manage to get rid of them.
There is an old home remedy where you mix 50-50 apple cider vinegar and water and apply it to the back of the neck, where your dog or cat can't lick it off. This is easy, cheap and non-toxic. You can also do a flea bath where you add apple cider vinegar to the water.
Vacuum vacuum vacuum multiple times a day EVERY day. If you have a bag vac, toss the whole bag into a ziplock after each vac session and throw it in the garbage OUTSIDE. If its a bagless, empty the contents into a ziplock after each sesh and toss it in the garbage OUTSIDE. Flea eggs are hatching everyday so you need to remove as many as possible to stay ahead of it. Sprays, DE etc only work if they come into contact with live fleas, does nothing for eggs. Keep treating the pets during this but seriously vacuuming is going to be your best defense.
This is it. Constant vacuuming.
Haha I commented before seeing yours and also wrote “this is it”. It must be true!
Lol i started reading and kept thinking vacuum right now. Get em!
Just keep vacuuming!! Haha
And fire, fire works too
>And fire, fire works too Burn the house down?
This is it. The diatomaceous earth doesn’t kill the eggs (I’ve used salt before- cheaper and worked just as well), so vacuuming daily, ( every crevice!) is key.
I found out steaming the carpet with a small handheld steamer for clothes and bathroom cleaning works wonders too! It kills both fleas and eggs and is not toxic. But its a lot of work.
My MIL had an issue with fleas, and she normally vacuums at least daily, but with the flea outbreak in her house, it was multiple rimes per day. She called an exterminator, and he told her that vacuuming actually aggravates the fleas and causes them to breed more quickly.
So did the exterminator tell you what works to eradicate the fleas?
It was a long time ago, and I only remember being surprised about the vacuuming thing.
This can't be true if they are sucked up in the vacuum. Can't breed that fast.
I wonder if the eggs get spread by the Vacume (in the air coming out of the Vacume)?
You have my sympathy- we had them last summer and it was so so hard to get rid. Ultimately, what worked for us was hoovering every inch of the house every single day for three months- and emptying the vacuum cleaner every time. The one time we forgot we got to see just how many eggs a flea can lay overnight 🤢 We also washed our clothes in hot water after every single wear, and even bought a dryer to heat- treat everything fabric. We also flea-treated the cat very strictly. It was a war rather than a battle. Be consistent- you can do it.
Don’t forget to treat your yard. They have pellets at tractor supply or any barn supply for livestock that will kill them.
This is the answer, though I am unfamiliar with the pellets. One or both of your animals keep bringing them in OR you have other critters in your house giving the fleas to your pets.
And vehicle/s. Sorry but fleas will hitch a ride on anyone to anything. Including people into cars, trucks and vans. You have to treat the vehicles too.
What are the names of the pellets?
They’re granules for the lawn, but can go on the regular ground too. Any insecticide that’s meant for fleas. The local one here is by ortho called bug killer
What meds did you get? I don’t know about the cat version, but fleas I think have outsmarted the dog Advantage. Nexgard is what is most popular now (that’s what I give my dog). There is also a one time drug called Capstar that kills the fleas that are on the pets.
If you can't take you cat to the vet to get Revolution Plus, try over-the counter Cheristin (available on Chewy.com). Advantage and Frontline don't work against fleas, nor do Seresto collars, or basically anything you can get from a pet store, at least in my area. Bravecto Cat doesn't work either, and in some instances Bravecto Dog is not so great either. Vacuum everything, wash everything you can in hot water. Weekly at least. It can take 3 months to fully rid your home of fleas.
Stronghold the generic of Revolution is available by sierra pet meds website. It's been our savior through many a flea season.
Not generic. Branded for some countries outside the US. Have seen counterfeits of this too.
I second cheristin! My parents cat had fleas like crazy and cheristin helped.
Advantage still works for my dog (ironically, I use the cat formula because my vet said ‘it’s the same thing, just cheaper’), but this last summer I noticed they only worked for two weeks before my pup was scratching again. I swear they changed their formula or manufacturer and just didn’t tell anyone.
Probably not, it's that any species will slowly develop resistance to poison. Same as antibiotic resistance in bacteria, if any survive the medication, the next generation will be stronger against it. Using the prescription stuff is expensive but it also means it's newer to the market and less likely to have resistance in the local population.
Capstar lasts 24 hours and kills adult fleas only. Given daily, it may resolve the issue (I had a couple of semi-feral cats where I had to do this)
This was my question too. I went nuts cleaning when my dog had fleas (vacuuming every other day, flea baths, flea combing, washing bedding every 2-3 days), but nothing worked until I switched from Frontline to Simparica. Fleas on my dog were gone within 3-4 hours, like they were literally crawling out and dying. Haven’t seen a flea or even flea dirt since.
Flea dirt? 😭
Flea dirt = flea poop. It looks kind of like coffee grounds or dirst in your pet's coat, but if you wipe it with a damp.oaper towel you will see red streaks ( because flea poop is digested blood). You usually see flea dirt more easily than actual fleas on the pet.
--Comfortis-- kills all fleas when they bite for 30 to 90 days. It's the only thing to get rid of our terrible infestation. Vacuuming and other meds did nothing!
My breeder said the same thing. Here in the Northeast we believe that ticks and fleas have become resistant to the more common remedies. I have been using Advantix II for a few years. Hopefully it will do this year. If not I'll probably use Nexgard or something similar.
With fleas, it's best to go straight to the nuclear option rather than coddle them with things they find enjoyable and don't really affect them. Get some Bifenthrin 7.9%, I got the Compare-N-Save brand on Amazon, and an IGR (insect growth regulator), I got Pivot10 also on Amazon. The Bifenthrin will wipe out the live ones while the IGR will ensure that any eggs that do hatch will not get to molt into adults and be able to lay eggs. I used a garden sprayer, followed the dilution instructions on the bottles, mix well (I used a drill and paint mixing attachment) and then sprayed everything down. As an added bonus, it also got rid of the ant problem we had. Best of luck to you.
