Fleas in rented property

Dukesy

Eurgh, I feel for you. I remember going home once after several months living away at uni, and waking up the first morning having been bitten all over.

Turned out that one of my parents cats had got fleas, but as it had been living in my part of the house (my parents house is a little odd, was once a black and white cottage, but has had various extensions over the last couple of hundred years, creating a couple of annexes), which noone had been into since I had gone to uni, the fleas hadn't been noticed. When I actually looked at the carpet, you could see them jumping around. Utterly disgusting. We used a powder, I think borax, which seemed to do the trick after a couple of treatments over a few weeks.

doodle-bug_2

We had an infestation of fleas once - nasty things. I don't like using chemical things as I have fish and other animals, so ended up using a steam cleaner - absolutely great! Cracks in the floorboards were a doddle, and nothing survived. Most fabrics etc are not an issue with the correct applicator, and ended up super clean in addition to flea-free. Would greatly recommend this course of action if you can.

chucknorris

G_M wrote: »

*yeah yeah - I know. Your dog does not have fleas.........!

Or smell.

Or bark while you're out.

Our dog certainly hasn't got fleas and neither did our previous dog, we use Frontline (preventative) and it seems to work fine, if it didn't he would be round to the vets in a flash.

Of course he smells of dog, but that is small price to pay for all the joy he brings into our life. As much as we love dogs that is the reason that we don't allow dogs in our other properties.

I can't guarantee that he won't bark while we are out, but he tends to come with us whenever possible, when not I tend to make sure that he has had plenty exercise and is tired out. This morning I am taking him walking and running for over an hour off lead on a nearby common before going to work this afternoon. Then he will be having his afternoon meal earlier than usual as I leave, and it will be different today i.e. sausages in 5 kongs and a rawhide chew, that will keep him occupied for about 75 mins, but more importantly also during the time that I first leave him. We leave him in our conservatory (with a few toys, water, food and his duvet) which has a dog flap into the garden, so he has the option of snoozing, playing with his toys or exploring the (100' long) garden.

Jabberwk

When I was a teenager we had a flea problem one summer (only time in 20 years of cat owning and seemed to be partly a weather thing). My mother had grown up in Australia where it's apparently a more common issue due to the climate. Once we got them off the cat with a decent flea treatment (much faster than getting them off the carpet) she instituted an ankle checking rule to make sure they didn't spread from the sitting room to the bedrooms. This actually worked quite well. Essentially, before entering one of the less flea-ridden rooms, check your ankles to make sure you aren't carrying any little hitchhikers with you. We did manage to keep them out of the bedrooms that way, but as others have indicated above it did take quite a long time, and a lot of treatments, to get the sitting room completely free of them.

john1002

thanks again, bitter and twisted that has really put my mind at rest, the link to the spray is what I have been using.

Will do the steam cleaning thing as well.

Hopefully as there is no food source I will see less and less till nothing and then be protected.

at least it is only a small infestation as we are not been bitten me or the kids.

Thanks everyone, cant wait to post that I have not seen anything for a few weeks.

john

G_M

chucknorris wrote: »

Our dog certainly hasn't got fleas and neither did our previous dog, we use Frontline (preventative) and it seems to work fine, if it didn't he would be round to the vets in a flash.

Of course he smells of dog, but that is small price to pay for all the joy he brings into our life. As much as we love dogs that is the reason that we don't allow dogs in our other properties.

I can't guarantee that he won't bark while we are out, but he tends to come with us whenever possible, when not I tend to make sure that he has had plenty exercise and is tired out. This morning I am taking him walking and running for over an hour off lead on a nearby common before going to work this afternoon. Then he will be having his afternoon meal earlier than usual as I leave, and it will be different today i.e. sausages in 5 kongs and a rawhide chew, that will keep him occupied for about 75 mins, but more importantly also during the time that I first leave him. We leave him in our conservatory (with a few toys, water, food and his duvet) which has a dog flap into the garden, so he has the option of snoozing, playing with his toys or exploring the (100' long) garden.

Wonderful though your dog sounds I'm afraid it makes little difference to my attitude towards letting to tenants with dogs.....

Fluff15

john1002 wrote: »

thanks again, bitter and twisted that has really put my mind at rest, the link to the spray is what I have been using.

Will do the steam cleaning thing as well.

Hopefully as there is no food source I will see less and less till nothing and then be protected.

at least it is only a small infestation as we are not been bitten me or the kids.

Thanks everyone, cant wait to post that I have not seen anything for a few weeks.

john

EDIT: Whoops, totally posted something B&T said, sorry!

chucknorris

G_M wrote: »

Wonderful though your dog sounds I'm afraid it makes little difference to my attitude towards letting to tenants with dogs.....

It isn't the dog (pet) that you have to worry about it is the owners (how they look after their pet), that's why I said in my post that we don't let out to dog (pet) owners either. I don't trust potential owners to be as responsible and as caring as we are.

pfpf

I kid you not....

when we moved in to our 1st home together we were infested (previous was a cat owner).

as I knew it was us they were after, one evening I sat in the LR in just a pair of shorts, with a bowl of water next to me. I sat there for 2 hours and literally picked the fleas off me as they jumped on, and into the bowl they went.

we never saw another flea after that evening.

john1002

Pfpf that is brave, not sure I could do that.

Good that it worked though think I would have nightmares, just the thought gets me scratching and sweating lol

John