fleas! do not know what else to do :(

sally06

Ruby_Moon wrote: »

What about getting a flea comb and combing them?
You then put the fleas in a bowl of water to drown them. Make you you squirt a tiny bit of washing up liquid or shampoo in the water first, then the fleas will sink and drown.

we had to do this because we'd used BM spot-on (don't ever risk using this useless stuff on your pets), a spray and flea powder on our cats - none of it worked though. The vet told us to wait a week before applying advocate as it is risky to use too many flea killing products at once. Every day I used a flea comb on my 3 cats, but it was very difficult to get all of the fleas into the soapy water. The ones I couldn't catch used to jump on me, yuk! I don't ever want to go down that road again. It was horrible!

Ruby_Moon

sally06 wrote: »

we had to do this because we'd used BM spot-on (don't ever risk using this useless stuff on your pets), a spray and flea powder on our cats - none of it worked though. The vet told us to wait a week before applying advocate as it is risky to use too many flea killing products at once. Every day I used a flea comb on my 3 cats, but it was very difficult to get all of the fleas into the soapy water. The ones I couldn't catch used to jump on me, yuk! I don't ever want to go down that road again. It was horrible!

You don't need to 'catch' the fleas.

Get on the floor, have a bowl of soapy water next to you and then comb the cat downwards towards the water.
Hold the comb immediately over the water and they either fall into it or have stuck into the comb and you can pull them off the comb with your fingers.
I never get any on me doing it like that bar the odd one.

sally06

ali-t wrote: »

Why wouldn't the council charge? I don't understand your roll eyes emoticon as generally fleas are as a result of not using appropriate flea prevention treatment. I would hate to think my council tax payments etc were going towards paying for people who hadn't taken adequate precautions.

firstly, the 'rolled eyes' are because I think my council charge too much for this service in comparison with other councils. I do not expect them to offer the service for free. However, a reasonable price inline with other councils is what I would expect to pay.

secondly, I did (I am sure others have too) take adequate precautions. I just happened to use a spot-on treatment that did not work. We are not all 'experts' on flea treatments. Some of us have had to learn the hard way. In future I will only use the combo treatments. Yes, they cost more. But it is worth it for peace of mind.

Ruby_Moon

ali-t wrote: »

Why wouldn't the council charge? I don't understand your roll eyes emoticon as generally fleas are as a result of not using appropriate flea prevention treatment. I would hate to think my council tax payments etc were going towards paying for people who hadn't taken adequate precautions.

The council shouldn't charge for the treatment because its an infestation that could be detrimental to the health of others.
Just because a house may be infested with fleas doesn't mean to say that it was due to the current occupiers. The previous occupants may have also had pets with fleas and their lavae and eggs could be everywhere.
They can lay dormant for upto 2 years!!
Sometimes, these kinds of infestations can become problematic and difficult to get rid of, not just because pet owners are lazy but because the insects can become resistant to the chemicals, thus making them hard to get rid of.
Same goes for children and nits in their hair. Sometimes they are really difficult to get rid of and need specialist help (free) from the NHS. Do you begrudge people that too??

Fire_Fox

charlysez wrote: »

you can try adding garlic salt to their food, apparently fleas dont like garlic either!! as for the house, there is a spray from the vets, its orange, stinks to high heaven but works on carpets and furniture. you might have had little bits on your feet and ankles if they are in the carpets, this would be a good time to rip out all the carpets and go with polished floor boards!!!!

I've already posted to say don't give salt to cats, then I came across this on the Purrsinourhearts Cat Care Guides:

"Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions, Garlic etc

Onions contain disulphides (or thiosulphate) that destroy red blood cells in the cat, causing a form of anaemia called Heinz body anaemia (a haemolytic or red-cell-bursting anaemia). All forms of onion are toxic: raw, dried, powdered or cooked. Ready meals, takeaways and baby foods containing onion or onion powder must not be fed to pets as treats. Baby food such as "beef dinner" or "lamb dinner" is sometimes fed to cats as a tonic, but the onion powder used to add flavour will do more harm than good. Onion powder may be used as a flavouring in instant gravy.

Garlic contains a similar substance in a lesser amount and much larger quantities would be needed to cause illness. In some continental countries owners have added a little garlic to a pet's meals on the basis that garlic is good for humans so it must be good for pets as well. With their very different liver function, foods harmless to humans can be deadly to cats.

