EMERGENCY PLEASE - Well Kind of! Fleas everywhere in my house!

icklejulez

Please can someone help me i cant sleep, have got fleas all over my house again. Got rid of our kittens two weeks ago as they were unsuitable for my children. But after they left we found fleas everywhere. Me being unable to sleep with them in the house bought the bombs from Pets r us (cant remember its name at this time, the big superstore) last sunday and everything seemed brilliant until friday. Now by tonight we have just caught over ten in my bedroom alone in the last hour that have jumped on us.

Please I know its sunday but will there be anywhere open i can get some vet grade type bombs. I cant sleep properly till i know they've gone? Im covered in bites on my ankles and my 4 year old daughter had 2 in her hair today and she starts her first year at school on wednesday.

EssexHebridean

OK - first off, don't panic. We periodically get this same problem with cat fleas - it's supremely annoying and very irritating.

For tonight, the best you can do I suspect is to hoover thoroughly. There will be nowhere open (unless you have a veterinary hospital anywhere nearby that is open 24 hours?) that you can get anything else to treat them with. Hoovering is a good start though - you'll get up a good number of the live ones and more importantly the eggs. Once you've done with the hoover go and empty the bag or canister outside in the bin. If you have valance sheets on your bed tuck them up under the mattress to reduce the number that find their way onto the bed.

In the morning, I would personally go and buy a couple of cans of the household flea spray designed specifically for soft furnishings and carpets. It'll be substantially cheaper than the "bomb" type ones and possibly by the sounds of it more effective. (you can get it in Tesco) The key thing is to make sure you spray some of it into your hoover bag or canister - this will kill any last eggs in there so you don't keep "reinfecting" as it were. Without a host animal the fleas won't last long anyway. Spray thoroughly right through the house concentrating on carpets and underneath sofas, beds etc.

Good luck!

Greatgimp

You'll need an aerosol can of Acclaim (made by Vet-Kem) but it's only from available from vets. It's about £15 (to cover entire house so the can says) but your problem is finding a vet open on a Sunday. You'll just have to get on the phone tomorrow morning. It's also available on ebay for about the same price.

Gangstabird

We had a terribly problem after our neighbour bought her kitten in. Our cats caught fleas and my DS had a terrible reaction to a flea bite, it ended up with that invertigo or whatever it's called.

I got a man in who did the house, we put pellet things on our cats necks and banned them from the house for 2 days.

It worked and we have all lived happily ever after for the past 5 years.

tylersbabe

Hi
Just a line to say we bought Acclaim from Boots £13.99 about two weeks ago . Just in case you can't find a vet open on a Sunday

frankie55

Pets at Home are open on a Sunday, and many branches have an 'in house' vet which is also available on a Sunday. Also you can use anti histamines to help with the scratching and itching with a flea bite, I'm also allergic to flea bites so I know what it's like, Good Luck

icklejulez

Thanks everyone! I was reading your advice just wasnt too comfortable sitting by the computer when there were things jumping at my ankles. Quick update. We drove to out neearest boots superstore typa thing and managed to get ourselves two cans of the Acclaim spray. It says on the tin it will do an average 4 bed house. I have a 3 bed victorian terraced that is quite big so bought two tins. I also have laminate floor in 90% of the house and leather sofas so perhaps i was a little extreme.

However it says on the tin leave for 30 mins then return and air the rooms. I left it for over an hour and returned to find the blighters jumping on me, a lot of them looking like tiny ones. So i sprayed it again over upstairs and stairs(where the small bit of carpet is and most the fabric). Now it has been on for 30 mins again and yet there still here!!!

I dont understand it, i was over paranoid when i first sprayed it and put it in every nook and cranny in the house, down floorboards, under mattresses, behind wardrobes, tvs, cupboards etc etc. What have i done and will they ever dissapear?

At least using ht bob martin bombs when i returned home the fleas were dead all over the floor(ok so they all seemed to reappear 5 days later but i got 5 nights sleep)!

Greatgimp

I used to do a bit of this work using the proper chemicals supplied by Killgerm (not available without proper traing and certificates). I used to concentrate with any soft furnishings including the underside of chairs and sofas, both sides of mattresses, the lower third of curtains etc. Cuddly toys were done very lightly. I also opened any drawers of clothes and lightly sprayed to top of them. I tried to work in the early morning to allow all day for the stuff to dry. The worst job I ever done was where I had to go back for a second application. I also sprayed the home owner's caravan and car. Persist, you will get there.

A pest control operator would perhaps charge about £80 but that would be the end of them for about a guaranteed 6 months to a year. The residual flea killer has probably been vacuumed away by then. An operator would sort the job out with the minimum of fuss, but make sure the vehicle is unmarked - would you want your neighbours to see a ven with 'Bloggs the Flea Killer' outside on your driveway?

Good luck.

skintlass

I would use the stuff from the vets - you will probably need to treat a couple of times but after that and regular vacuuming you should be safe. The stuff from the vets is called Indorex and its expensive but I've found it effective.

EssexHebridean

If someone sprayed something at you that was going to kill you fairly slowly, you'd be hopping about the place too!! Don't worry - they'll die alright, it just takes a bit of time, that's all!

tylersbabe

Hi

When we used acclaim it took a couple of days and plenty of hoovering to eradicate them . BUT the blighters have now gone and to date have not returned as they did with carpet powder stuff we tried, where they disapeared straight away but three days later re-appeared with a vengance.

So yep we had a few days when they still jumped on us but they seem to have gone now (over a week), oh and we did the same as you two cans for three bed house of which we used one and a half cans just to make sure!