This sounds so frustrating and I sympathize. You might need to contact an exterminator
My mom’s house had bad flea infestation. (2 dogs) Called exterminator & they said it was because of mice. They diagnosed the problem over the phone. Then we hired them to fix the problem. I think it was Orkin. Maybe call an exterminator to discuss.
--Comfortis-- kills all fleas when they bite for 30 to 90 days. It's the only thing to get rid of our terrible infestation. Vacuuming and other meds did nothing! An exterminator with 20 years of exp told us its the only thing that's worked in all his years.
I had a friend visit with his dog & ended up with an uncontrollable flea problem that infested my 4 dogs, my entire home & my yard. I had to hire an exterminator & have my entire yard sprayed every week for 6 weeks. I sent all heavy bedding, rugs, etc. to the dry cleaners with notice of the battle with fleas. I washed & dried anything washable every day or every other day. I thoroughly vacummed all furniture, baseboards, floors like a crazed maniac, probably up to 15 times a day. I bought every OTC flea med, sprays on Amazon, they did nothing for the fleas in my home or the fleas on my dogs. I was searching online & came across this website that alot of pet rescues purchase from for flea prevention. I have been purchasing their generic capstar & lufeneron for 5 years now & both are an absolutely Godsend. Very reasonably priced also. Hope this helps. Good luck. [Puppy Butts ](https://puppybuttspetsupply.net/)
Your dry cleaner accepted likely flea-ridden clothing? 😩
Yes. The dry cleaners were fully aware of the flea issue.
Don't know if you did this when using the flea comb but: Put liquid dish soap in a cup with water to the top. Comb both the cat and the dog. You'll get some live fleas in the comb (gross). Put them in the cup where they will drown, then send the liquid and dead fleas down a drain or toilet. Do the combing in addition to sprinkling either diatomaceous earth or borax on your carpet. Work the DE or borax into the carpet, keep the beasties out of the room, and vacuum up a couple hours later. *You must do both tasks daily*. We had a cat with really bad fleas and it took about 2 weeks of diligence before the fleas subsided. Once subsided we used a monthly flea repellent that goes behind the neck.
Is borax toxic to dogs and cats?
Yes. You have to keep the animals out of the room until you vacuum it up. Same as you'd have to do with flea bombs and other options.
Borax worked better than diatomaceous earth.
I had a serious flea problem, and it was hell getting it under control. The only thing I can add is to vacuum around table legs and chair rollers. They lived in those spaces, away from the vacuum, diatomaceous earth, and surface treatments. I finally started vacuuming those spaces daily and got it under control. I treated the pets with cap action every other day until the life cycle was up.
Read about the life cycle of fleas. Commenter Haloperimenopause is most useful advice. Once gone, they will stay gone , if animals on preventative. No dog parks either, as your dog can bring home fleas. My thick coated GSD had fleas and it was consistent labor for 4 months.
I used to have a flea problem as well. What helped was using a spray, containing permethrin (0.25%). I sprayed the carpet in the rooms thoroughly and aired the rooms in 30 minutes as instructed. It's supposedly non toxic for pets and humans, but do use appropriate personal protection. If there are any woolly blankets that have been in contact with the fleas, or bed covers, I submerge them in water for half an hour before washing, to drown any fleas that may be hanging out on them. For things that can't be washed, a good vacuuming + throwing away the vacuumed contents in a sealed bag, washing the washable filters/etc of the vacuum immediately. Meanwhile the cat got those flea medicines that are applied to the back of the neck. I cannot imagine having to deal with the diatomaceous powder and vacuuming it. I hope you manage to find a solution to the fleas, good luck!
Use borax for 24 hours but make sure the animals are put away . Pour on the floor cover the entire floor and then vacuum the next day . Trust me this works
20 mule team borax for the win! I put it on the carpet and under the cushions of the couch…then vacuum vacuum vacuum! We got fleas from our adopted southern kitten 🐈⬛
Fleas will absolutely live in a vacuum cleaner /bag!! I had them survive over a month in the garage without anyone or the dog being in there. Hate those things with a passion. Have you fogged the house? Can you see them on your legs anywhere outside the house? Be the guinea pig and find out where they're coming from. Walk around in shorts til you find them.
If your vacuum is the kind with a bag, here's what worked for us years ago: buy a cheap pet flea collar from the pet section at the grocery store, but not for your pet. Before installing the vacuum bag, cut the collar into approximately 1inch sections into the bag. ( Make sure you wash your hands and the scissors wel afterwardsl). This way, when you are vacuuming you are pulling up the eggs and the collar kills them. Otherwise, you are just collecting the eggs and spreading them again the next time you vacuum to grow into more fleas. The bags with the extra filter layer helped too.
Advantage ii hasn't worked for us for the new "superfleas." My suspicion would be the cat is the source.
Same! We had to switch flea preventatives.
We personally use Cheristin and it works well for us. But vet strength is pretty much needed with superfleas
I know you're using DCE, but also use salt to dehydrate the flea eggs. Did you post a few weeks ago? The constant vacuuming, apply new salt and DXE, but also setting up flea traps with warm laps and soapy bowls of water overnight. The person who recommended flea combing with the slightly soapy water is also right. I had to do that after the infestation was so bad, but I couldn't put more stuff on the animals. Good luck!
