Plagued by flies

paddypaws101

It is lovely that Summer is finally here and I start each day by throwing open the back door to let fresh air into the house....but also unfortunately a steady stream of flies.
I hate them, I mean I REALLY hate them in a verging-on-phobic kind of a way. I just cant settle if I hear that revolting buzzing noise and have to kill them before I can rest. Millie has joined me in this obsession and chases them all over, completely wrecking any window ledges or table tops.
The cats do use the garden to poop, but I clean up out there every day so that this does not attract flies. The cats are nibblers with the wet/raw food but I don't leave plates sitting round for long to minimise this as a lure.
I have tried various remedies, including
Amazon.co.uk: red top fly catcher
Which catches literally thousands of flies, but stinks beyond belief and attracts a steady cloud of the buzzing beasties.
Any ideas???

Fridaycat

Hmm... I would investigate what other causes there may be in your neighbourhood. I get one or two flies in the house (which are soon dealt with by one of the five cats, especially Spot - he loves chasing them)... but yours sounds quite excessive?

We have a big field behind us with cows in, so obviously a lot of poop there to attract flies, but still we don't suffer in the house like you do.

Is there something else in the vicinity that could be attracting all these flies to the general area?

paddypaws101

No there is nothing obvious in the area that I can think of, typical suburban terraced street, no restaurants or commercial bins etc in area.
I have probably killed a dozen flies already this morning.:mad:

ItchyFeet

Do you have dustbins or recycling near your back door? I used to have this problem when a neighbour's cat used to use the area near my back door as it's toilet area.

Sally_A

Flies tend to enter from the sunny side, so maybe only open windows in the shady side.

Without trying to gross you out, are you sure they are coming in and not trying to get out? If the cat has brought home a dead animal and hidden it, it could be from the corpse.

paddypaws101

Sally_A wrote: »

Flies tend to enter from the sunny side, so maybe only open windows in the shady side.

Without trying to gross you out, are you sure they are coming in and not trying to get out? If the cat has brought home a dead animal and hidden it, it could be from the corpse.

As I say....I don't open downstairs windows, just the back door but actually that area itself never gets direct sun.
And I am SURE they are coming in not breeding in the house ( ugh, flesh crawling image! ) This happens every summer, it's not a new thing.

paddypaws101

ItchyFeet wrote: »

Do you have dustbins or recycling near your back door? I used to have this problem when a neighbour's cat used to use the area near my back door as it's toilet area.

We have wheelie bins at the front of the house and I am scrupulous about not having stuff sitting in there attracting flies. I have a compost bin well away from the house at the back but the flies are not congregating round that.

BECKIN1507

May not help as its probably not your wheelie bin but I by this stuff I think its called bin fresh, you just sprinkle a bit in your bin and not only does it smell nice but it also kills flies! You can get it in morrisons and asda it's in the shape of a small bin, it's around £4 but it lasts ages so well worth the money. They do a green and a red one.

BECKIN1507

BECKIN1507 wrote: »

May not help as its probably not your wheelie bin but I by this stuff I think its called bin fresh, you just sprinkle a bit in your bin and not only does it smell nice but it also kills flies! You can get it in morrisons and asda it's in the shape of a small bin, it's around £4 but it lasts ages so well worth the money. They do a green and a red one.

Its called bin buddy http://www.challs.com/en/bin_buddy/

rising_from_the_ashes

Have you tried fly paper?

It's horrible stuff (sticky so they stick to it) - they do work .... used to live on a farm and it was awful in the summer.

You should be able to get in a hardware shop (or online if nowhere near you) and they're cheap!

mandragora_2

Have a look at this thread - perhaps they should be merged?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3979643
Anyway, lotsof ideas here - fans of the bug zapper, mostly, but I like, you, hate to have them in the house. My compromise is to have one area open that that air can flow through all day, rest of the house closed off. Then, at the end of the day, I'll get in there with the hoover and suck 'em all up!! I've a suspicion I may be on my own in this one, but it works for me!