is washing clothes and bedding at 60 degrees hot enough to kill fleas?

greggy209

hi

we have a terrible flea problem with our cat, is washing clothes and bedding at 60 degrees hot enough to kill fleas and flea eggs,larva and pupae?

thank you very much

Red_Doe

I'd use the 90 degree cycle if you have one, the boil wash. Also, hoover daily around the room especially getting into corners and around skirtings etc, and dispose of the hoovered contents by burning or somewhere like a plastic bag into your wheelie bin.
Hoover the mattress too, and you can also wash pillows though depends on their stuffing as to what temperature, so check any labels.

greggy209

thank you red doe, use 90 degrees for all human clothing?

Red_Doe

greggy209 wrote: »

thank you red doe, use 90 degrees for all human clothing?

No, but for cotton, and linen, yes. For acrylics you've no choice but to use the 60 degree wash or the heat can literally melt the fibres, at best making them wrinkled and shrunk. You could add some tea tree oil in with the clothing wash, the boil wash will take care of the cotton sheets ok though. Hope this helps.

greggy209

Red_Doe wrote: »

No, but for cotton, and linen, yes. For acrylics you've no choice but to use the 60 degree wash or the heat can literally melt the fibres, at best making them wrinkled and shrunk. You could add some tea tree oil in with the clothing wash, the boil wash will take care of the cotton sheets ok though. Hope this helps.

it does help thank you

for my delicate like fleeces and wools would 40 degrees be ok or should i just do them at 60, i don't want to shrink or damage the clothes but i do want to kill fleas, they are ruining my life

i will wash all non dedicates at 90 though, thank you

lovebooks_2

This threads making me itch. :rotfl:

Red_Doe

greggy209 wrote: »

it does help thank you

for my delicate like fleeces and wools would 40 degrees be ok or should i just do them at 60, i don't want to shrink or damage the clothes but i do want to kill fleas, they are ruining my life

i will wash all non dedicates at 90 though, thank you

Woollens, you will have to do on your machine's wool cycle unless you are hand washing them.
How bad is the problem? Sometimes, you can get kinda 'eek!' if you find out the cat has fleas and imagine they are everywhere, even if they aren't. Normally, regular hoovering and washing bedlinen etc keeps a check on it, well that plus de fleaing the cat...good luck with that! When I had to do mine, I needed chain mail gloves! :eek:

HappyMJ

The fleas will be living in the carpet mainly and you can't wash that at 90. Warm soapy water at any temperature even 30 will wash away the larvae and eggs. Vaccuum everything thouroughly and then vaccuum it all again then spray the house with household flea spray.

Mojisola

greggy209 wrote: »

we have a terrible flea problem with our cat, is washing clothes and bedding at 60 degrees hot enough to kill fleas and flea eggs,larva and pupae?

You won't get rid of fleas by washing at 90 degrees because the eggs, the larvae and most of the adult fleas won't be in your clothes - http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/FAQ_fleacycle.htm and http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/FAQ_fleacontrol.htm

TeaCake

I can recommend this stuff for helping deal with the problem as well.

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-treatments-household-flea-sprays-c-3_419/vetkem-acclaim-household-flea-spray-400ml-can-p-16

Thats the cheapest ive found it, my vet charges £25 for it :eek:

greggy209

Red_Doe wrote: »

Woollens, you will have to do on your machine's wool cycle unless you are hand washing them.
How bad is the problem? Sometimes, you can get kinda 'eek!' if you find out the cat has fleas and imagine they are everywhere, even if they aren't. Normally, regular hoovering and washing bedlinen etc keeps a check on it, well that plus de fleaing the cat...good luck with that! When I had to do mine, I needed chain mail gloves! :eek:

the problem is very bad, they are everywhere, the house is seriously infested

i hoovered the whole house everyday very thoroughly for 2 weeks and it didn't help, and we have a good hoover

we're on our third can of acclaim flea spray and about to need a fourth

it's not my cat it's my dad's he's treated it with 2 different kinds of flea treatments and is going to the vets to get some more tomorrow

it's been like this for months now and i'm beyond upset about it

thank you very much for your help