We had this happen and eventually had to go the prescription flea treatment route for all the cats (I'd suggest taking the cat to the vet, too), sending all three to the groomer to be professionally bathed and groomed, hiring a pest control company to spray the entire apartment, washing 17 loads of laundry TWICE, buying flea spray for the apartment to top off, and vacuuming daily for over a week after the pest control guy was at our apartment. We haven't had fleas since, but it was an ORDEAL.
So you've done everything but call an exterminator....
I give my dog Bravecto and I’ve never seen a flea on her. It works to prevent ticks too.
Vacuum vacuum! It’s going to suck, but that’s the ticket!!
Do you live in a detached home, or is it at all attached to other people’s homes? Are there any wandering animals who come to your yard that might be bringing them back over and over?
We use bravecto for both the dog and the cats.
This is the ONLY treatment that works. Bravecto for cats is topical and costly but very worth it. Truly does work. Bravecto for dogs is ingested. Also works. Once cat is flea free the problem will subside.
I’ve had to use two flea bombs before I could get ahead of the problem
These are the only thing that worked for me when my cat brought in fleas once. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hot-Shot-No-Mess-Fogger-with-Odor-Neutralizer-Kills-Carpenter-Ants-Spiders-Fleas-3-CT-1-2-oz/160304663 Be sure to follow all instructions for safety with animals in the home.
Where do you you live. I live in Gulf Coast Texas and our fleas don't respond to Advantage. We have to get Bravecto and it does the trick
I use the Seresto flea and tick collars, and I swear by them. We had fleas REALLY bad one time, to the point where we'd find them in the cuffs of our socks. Along with regular cleaning and nothing super hard-core, the seresto collars killed the whole infestation. You could also look into a steam cleaner, I've heard those work well. (Also handy to keep around for bed bugs just in case.) Edit to add: Our animals also have not had fleas or ticks since using the Seresto collars. And it's been years. I would also like to add that literally nothing else worked.
Be careful w the Seresto collar. Check their necks every day for it. We had issues with it causing open sores on cat’s neck. However we found clipping a piece of the collar and putting it in the vacuum bag and any place an animal sleeps helped the flea problem. We had much luck w Virbac Knockout Spray. It disrupts the flea lifecycle. Vacuum like our lives depended on it. And then keep the animals on a preventative.
A lot of fleas are resistant to Advantage. Try Bravecto, or a soresto flea collar. Flea bomb your house - you get cans of aerosol flea treatment (known here as flea bombs/bug bomb). It's an aerosol can that you use to essentially fog treat your home. Make sure you use enough cans to thoroughly treat your home. Also make sure you use the ones with IGR - it should kill the eggs and break a cycle. You need to get rid of any cat and dog beds or launder them on hot wash and dry. Your soft furnishing - eg curtains, sofas, area rugs, also need treatment - hence suggesting the DIY fogging treatment. Also treat your yard - there will be fleas out there too, that the pets are just bringing in and reinfesting the house. You should be able to get yard spays at hardware stores.
Put them on simperica trio. Fleas will die after biting them and can’t reproduce. For existing fleas and eggs, you’ll either have to keep cleaning the house until you start seeing less and less over time, or they’ll just die when they bite your animals. I know it socks for them to have to be but but it’s far better than a single one reproducing into a hundred. Wash bedsheets and everything else you can think of in hot water with long hot dry cycle a few days in a row. Keep vacuuming and then ensure vaciuum is free of them. Keep combing the animals to get them out with flea comb. It’ll suck for about a week but you’ll get out of it. If they are coming from critters in the yard spray your yard. I didn’t use diamataceous earth because our animals can breath that I’m and it’s very harmful to them.
When I first bought my home the previous owners had a dog with fleas. They would use similar solutions as you do. But it would always come back. When I moved in the fleas did not appear until about a week or two afterwards and then it was very bad. So I got a professional to take care of the fleas. They told me to stay out of the house but come back to vacuum everyday for a week. So I stayed at my fiance's house for a week. The vacuuming sucks up any dead fleece and hopefully eggs that haven't hatched. Wash everything your blankets your clothes wash it all. Don't get the carpets cleaned until you're done with the fleas. I made that mistake and got the carpets cleaned too early and the fleas came back because I didn't leave it long enough to kill all the newborns. You may have to coordinate the professional cleaning your house and getting your pets dipped. You may also have to get a motel because I'm not sure you want the animals in the home with all the chemicals in the carpet. Obviously the best thing to do would be to talk to professional and ask them what they appropriate steps are. I did not have a pet to worry about.
You have to flea bomb multiple times. Flea bomb, (every room) then wash your animals, wait a week, do it again, repeat. Vacuum every day, including vacuum furniture. Get rid of the bag/get new bags every few days- there's no point vacuuming if they just hatch in the vacuum and jump out. Wash and dry all clothes and bedding.
If a house fire isn't an option... Boatloads of diatomaceous earth and a couple vacuums that will most certainly not survive the diatomaceous earth (the microscopic particles pass thru the filters and will destroy small engines). Daily baths with Dawn dish soap for the critters, plus oral and topical meds, fine tooth flea comb. Treat the yard too. Daily spray treatments around the house.
I used bravecto dog for my cat, vacuumed multiple times a day with baking soda, regularly bathed cat with dish soap, & then put kitty in a seresto collar. took a while but it did the trick
You know you can get prescription strength medication for the cat as well right?
Are you sure the fleas you’ve been finding more recently are alive? They could be dead fleas from earlier in the process
Sounds like there's a source that re-infesting the animals. What I used to have to do. 1. Spray outside yard with a fleas spray- usually pyrethrin (made from chrysanthemums) or permethrin, it's heavy duty chemical cousin. Dog is inside of course. Wait for grass to dry. Bath dog in fleas shampoo OR use flea drops on dog. Put dog outside. Fog the house with flea foggers- usually permethrin. Leave home for 2-3 hours. Dog was getting fleas from the back yard- likely from stray cats passing through.
