Fleas in the house!

penelopedee_2

There are lots of products that help with home flea infestation and there are more than one active ingredient used. Some work by stopping fleas breed, some kill fleas, larve and pupae, and some suffocate fleas, you just need to read all the detail on the back of the product to see what it does.

I tend to use a flea killing powder on my carpets that can be hoovered away afterwards and then a spray on everything else. Don't forget cracks in laminate flooring or between skirting boards, underneath mattresses, under the sofa cushions and the back and sides of the sofa/chairs.

As vl2588 posted, most fleas live in the home environment and just use the pet for feeding, so once you have done the house it should be easier to get something to keep them off your cats.

Sorry if this sounds a bit preachy, just trying to be helpful. Pen

Greatgimp

Why has nobody mentioned treating the car too?

penelopedee_2

Good thinking! I've had to spray mine before after a summer visit to the vets (have 4 cats so one of them aways catches me out).:o

spike7451

I once done a job in a customers hme when I was with NTL & the place was stinking!
Dog eating out of a food encrusted Quality Street tin....anyhoo,I had to go home as I was being bit to b uggery by the fleas I got from her home,ended up stripping off my uniform on the landing of my apartment but Orbit still got them.Trip to the vets for some Spot On for him & flea spray for the house,took me a good week or so to kill them all.
I gather they can lie dormant on bedding,carpets ect.

Kimberley

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

It doesn't make any difference whether you're animals are treated or not, fleas will still hitch a ride into your home on either you or your pets. They will only be killed if they feed on your pets, depending on which flea protection products you use of course.

The only way to protect against a household infestation is to treat your house annually with a proper household flea spray such as Acclaim or Indorex. Don't bother with pet shop products, they're useless.

Well i've grown up with pets and I or my mother have never had to treat our homes.

Rummer

Our cats seem to really attract fleas and we treat them all the time (on vets advice) we have used the chemical home treatment but it was costing a fortune and we have found that regular treatments for the cats was the most effective method of management. Just make sure the flea treatment you are using comes from the vet.

Kaz2904

I treated my cat with frontline. About 3 days into her 5th month of the stuff she started showing signs of having fleas. I didn't know of anything else I could treat her with in combination so it was hell. We were all being bitten and eaten alive. I treated her with a different product as soon as that one had run out but we still had the fleas. I treated the whole house with a spray bought from ebay (advertised on the pet sites too) but as it was high summer, it still took a while to clear. I hoovered daily and pulled all furniture out regularly.
I was in the car a couple of times and noticed fleas on my ankles so that got cleaned too.

I still was mortified when I went into the cloakroom one night to get my coat when I'd been at work for hours and could see fleas jumping off my coat.

Thankfully we have been okish since last summer ended but I fully expect to have to do something come the summer. I expect the cold snap did wonders for the flea population!

BitterAndTwisted

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

The products I mentioned are not solely available from vets. They can be purchased from both online and high street pharmacies.

Acclaim is actually on special offer at the moment for just £8.67 a can from vetuk.co.uk



This is not true! Vetkem Acclaim will kill fleas in both adult and larval stages and provide protection in the home against any eggs hatching for 12 months. It also kills house dust mites, ants, cockroaches and spiders!!

Sorry, but it is you who is in error. You are correct when you say that environmental sprays will kill fleas in the adult and larval stages, even prevent the eggs from hatching in some cases but not the pupae. As I said, no insecticides work on the pupae and I offer my evidence for that assertion here:

http://www.fleafree.co.uk/about_fleas/en/pupae.shtml

Although I accept that some sprays do offer long-term protection against the newly hatched adults surviving but unless the cat is protected as well the life-cycle may not be broken. All it would take is two fleas of the opposite sex to not be killed upon hatching and it starts all over again

~Chameleon~

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Sorry, but it is you who is in error. You are correct when you say that environmental sprays will kill fleas in the adult and larval stages, even prevent the eggs from hatching in some cases but not the pupae. As I said, no insecticides work on the pupae and I offer my evidence for that assertion here:

http://www.fleafree.co.uk/about_fleas/en/pupae.shtml

Although I accept that some sprays do offer long-term protection against the newly hatched adults surviving but unless the cat is protected as well the life-cycle may not be broken. All it would take is two fleas of the opposite sex to not be killed upon hatching and it starts all over again

You are correct in that an insecticide won't kill fleas in the pupal stage but what the Novartis link (a flea product manufacturer) failed to mention is that once the adult flea emerges from it's cocoon it needs to feed on an animal before it can go on to reproduce.

This is where good flea control for your animals is paramount. If using an adulticide such as Frontline, Advantage, Stronghold then the flea will be killed immediately upon feeding on your pet.

However, if using a product called Programme (made by Novartis) the flea won't immediately be killed but will be rendered infertile so will be unable to produce any eggs, therefore will die within a week anyway.

BUT..... if you have sprayed your house with Vetkem Acclaim as I suggested, you won't need to worry about any of that as the adult fleas emerging from their pupal sac will be killed on contact with the environment anyway as Acclaim gives TWELVE MONTHS protection, and costs less than £10 PER YEAR to protect your home, which is a small price to pay for peace of mind!


As with anything else though, no product is 100% guaranteed to kill all fleas. For example, if when they emerge as adults they feed on your ankles rather than the cat/dog then they can go on to lay eggs and start the cycle all over, but, if your house is also protected this should stop them in their tracks at the egg/larvae stage.

BitterAndTwisted

Adult fleas do bite humans where there is no animal host but cannot live on human blood. Therefore I doubt that they could go on to breed at all.

Protecting the animals using a product which will only kill the fleas once they bite their hosts makes me very uneasy. A lot of cats suffer flea-bite allergy and if there are a lot of fleas in the home, it could take quite a while a whole heap of misery to the animal before the product starts to have an effect. Only rendering them infertile is worse to me: imagine how many bites the animal could suffer before the flea finally dies off. One flea on the cat could equate to hundreds or even thousands lurking around the home waiting to hatch. I would always use an environmental spray everywhere in the home with a product like Acclaim once a single flea is sighted.