Household flea spray

beks

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Dysons are on offer for £100 in Asda (store not online), which might help keep the population down. Steam cleaning is supposed to be highly effective, if you can borrow one?

These would not be much good for wooden flooring though which I think OP has! Could use on rugs etc though although washing at a high temp would probably have the same effect.
In our house, I reckon the fleas were either down the cracks in the wooden flooring or in the leather sofa (which I didnt treat). For me, with laminate flooring, the best buy (because it worked) was the fortefog flea bombs. We used three for the whole house (medium size). They were pretty toxic though so would have to be prepared to leave the house for a while and keep animals and children out for as long as possible.

paddypaws101

I don't think I can shut 4 cats out for long this time of year so I think I will give the bomb a miss for now. Incidentally I have never actually seen a flea so it is not as if we are over run....but Nellie has flea allergy dermatitis so even one little bite and she gets really itchy and starts chewing her fur off. I am also a naturally itchy person so maybe I over react too!
The vet has said that this fashion for wooden or laminate floors seems to really suit fleas as they love the gaps around skirting boards etc

POSSETTE

Dont be ashamed about having fleas in house! Anyone with an animal in thier home WILL HAVE AT LEAST 1 FLEA!!!
Its just accepted that they need dealing with now and again,even when i have treated my boys they still scratch for a while.

BitterAndTwisted

Even if you have treated the cats successfully AND sprayed the house and furnishings with an effective environmental spray containing an Insect Growth Regulator you will continue to see adult fleas for a time. This is because no product has yet been invented which kills the fleas once they've pupated. The Permethrin and the flea treatment on the cats WILL do this once they have emerged. So, just keep on doing what you have have done already and you should see a vast improvement quite soon.

Fire_Fox

beks wrote: »

These would not be much good for wooden flooring though which I think OP has! Could use on rugs etc though although washing at a high temp would probably have the same effect.

You can use both a Dyson and a 'dry' type steam cleaner on hard floors as long as you get the right model. And I read somewhere that steam cleaning kills all stages of development, including the pupae.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Even if you have treated the cats successfully AND sprayed the house and furnishings with an effective environmental spray containing an Insect Growth Regulator you will continue to see adult fleas for a time. This is because no product has yet been invented which kills the fleas once they've pupated. The Permethrin and the flea treatment on the cats WILL do this once they have emerged. So, just keep on doing what you have have done already and you should see a vast improvement quite soon.

Here it says you can get nematode worms to kill flea pupae! :cool: No idea if you can use them indoors tho ...
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/documents/fleacontrol.pdf

beks

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You can use both a Dyson and a 'dry' type steam cleaner on hard floors as long as you get the right model. And I read somewhere that steam cleaning kills all stages of development, including the pupae.



Here it says you can get nematode worms to kill flea pupae! :cool: No idea if you can use them indoors tho ...
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/documents/fleacontrol.pdf

LOL!! Can you imagine spreading the worms around your front room?!!!

cavework

Hi OP .. the problem is central heating. Probably because we had a mild Autumn you didn't need the heating on?
We get a cold snap and the temperature in the house goes up.. then the little critters become active. They work on vibration .. footfall and carbon dioxide emmissions and are very hungry when they hatch.
If your not sure how bad the infestation is .. put a sheet of white paper on the floor, stamp about a bit and see what happens, if its bad you should soon see a few.
Your cats really do need to be treated regularly , they may not like it but believe me it's better than the misery they go through when having fleas.
I work in places where I often bring cat fleas home and my cats have to be frontlined every 4 weeks!
Sometimes you can't see the little critters on your cat , have a look at the places where they spend a lot of time lying down .. if you see a lot of black 'dandruff' that is flea droppings and a sure sign..
x

thorsoak

First time I did a big "flea kill", I was advised to vacuum thoroughly first, then spray (not forgetting the bottoms of sofas and chairs) - and then not vacuum again for a week! That way, apparently, the chemicals managed to soften the pupae which would otherwise be able to progress into fleas.

Remember - one flea on the cat, 100 fleas in the carpet :eek:

Fire_Fox

beks wrote: »

LOL!! Can you imagine spreading the worms around your front room?!!!

:rotfl::rotfl: Luckily nematodes are microscopic.

paddypaws101

cavework wrote: »

Hi OP .. the problem is central heating. Probably because we had a mild Autumn you didn't need the heating on?
We get a cold snap and the temperature in the house goes up.. then the little critters become active. They work on vibration .. footfall and carbon dioxide emmissions and are very hungry when they hatch.

Yes, this all applies...no heating for a long time then lots of heating and people clumping round the house over the holidays.


If your not sure how bad the infestation is .. put a sheet of white paper on the floor, stamp about a bit and see what happens, if its bad you should soon see a few.

Oh No! I have never actually seen a single flea let alone an infestation ( it's the truth Mummy honestly ) Most of my furniture is cream and cats lie on cream Ikea fleeces so I guess I would see them easily.
Your cats really do need to be treated regularly , they may not like it but believe me it's better than the misery they go through when having fleas.
I work in places where I often bring cat fleas home and my cats have to be frontlined every 4 weeks!

It's not just the expense ( would be nearly £30 per month ) but I really try not to overload the cats with chemicals.

It seems to have settled down...as I said before Nellie has FAD so reacts to even ONE bite...and I am much the same.

I have received the Skoosh and will try that down next!