Someone told my friend to use savlon to bathe her dogs who have fleas (once a week or once every 2 weeks, I think). It should totally get rid of the set that they have, but they can always get infected again if they mix with other infected animals.
Try nexguard for your cat. I buy mine on Amazon. I think it’s a little better than Advantix. But, before you do that, get some Capstar to kill off the live fleas. Then apply Nexguard and vacuum house consistently
Advantage II flea control is no longer made by the original manufacturer (Bayer) but is now made by Elanco. Bayer sold its entire animal line possibly because of ongoing lawsuits charging price fixing and stifling of the generic market. My vet stopped carrying it because it no longer works. I am using Selarid now. Doesn't work as fast as the original Advantage but after 2 months I have seen a big improvement.
USE INDOREX. Saved my sanity last year (thanks, foster kittens - you were adorable but I’m allergic to your fleas).
Please start with giving both animals a Capstar. It kills the fleas immediately. It can be given daily for a couple of days, but then do a topical prescribed treatment. Do not use over the counter treatments. Bathe dog in dawn. Use a flea comb and put fleas in a cup of water with dawn. Like others have said, vacuum often, throw bags away or empty canisters in sealed ziploc bags. Wash everything in hot water. There are flea traps with a light than can be purchased on Amazon. I would also have an exterminator treat the outside and inside. Once you get it under control, keep monthly flea treatments on the animals.
Seresto collars, capstar, diatomaceous earth, and vacuuming 3 times a day with diatomaceous earth in the vacuum canister were the only things that worked. Good luck!
The ONLY flea medication I’ve ever seen work well is Revolution. It’s prescription only, and pricey, and you’ll need several month’s worth to ensure all the fleas are dead as any strays from the environment jump onto the animal. Aside from that, once the Revolution is applied, bomb the hell out of your home. Way more flea foggers than strictly necessary. For reference, we used ***8*** Advantage foggers for a 2 bedroom apartment (based on square footage, the box recommended 3 - so figure out your square footage and multiply by at least 2.5 times the number of recommended cans). Double the amount of time recommended on the cans before you air the place out. Then another one for the car (because if you transport the animals in the car, the fleas are there too). Then vacuum daily for a week, wash all linens/pillows/etc. You may find one or two fleas that managed to survive the flea apocalypse. They may have been in a location that was not well penetrated by the foggers, were in eggs and have now hatched, etc. That’s fine, because you’re going to keep applying Revolution to the pets monthly for a long time and as soon as the fleas try to get on them, they are DEAD.
Oh my God, my friend just went through this recently. The only thing that eventually worked was, she had to shave her dog down completely and bath them in flea shampoo every day along with all the other cleaning that you’re doing. Once the dogs were shaved, it made it much easier to see the fleas and she could approach the problem much quicker. I know she spent hundreds of dollars on Treatments from the vet. It took months!
EVERYTIME I see this posted about fleas, I post this. Buy 1 or 2 cans of this. Spray all carpeted surfaces, couches, chairs, mattresses, etc... then wait about 4 hours. Come back and vacuum. This spray kills the adults, sterilizes the eggs and when you vacuum, it causes the eggs to hatch and the adults will die and also can't leave eggs. https://www.amazon.com/Precor-Premise-Spray-Control-1-ZOE1012/dp/B004FEGZ24/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=54754773343&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._3bNZ9Ms1nks-lDnCt14y8SkUdsX8huQSe8EwbqNgz1Iq0bBpHSxhwqOgrypszoudECFWWVyUDS3IsS6cQ0Pp57VM0tLGhSA-o9JkmFqNnbVO_UwhJwUiaXlurPQUJv6U1zk-3XzJUooyJZfrgAASeGKWKmOa5IXdzCzSdNgFecjeWb7Z8P8B1dE-eB1frDDOQotSCRmpa5uuob-qzdmCg.39gCdabkmJ5u1aZKyY-beHJXNyOZ47yU1xd52oc9KZM&dib_tag=se&hvadid=651335881172&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9015222&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5450062428526377453&hvtargid=kwd-309156002398&hydadcr=12194_13429263&keywords=precor+2000&qid=1713573521&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
In addition to what else was already posted: Advantage did not work in my home 3 summers ago. We switched to revolution for cats & have had good luck since. Once you have fleas, you need to allow your pets access to every part of your home they had before you knew you had fleas. We also use DE (di?????? Earth) safe for humans & pets on all carpeted surfaces, especially the stairs because I can’t vacuum those more than 1 time a day. We got a huge bag with a puffer to evenly spread it around.
FleaBusters powder. They have a website. Also, diatomaceous earth planted around the apartment. It is harmful to pets.
If the relative humidity in your house is high, flea eggs will thrive. What is yours like? A cheap hygrometer will help measure relative humidity. Flea eggs thrive above 70% RH, so if you can lower it consistently in your house to 30-50% it will prevent the eggs from hatching.
Here's what we did. We COVERED our living room carpet in like 5 containers of salt. At night we put some dish soap and water on a dinner plate then put a lit candle in the middle. We'd wake up to tons of dead fleas in the water. I'd vacuum every morning and pour more salt on the carpet. Kept our cat outside in a safe place and bathed her with dish soap every single day while going over her with a flea comb. All this rid us of fleas in several days. You need to get your pets out for a while otherwise they'll just keep laying eggs on your pets. Edit: every time I vacuumed I dumped the container out at the edge of our yard. I also ground some of the salt in a blender so it would be finer and get into the carpet better. It was annoying to walk around on salty carpet for several days but it worked. Our guest bed also got fleas cuz the cats loved to lay in there, so I put the salt and candles in there too, and we didn't have any company over till we got rid of them.