Onion toxicity results in haemolytic anaemia, where the red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. Symptoms occur a few days after eating onion. The first symptoms are generally gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy (because the oxygen-carrying red blood cells are damaged). The red pigment from the burst blood cells is excreted in the urine and it becomes breathless as there are fewer cells to transport oxygen around the body.

Onion poisoning can result after a single meal containing a large amount of onion relative to body size or repeated meals containing smaller amounts of onion."

ali-t

Ruby_Moon wrote: »

Same goes for children and nits in their hair. Sometimes they are really difficult to get rid of and need specialist help (free) from the NHS. Do you begrudge people that too??

No, because the NHS isn't free. It is free at the point of contact which is entirely different to being free.

klee1505

i do comb then but usually shove them in tissue then flush it but i think that might work better putting them in a bowel will try this later thanks everyone

charlysez

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I've already posted to say don't give salt to cats, then I came across this on the Purrsinourhearts Cat Care Guides:

"Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions, Garlic etc

Onions contain disulphides (or thiosulphate) that destroy red blood cells in the cat, causing a form of anaemia called Heinz body anaemia (a haemolytic or red-cell-bursting anaemia). All forms of onion are toxic: raw, dried, powdered or cooked. Ready meals, takeaways and baby foods containing onion or onion powder must not be fed to pets as treats. Baby food such as "beef dinner" or "lamb dinner" is sometimes fed to cats as a tonic, but the onion powder used to add flavour will do more harm than good. Onion powder may be used as a flavouring in instant gravy.

Garlic contains a similar substance in a lesser amount and much larger quantities would be needed to cause illness. In some continental countries owners have added a little garlic to a pet's meals on the basis that garlic is good for humans so it must be good for pets as well. With their very different liver function, foods harmless to humans can be deadly to cats.

Onion toxicity results in haemolytic anaemia, where the red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. Symptoms occur a few days after eating onion. The first symptoms are generally gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy (because the oxygen-carrying red blood cells are damaged). The red pigment from the burst blood cells is excreted in the urine and it becomes breathless as there are fewer cells to transport oxygen around the body.

Onion poisoning can result after a single meal containing a large amount of onion relative to body size or repeated meals containing smaller amounts of onion."

http://www.swellpets.co.uk/cat/cat-health-products-855/cat-medicines-890/johnsons-dog-cat-garlic-tablets-28774.html

perhaps someone should tell the petfood manufacturers to stop poisioning pets.........

Ruby_Moon

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I've already posted to say don't give salt to cats, then I came across this on the Purrsinourhearts Cat Care Guides:

"Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions, Garlic etc

Onions contain disulphides (or thiosulphate) that destroy red blood cells in the cat, causing a form of anaemia called Heinz body anaemia (a haemolytic or red-cell-bursting anaemia). All forms of onion are toxic: raw, dried, powdered or cooked. Ready meals, takeaways and baby foods containing onion or onion powder must not be fed to pets as treats. Baby food such as "beef dinner" or "lamb dinner" is sometimes fed to cats as a tonic, but the onion powder used to add flavour will do more harm than good. Onion powder may be used as a flavouring in instant gravy.

Garlic contains a similar substance in a lesser amount and much larger quantities would be needed to cause illness. In some continental countries owners have added a little garlic to a pet's meals on the basis that garlic is good for humans so it must be good for pets as well. With their very different liver function, foods harmless to humans can be deadly to cats.

Onion toxicity results in haemolytic anaemia, where the red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. Symptoms occur a few days after eating onion. The first symptoms are generally gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy (because the oxygen-carrying red blood cells are damaged). The red pigment from the burst blood cells is excreted in the urine and it becomes breathless as there are fewer cells to transport oxygen around the body.

Onion poisoning can result after a single meal containing a large amount of onion relative to body size or repeated meals containing smaller amounts of onion."

Whats up? What are you cutting and pasting all this rubbish for?
Do you not understand cats very well? They wont eat an onion or garlic if you plonked it in their dish but they might munch on a bit of chicken kiev that finds its way into dinner.
However, do you know why a cat will eat said Kiev? Because the levels of actual garlic and/or onion are so low that they aren't that bothered by it.
Animals have this canny knack of not eating what is poisonous to them, you know. :rolleyes:

klee1505

i tried the water bowl thing with the comb and it worked so well not one jumped off!!!! thanks for the help hopefully doing this and hoovering every thing all the time and the flea spray will get rid of them. thanks