Cat fleas, help we're being eaten alive!

kerri247

I sympathise with everyone on this thread and hope the fleas are not spoiling your Sunday. My cat has got fleas and this is the first time Frontline has not worked, they must be mutant super fleas. But now I will try some of the other treatments recommended on here. I still wonder why flea bites are their itchiest at 4.30am!! its driving me mad :-(

Kerri

geri1965_2

Fleas are becoming resistant to Frontline - I used it for years, but have switched to Stronghold. I also use Acclaim around the house.

sally06

geri1965 wrote: »

Fleas are becoming resistant to Frontline - I used it for years, but have switched to Stronghold. I also use Acclaim around the house.

I'm usuing this stuff all the time, but i'm still getting bitten all over I went into the bathroon this morning and started itching. When I looked down I spotted 2 fleas on my pjs and there was one on my back:mad:they are either in my wardrobe or my bed...or both! I see this is going to be a very long battle. I hope they die off in the winter. I won't be using my central heating until I know they are all dead!!!

if anyone has any tips on natural methods of killing these evil things, it would be much appreciated. DD has asthma and I hate using all these sprays full of chemicals. TIA

sally06

kerri247 wrote: »

I sympathise with everyone on this thread and hope the fleas are not spoiling your Sunday. My cat has got fleas and this is the first time Frontline has not worked, they must be mutant super fleas. But now I will try some of the other treatments recommended on here. I still wonder why flea bites are their itchiest at 4.30am!! its driving me mad :-(

Kerri

lots of people have reported frontline doesn't work too well anymore. I've bought advocate from the vets (not been able to use it yet because I've used too many products on the cats already. Got to wait until thursday to use it) However, the lady on reception was trying very hard to get me to buy frontline instead. Perhaps she gets commission?

At the moment we are using just a flea comb every day. Just when we think we have got rid of most of them - they are back in force! roll on thursday.

The bites are driving me mad too kerri247 the fleas are playing with my mind.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

The best ever flea killer both for the house and the cat is calling in the pest control person from your local council. They have an excellent water based flea killer which they spray round the edges of every room in the house. You then leave it as long as you can stand before hoovering the house. In the meantime, the kitty has been rolling about on the floor ect and any fleas on the cat will have picked up the flea killer and they will die also.

This flea killer dosen't choke you with horrid fumes and it is less stress inducing for both owner and cat. I highly recommend it.

Sarahlou_2

Hi

We had a terrible experience not long ago. Our dog, a long haired collie.Thought we'd treated him with Bob Martin Powder.

Went on hol with him, thought ohhh this is great, no flea bites (me) problem solved. Got back home 2 weeks later. Jesus..... Walked in the house, within 5 mins I had to go to hospital I had been bitten that much, there wasn't a part on me that hadn't been bit and I went into shock. My arm was full of black fleas at one point. They'd been hungry whilst we'd been away and the moment we walked in they went for us (WELL, ME).

Anyway, we bought Acclaim and it worked eventually. Took a few days. We get the odd one a month on but I think because we didnt spray under beds etc because we panicked.......
.
Never want to go through that again.

jacqhale

Hi, we are suffering with fleas at the moment too and I feel so dirty:o The cat has had them before and we had a guy come round and spray the house once and it was fine.
Anyway, this time we got him round and if anything it worse after that so we brought out own spray and did the whole house, after hoovering everywhere - and I mean everywhere!! AGAIN!! AHHHHHH. They still hadn't gone so we got the man round again and he gave everywhere, including sofa etc a good going over with double strength spray. Grooming the cat we only find one or two and a few dead ones. Occasionally see them on us but not that often.

I have quite a few very itchy bites mainly around my ankles but the worst thing is DS is only 3 and he is absolutely covered in massive red marks that are itchy. It almost looks like he has chicken pox. I feel like the worst parent in the world for allowing this to happen. What more can I do??? The guy that sprayed the house said he wasn't sure they were flea bites and they could be mosquito bites? We have been sleeping with the windows closed and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Does anyone have any advice. I feel like we should take him to the dr's but don't want to overreact. I'm at my wits end.

Thanks for any help.

sally06

jacqhale wrote: »

Hi, we are suffering with fleas at the moment too and I feel so dirty:o The cat has had them before and we had a guy come round and spray the house once and it was fine.
Anyway, this time we got him round and if anything it worse after that so we brought out own spray and did the whole house, after hoovering everywhere - and I mean everywhere!! AGAIN!! AHHHHHH. They still hadn't gone so we got the man round again and he gave everywhere, including sofa etc a good going over with double strength spray. Grooming the cat we only find one or two and a few dead ones. Occasionally see them on us but not that often.

I have quite a few very itchy bites mainly around my ankles but the worst thing is DS is only 3 and he is absolutely covered in massive red marks that are itchy. It almost looks like he has chicken pox. I feel like the worst parent in the world for allowing this to happen. What more can I do??? The guy that sprayed the house said he wasn't sure they were flea bites and they could be mosquito bites? We have been sleeping with the windows closed and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Does anyone have any advice. I feel like we should take him to the dr's but don't want to overreact. I'm at my wits end.

Thanks for any help.

you're not overreacting - take him to the Dr's ASAP. It must be agony for him. I have quite a few bites myself and they are painful, but it must be worse for a baby and it sounds like he has had a reaction to the bites. He really needs to see the dr. I know what you mean about feeling dirty:oI can't stop cleaning and scrubbing. It's working though as I have not been bitten today (touch wood). DD and DH can't understand why It's bothering me so much (maybe because the fleas are only biting me:rolleyes:)I hate seeing them jump. It does my head in. It's as if they are running after me!

good luck with the dr. I hope your baby gets some relief from his bites soon. Let us know how you get on.

RacyRed

Hi,

Don't rule out the mossies, they ae particularly nasty this year! I live next to water, so should have expected this really.

Some of what I thought were fleas turned out to be mossies, I put small dishes of water down overnight as has been suggested on here by TotallyBroke and I caught long bodied things, large mossies or some other biting insect!

It looks like the humidity this summer has the biting insect population really booming! 2 problems now instead of 1:o

Worse, I like spiders and usually let them live indoors as they are great at catching the mozzies and other pesky insects that get in. I leave active webs alone and just get rid of the old, dusty ones. Unfortunately the vigorous cleaning and spraying I've been doing has killed some of my big hunting spiders! Aaaaargh! Now I've lost my little helpers :mad:

I'm moving on to citronella candles outdoors and lavender ones indoors now to see what happens. Fleas found over the last couple of days have all been dead, so maybe I'm getting on top of that problem, I hope

Sarahlou, your experience sounds like everyone's nightmare! Poor you!

We should all comfort ourselves that cat and dog flea problems do not mean that our homes are dirty, we just have pets and it is peak flea season. I still hate it though and want rid. Might have to call in the man with the van before much longer, I bet they are busy just now!

jacqhale

Thank you guys! I have a dr's appt today for DS. Thankfully he hasn't been scratching too much but a friend said he might need antihistamines so will see how we get on later.
Will try some citronella in our bedrooms and see what that does.
Will update tomorrow!