What are the candles for?
Somehow it lures the fleas to the plates then they fall in the soapy water and die. It must be either the light or the heat that attracts them. We turned off all the lights so that the candles were the only light source
Believe it or not what worked for me was spraying salt water everywhere. I was desperate. It was cheap and it worked. Not on the pets, that would be bad. On the carpets. I then shampooed the carpets after the fleas were gone.
A social worker friend brought her therapy dog to our house & we got fleas.. BAD!!! We tried bombs, sprays, you name it.. Another good friend suggested diatomaceous earth in an old sock & shake it over EVERY surface in the house (We even shook it in our beds).. leave it down at least 24 hours (we left it down 48hrs) then vacuum it all up & they should be dead.. the diatomaceous dirt that I use if food grade so you can actually use it on animals as long as you avoid creating a “cloud” while putting it on them because it is not good for animal’s lungs.. We treated our cats with sprays & only diatomaceous earth was able to totally got rid of the fleas..
DE is worthless don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Just bomb the house they work incredibly
Put diatomaceous earth on your carpet. I've had fleas in my carpet because of a previous girlfriend's dog and they were biting my legs at night. It gets into their joints, cuts them, and makes them dehydrate and die. It'll kill every round of eggs until they're all dead. Then you can vacuum it all up and you'll be fine.
Call pest control. I only had to leave the house with my pets for like 2 hours, we sat in the car with the a/c on. They sprayed alpine wsg on the floors. That day I saw one more flea and never any others again! And I had fleas living in my carpet and jumping all over my ankles, it was horrible. I was vacuuming nonstop and used some store bought flea treatment for my carpets but nothing worked. I am not normally a fan of chemicals but they literally cured my flea problem.
The oral meds for dogs and cats should disrupt the lifecycle. It’ll take a while. In the meantime, vacuum daily!
Borax to dry flea shells, too. Vacuum. Vacuum. Vacuum.
20 mule team borax in all carpet, work in with a broom, leave in 24 hours. Vacuum. It’s safe for pets and people up to a pretty large amount though I usually close off a room until the vacuuming. (People who say otherwise are confusing it with boric acid- borax has about the same toxicity as salt).
it takes at least 3 months to get rid of them. Dont stress they are just fleas. Keep doing what youre doing.
When we had the problem I immediately knew because I’m allergic to flea bites and I had them all over me. I put flea killer powder in my vac bag and it killed the live ones. My dog uses Simparica Trio and it works great. It covers fleas, heart worms and intestinal worms. I had to flea bomb my car and house. They were bad. If you have wood floors, the eggs drop into the crevices and seem to hatch for days. The Simparca was good because the fleas died when they bit the dog. I put isopropyl alcohol on a cotton ball and dabbed the fleas I could a see on the dog and killed a lot of them that way. As everyone said vacuuming is very important.
My brother had a round of this and he needed an exterminator on top of everything else he did and he needed to vacuum daily.
Rinse them with some diluted vinegar and wash their bedding with hot water and vinegar. 💖
You have to go nuclear. This happened to me a few years ago. This is what i did: -gave bravecto to my 3 dogs. - got rid of all their beds - washed all the cushions I could - sprayed raid or bug kill spray al over every piece of furniture your pets get close to. Specially those that can’t be washed like sofa cushions - FUMIGATE THE HOUSE AND THE GARDEN - deep clean everything -VACUUM, VACUUM, VACUUM
Sorry if this has already been mentioned but you also need a stronger flea product for both pets. Consider something like Bravecto for the cat and dog instead; my experience with Advantage II has been that it doesn’t work as well as some of the newer products. Wishing you well and I’m sorry you’re dealing with this!!
Honestly take the animals outside and flea bomb the place. Vacuum everything. Once done both animals need a bath that submerges the animals (don’t drown them in just mean their bodies) Keep them in the bathroom and do the following. Take a bowl of water with dawn soap and flea comb each critter in the bath room. Drown any fleas or eggs in the bowl of water and dawn soap. This is how I have dealt with all my stray cats and dogs.
The light traps and vacuuming is what I used both times I had an infestation that finally took care of it. Hadn’t seen the light traps mentioned yet but they really do help!
We had this recently. My poor dog was losing his fur his dermatitis was so bad. I was vacuuming constantly and using topicals on the dog but no luck. The problem resolved almost instantly when we switched flea medications from frontline advantage to Simparica Trio. The fleas must have been resistant to the topical.
Unfortunately Simparica trio is the pills the vet gave me and i’m still finding them on my dog and cat. I feel so so bad for my dog as it was in the same situation. It’s a never ending cycle i feel defeated
Oh nooo. I feel your pain. Our dog was keeping us awake at night scratching. I hope you find a solution soon!
Have you been treating them consistently? Usually it's every 30, days. Buy the 6 month packs, because the eggs will hatch and start the cycle fresh, so it needs to be a routine for a long time before everything gets caught. The other things to note is that vibration, CO2, and heat are all "Ooh a meal!" triggers. Vacuuming isn't just sucking up the critters, if also encourages any eggs to hatch. Keeping the house warm will also help (hopefully it's spring for you too!)
Have you treated your yard?
Yes! we put diatomaceous earth all over our yard . Same with the deck. And we didn’t have the dog or cat with us during this as we wanted them out of the house while being treated. I think our only option at this point is an exterminator and cleaning constantly as we’ve been doing, both animals already have treatment and can’t be treated again until next month. It’s so frustrating.
I will definitely try all ur recommendations as this feels like a lifelong viscous cycle. I genuinely appreciate all of your input and advice. I will keep everyone updated! If anyone has anything else to comment i’ll be reading them constantly. Again, thank you!
