Is this fleas?...Cheapest way to get rid of them (without costly pest control?)

LolitaLove

I'm not sure if this is fleas. Recently, we had an elderly relative come to visit. She doesn't drive so we dropped her home. She mentioned when visiting that she had ELEVEN cats and had just got a new one. When she left, we noticed bites on our leg. Almost straight away. We have a chihuahua but she has never had fleas and has flea and worming drops from the vets monthly. The minute our relative stepped foot into the house we started itching. We've all got bites, mostly on the legs but one has been bitten on the behind! They are little, itchy red bumps.

Is this likely to be fleas? If so, could they have travelled on my relative...woud that be a viable method of transmission?

Secondly, how do we get rid of them? After she left, we went through the house. We bought some insecticide flea stuff and hoovered the entire house, sprayed everything with flea spray, changed the bedding, washed blankets etc. The next day and we've been bit AGAIN. I don't know if I got bit in the car as we forgot to spray there.

I've read cat fleas are notoriously difficult to get rid of and often need specialist pest controllers in to rectify the situation. How can we avoid this...is there a cheap way of getting 100% rid of them? Thanks for any advice!

maninthestreet

Sounds very much like fleas to me. You can buy flea traps, but I'm not sure how effective they are.

VoucherMan

What sort of flea stuff?

Personally I'd spray the whole house with Acclaim. Worked for me after mine got fleas last year.

slipthru

VoucherMan wrote: »

What sort of flea stuff?

Personally I'd spray the whole house with Acclaim. Worked for me after mine got fleas last year.

Yes you will need to spray the house with this stuff and the cats will each need treating with a vet prescribed flea treatment like advocate monthly (or every couple of months to save money) or the fleas will just come back again, the ones you buy without prescription do not work.

VoucherMan

slipthru wrote: »

Yes you will need to spray the house with this stuff and the cats will each need treating with a vet prescribed flea treatment like advocate monthly (or every couple of months to save money) or the fleas will just come back again, the ones you buy without prescription do not work.

The op doesn't have cats. Just a dog

maninthestreet

At least the chihuahua is far easeir to treat for fleas than a St. Bernard....

NewtoDIY

Been through this and you shouldn't think about getting rid off them cheaply, rather getting rid of them properly. It doesn't need to be expensive either but it is important to not cut corners.

Having dealt with an extremely nasty case of flea bites I would suggest thefollowing:

1. Call local council pest control and say you've been bitten and that thehouse is covered in cat fleas. They may offer a free fumigation service. If not, buy two or three large cannisters of Indorex spray from an online retailer like Animed (if you buy from your Vet it will cost three times as much).

2. Vac up all over the house thoroughly with a BAGGED vacuum cleaner (Dyson etc. is useless and shouldn't be used). ONce done, seal the bag inside another bag and immediately place it in the rubbish outside of the house.

3. (this is unfortunately really improtant!) You need to fumigate the housein one go - not room by room. But to do this, you should get as much of the ground as is possible. By this I mean you should pile furniture upwards so that as much floor space as you can free up, is available to fumigate, then vac. If you aim for a good 80% floor space, you'll be doing fine. Wash all clothes that have been sitting out, on high heat (if you can), and think about curtains and textiles as well.

Open some windows and spray Indorex everywhere from the top of the house downwards. (Then leave the house or sit outside for a three hours untilthe fumes have dissipated).

4. By a few big bags/boxes of the cheapest and finest ground salt you canfind. Salt acts as a desiccant and it kills fleas and their eggs. You want tocover your floors with a thorough sprinkling.

5. You have to wait a number of days for the Flea killer to work - possiblyeven two weeks. After this time, you need to vac up every little nook andcranny you can get to. You're hoovering up dead fleas and their eggs so as soonas you're done, seal the bag and dispose outside.

6. Each time you vac up, use a new bag and dispose of accordingly.

The salt will cause your floor to be a bit damp but it's nothing to worryabout and will dry quickly. Far more important is to do this properly and onceonly.

After a few months you can spray the house again fully with Indorex.

slipthru

VoucherMan wrote: »

The op doesn't have cats. Just a dog

I missed the fact that the op was wanting to rid her own house of fleas and thought she was talking about the relatives house.

I have personally used indorex to rid my house of fleas and it worked perfectly.

meg72

Unless your relative was actually alive with the little pests unlikely then I think you are talking about relatively few brought into your house, you do need to move pretty quick as they do breed fast, but if you treat any pets that you have , vacuum carpets, and soft furnishings thoroughly I think you will be fine.

A very cheap trap for them is small dishes, I used the tinfoil tart
dishes filled with washing up liquid and water, 50/50 ratio.

Not nice when you have been bitten but I found swabbing with white vinegar brought quick relief.

Biggles

As you don't have cats, they will eventually die out, cat fleas don't live or breed on humans.

More assiduous vacuuming over the next few weeks should do the job.

maninthestreet

Biggles wrote: »

As you don't have cats, they will eventually die out, cat fleas don't live or breed on humans.

More assiduous vacuuming over the next few weeks should do the job.

what about the chihuahua?