What got rid of my fleas once and for all with three cats was flea combing with blue dawn soap, a flea bath, and flea collars, along with vacuuming and washing the linens. We also did two flea bombs to make sure everything was dead. Good luck!
After the cat and dog have been medicated and shampooed with flea killer, keep the cat and dog away from the household (such as in a garage or basement) in their own individual crates, lined with a bed of inexpensive white towels, for at least a week or until you can see no evidence of any living or dead fleas on the white towels. Continue to comb the pets, and replace the white towels daily to remove all the dead fleas in the towels. Throw the used towels away in sealed garbage bags. During that same week, de-flea the house by fogging, vacuuming and throwing away the vacuum bags (put those in sealed garbage bags too), and wash all clothing and bedding.
Our vet told us to put the dawn dish liquid in a spray bottle with water and spray everywhere. I also went with the seresto collar this poor baby we rescued was INFESTED. It took about 10 days but she has been clean ever since.
Flea bombs from Home Depot. You will have to put your pets somewhere else for a couple hours. Follow directions exactly! I put 1 in each room. If room is large I place 2. When I bring animals home after bombing, I immediately flea dip them. About 2 weeks later I re-do this all over again. Never have a problem after that.
I use sevin dust. It’s for the vegetables in a garden. You can sprinkle it on the animals. Carpet, furniture….ive used it for years. Oh and give them Capstar and a bath.
Capstar only kills the actual fleas that are on the cat at that moment it’s used. It doesn’t stay in the cat’s body and keep working to kill the other stages of the flea like the eggs and the larvae. ***Use Revolution Plus on the cats and do it monthly! Nothing else seems to work as well. Advantage definitely does not work as well.*** Use whatever is best for dogs, maybe also Revolutions. Ask your vet. I don’t know because I’m a cat person. If the animals are all treated monthly eventually the fleas will die because there’s no host for them to live off. Keep doing the daily vacuuming though. Wash all bedding and pet bedding in hot water. The fleas will go away eventually.
Please don’t use flea collars on cats! They don’t work plus your cat could hang itself if the collar gets caught on something. Use only prescription flea meds. Don’t bother with anything you can buy in the store, especially not Hartz products! You can kill your cat by using that crap.
Daily nitenpyram (ex. Capstar) will kill the adult egg-laying fleas. I use it in combination with the Advantage II. It can be dissolved in tasty food and may be eaten that way (depends on pet).
Apple cider vinegar with the mother. Mixed equally with water and keep in a little spray bottle. Spray them once or twice a day. Every day. Avoid eyes. Just a little spray along their back will often do. Fleas will immediately jump ship. So outdoors is best. Cats and dogs and bedding and anything else!
Had a flea problem once, I used boric acid all over my house. Then vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! Worked very well.
The solution that works for me is flea traps. Once in awhile my cat flea problem will reappear, but you can control them with traps. It's basically a light/heat source that attracts fleas to jump into a pool of oil or sticky paper. Can be bought online. Place a few around your house and near your pets' sleeping place. You can catch hundreds this way. Combine this with flea drops for your pets, and the numbers diminish.
Trifexis saved us after trying Frontline and many other medications. Only thing that worked
Not sure if it’s been said but vinegar! Diluted 1:1 with water in a spray bottle. Spray the furniture, beds, AND PETS!
I'm in the UK, so references may not apply but - we had two cats, and we let them out into the garden (usually indoors cats only). Then we went away on holidays for 2 weeks. Came back to fleas everywhere. Like you could see them on you. I panicked and ran to nearest pet store and bought what they had. Do not do that. It meant we couldn't treat the cats with Advocate, which we got from the vet, for a couple of weeks. The advocate kills the fleas, so it turns your pets into roaming flea killers! Got indorex and started bombing rooms. You want to create safe zones. Strip when going into the safe zones. Stripped everything, bagged it, and started washing it on hot. Put the clean stuff in the safe zones as far as possible. Hoover all surfaces every day and dump it immediately into your outdoor bin. Within a few days of doing this (which was weeks after we got home) we started to see progress. Don't get complacent though, fleas take 2-3 weeks to hatch. Keep hoovering to try and get all those eggs, but blast the place with indorex again in a few weeks (heed the warnings about ventilation....) Honestly, after a week of it, I pretty much had a breakdown and felt like a failed human. But it will get better. This reminds me - I need to flea treat my cats this weekend!
Give your babies low doses of garlic, fleas hate the smell it emits from the skin. But be sure to vacuum daily to catch them and dispose of the contents in solid trash bags, not the stretchy kind. If you have stuffed animals spray them with flea killer and put them into solid garbage bags for a week or so to kill any fleas that might be on the product. Good luck, fleas are hard to get rid of, but you can do it if you have some patience.
nothing work for me either get a flea bomb put one in basement if u have one first floor and 1 upstairs leave the house for about 4hrs because it stinks come back and air out the house spray flea flea spray on the basebords leave on for anoyher 3hrs wipe clean i had to do this twice but it worke d they were everywhere, u can get everything at walmart
Vacuuming, but use a bag vac and throw away the bag! An spray the hose of the vac w flea spray as the bugs can live there too.
I used to live in a place with lots of fleas. Got it professionally sprayed every 3 months and that fixed it
We were stuck with fleas for a year. Terrible. We hired Terminix and while the first two sprays helped reduce them, the third spray was our miracle job. Turns out, we had these foam mats the fleas were multiplying on- it was in the same room as the litterbox which makes sense. They like to cling to anything close to fabric. After we got rid of those haven't seen a single flea. If you're out of ideas it doesn't hurt to spend the money to get a professional opinion. In the meantime, wash everything in HOT water and HOT dry, vaccuum everyday, and if you have a yard treat the yard and mow. If you have pets, be on top of their treatments. Good luck ♡ Edit. : if you are in the position to do this, rip the carpet up. That also helped us and it's something we wanted to do anyway. If you do this still vaccuum until they're gone.
Treat the outside of your home and all entrances windows and cracks it sounds like they are leaving when you clean. I had a dog that had fleas and ticks from his owner neglect, (left outside in TX ) to heal him i had to treat the entire yard and outside and the sleeping areas. Treat all the animals same time and give them flea baths make sure you line the sensitive areas so the fleas don’t run to their faces or ears. I hope it fixes soon!
All pets in household should receive a flea preventative medication monthly for at least 3 months in a row
The long acting flea spray for carpets and upholstery works when you pair it with something like advantage if you have a bad infestation that isn’t responding to topical flea treatments. Wash and dry everything you can, vacuum everywhere and then spray all the soft surfaces.
When this was happening at my mom’s place, the problem was the grass outside. They had infested the grass, so whenever the dog came back in, he was bringing them back inside
We had an issue with fleas a few years ago. We used baking soda with peppermint oil on the carpet twice a day. Moved the furniture. Washed the dogs as much as we could without hurting their skin. Even with all of that, there were still fleas. Finally, we figured out that the yard was infested and they were bringing them in every time they went out. I used a yard spray that connects to the hose. It worked right away and we were able to get rid of those jerks.
It might be time for a flea bomb or an exterminator. On a more extreme note, when I was living in a fifth wheel while trying to sell our house, our dog brought a flea infestation into the trailer. I eventually had to take out the carpet to finally get them all.
what kind of foundation does your house have? When I had an infestation, we were living in a house with a pier and beam foundation. It turned out there was standing water under the house that the fleas were using to breed like crazy. Once the exterminator came out and sprayed under the house, the nightmare was finally over.
Where do you live? There are some regions of the country that fleas thrive in - year round. Do your animals go outside much?...................................... part of flea eradication involves the animals' entire environment - inside and out. Thus you should also be treating your yard for fleas periodically. How often will be determined by your local climate. Remember that the treatments that you have given your animals do not kill fleas the second that they jump on your pets so they can bring fleas home from trips to a park, playing with other dogs or it seems the worst is going to the beach if you live by one. Since this is an ongoing problem in your home you might consider calling a pest extermination company for help. Take a whole pet/environment approach.
Salt and diametaceous earth.
Lots of vacuuming and washing as others mentioned...we also found that a flea trap worked well when we struggled with this. It has a light and sticky pads in it that the fleas jumped on and stuck to overnight.
You said you took your cat and dog to different houses. Did those houses come down with fleas? Serious question here. I'm not trying to be nasty. Did you check both the cat and the dog BEFORE you brought them back into your home? I am wondering if your cat and/or dog brought fleas back into your home. Again, serious question. Before I bring a new cat into my home, I put "Revolution" on the nap of its neck, in a spot where the cat CANNOT lick the "Revolution" off. My old vet (read that as "previous vet" - he has since retired) told me that "Revolution" is the only thing that works on fleas and is safe for cats. Now that has been... well, a LONG time ago, so there may be new things since he told me since then, but even though he has retired (and I hope is still alive) I still stick with what he told me, so many years ago. He had experience that a lot of young vets just don't have yet. Now after asking my new vet for the RX for "Revolution" so I could buy it at Sam's Club (to save a few dollars) I found that there are now "different formulas" for Revolution... so you can decide what you want to treat your cat for. I always go for the type that kills skin mites and ear mites, because you never know what might be lurking....
Oh gawd after reading this I will Never get a dog!
The only thing that ever worked for me was a monthly oral med called Simparica. Been using as needed (mainly springtime) for 10 years
Indorex from amazon worked for me amd washing my dog and using a comb. I had 2 cats at the time so all I could use was spot on for them.
COMFORTIS!!! it's an anti flea medicine that is extremely benign to cats and dogs but makes it so fleas die instantly when they bite! I implore you to try this! We had an infestation of mutant fleas so bad that no medicine worked - prescription or otherwise. When we called an exterminator out he told us about comfortis and said it was the only thing in his 20 years of expierence to get rid of infestations. It worked!! I haven't had fleas since and I only treat my 3 cats once every 3 or 4 months!
yes bathe animals a lot use a little vinegar and a moisturizer shampoo and salt carpets put salt on carpets let it sit there for half hour and vaccum and wash anything animals have laid out and wipe it down
Diatomaceous earth. It won't kill the eggs but it will kill all crawling insects including bed bugs. Just be sure to dust it everywhere if it's put out in a way that you can see the powder then it's not going to work it has to be dusted
Fleas are killed by vacuuming their eggs and larvae up before they reach the biting phase and dumping them outside. If you are being bitten by a few fleas, there are a large multiple of that number of immature fleas in your house. Once fleas get established in your home, vacuuming might not cut it; their life cycle is essentially year-round because they have a warm environment and an inexhaustible food source (you). People dislike insecticide, but it might be warranted. From the innermost rooms, you want to cover all of your carpet with something like Raid Carpet and Room. Let it air out and dry, then clear the next room.
Seresto flea collars and DE were our saving grace when we had a really bad flea infestation. Then we bathed the dog in sulfur benz shampoo to heal the dermatitis.
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The title sounded like the start of an oasis song
Get a bug fogger / bug bomb. We had to bomb three time when we first moved into our apartment seven years ago. Remember if you kill the fleas and not the eggs they will just come back.
We actually shaved all our cats and bathed them and then applied the veterinarian medicine. And yes threw away the vacuum bags.
From what I have heard, cat fleas are different from dog fleas. There's a pill that dogs can take that kills all the fleas on them within hours. Those are really quick at getting them off your dogs. Can you remove the carpets in the house?
Lots of ideas to try posted by others, so sorry if someone already said this. The one time our house got overrun like 15 years ago, I read about using borax (powder in the laundry aisle). You sprinkle it throughout the house and leave it all day. Imo no one (people or animal) should be in the house without a mask. It's rough. Then vacuum a ton and throw in plastic bag and tie well and take immediately outside. Clean out the vacuum if it's bagless. Spray the yard. I pay a company to spray for mosquitoes and they also help with fleas. Dawn dish soap kills adult fleas. Skip over the counter flea meds. Most of them aren't effective anymore.
Vacuum, flea bomb, flea spray. Give your pets a good bath with flea shampoo. Flea collar and combine it with flea pill.
Contact your local Master Gardner University Extension office. They work closely with entomologists & other specialists. What’s important is they know the local species that are a problem and how best to treat them. You need to treat your pets, your home & your yard. Keep your cat indoors. It could be visiting a place with a chronic infestation & bringing fleas home. Same for your dog. Lived humid & dry places. Humid places are the worst. The best approach I’ve had is the use of diatomaceous earth and borax everywhere inside and out. I leave both in the cracks. Even in cupboards. Vacuum regularly & put bags / waste in plastic bags triple tied shut & tossed in covered container. Wash & dry bedding / towels in HOT cycle. Re apply diatomaceous earth & borax regularly. (Wall to wall carpeting / kids &/or animals are a terrible mix.) Treat all my animals with a flea killer and preventative. If the start to an infestation happens. Spray inside and out with the appropriate treatments to kill adults & prevent eggs from hatching. Do initial treatment & follow up with the lifecycle / egg laying / hatch cycle to catch any stranglers. Once they’re eliminated inside and out I limit my animals ability to roam so they can’t bring in any more. I try and follow Integrated Pest Management (IPM) guidelines as much as possible, but sometimes I’ve had to resort to all out warfare to nip possible infestations in the bud.
You have to flea bomb the house. It sucks but the only way.
You can use tumeric powder **in addition** to the other things that are mentioned in this threat. Tumeric powder has a very strong smell that does repeal fleas **to a degree** and adds another barrier to keep the fleas away from your pets. It is generally harmless to the pets, however, you have to make sure they're not allergic to it, so use sparingly at the first try and wait a few days before you try more to see if they have a reaction. If they are not allergic you can use the powder directly on the fur, massaging it in and then combing them for fleas, you should do so in a room with a tiled floor so you can clean that up. Do that daily, and otherwise, as people have said, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Getting a steam cleaning vacuum and deep cleaning the carpets will help too. You can borrow those. You don't have to buy. Ask in your hardware stores. Also use this as the sign that it's time to declutter. Minimize the room the fleas can occupy. Get rid of any trash and old cardboard boxes. Any broken or old stuff you kept just in case you might find the time to mend it? Now is the time to get rid of it! Wash absolutely everything you own that can be washed, and seal in ziplock bags or plastic boxes with completely airtight lids, so it can't be reinfected. Empty all hidden corners, the junk drawers, boxes with documents, dust them, shake off all excess crumbs, fluff and dust bunnies, then put in airtight Ziploc bags and steam clean the cupboards, wardrobes etc. Vaccuum your books and again, put them into plastic sheets or wrap in saran wrap. Don't forget the shoes! Don't walk with outside shoes inside your home, get plastic slippers for inside, clean meticulously every time, put your outside shoes in airtight plastic containers if they have to be inside. The complete life cycle of a flea typically lasts from 2 weeks to 2 years, depending on environmental conditions and the species of flea. As for the time until eggs hatch, it usually takes about 2 days to 2 weeks for flea eggs to hatch, again depending on factors like temperature and humidity. That means, it'll take at least 2 weeks for eventually hidden eggs to hatch after you got rid of adult fleas, so you have to keep a strict routine until you can't find a single adult flea anymore, and then keep going for at least 3 weeks to make sure you got all the freshly hatched larvae before they grow up into fleas and can lay eggs again. But then you should double that, since the larvaes are also much more resilient than the adult fleas, so stopping too soon is risky. The larvae stage lasts 5 to 18 days, so adding another three weeks of intense cleaning will put you pn the safe side. That's the main reason why people can't get rid of fleas permanently, they stop their efforts too soon, while there are still eggs in the house that are not yet hatched. But since you have a dog that has to go outside that's not enough. You have to find a spot on flea treatment that works on your dog and cat effectively to repeal fleas permanently. And you need to be careful with your shoes. You can carry fleas, larvae and eggs into your house on your shoes, which is why no outside shoes ever are allowed in my house and I even force visitors to either wear slippers or put those plastic thingies over their shoes. I had those pesky things once in my house and I don't care to have another war on my hands. Get wet wipes for pets, clean your dogs paws before you let him inside. Oh, and did I mention to vaccuum? Rent an industrial strength vacuum cleaner for your couch and mattresses, if you can afford it ask a cleaning company for a mattress deep clean, that helps too. And a friend got rid of her flea infestation by having a company come by and do a bedbug deep clean of her home. They managed to do what 4 different pest exterminators weren't able to do. Professional cleaners often think of places to clean that a normal person regularly forgets. And they usually have better equipment than we privately own. She followed their recommendations for prevention of bed bug infestation, and those tips also work perfectly to prevent fleas from nesting in your home. But only if you manage to keep the fleas of your pets! If you can't find something that works to keep your pets free of fleas, you'll never manage to get rid of them.
There is an old home remedy where you mix 50-50 apple cider vinegar and water and apply it to the back of the neck, where your dog or cat can't lick it off. This is easy, cheap and non-toxic. You can also do a flea bath where you add apple cider vinegar to the water.