Flea Bites Central - anyone infected and treatment?

dogstarheaven

I've been overrun with flea bites over the past 2 months, and have not suspected my cat being the culprit as I didn't notice the obvious signs of him scratching incessantly (also, I Frontline him regularly). But after suffering with new bites everyday for the past 10 days, I've been told about this year's infestation. I've just done the house in Staykill for fleas, and am waiting on it's effect. Can anyone advise what I need to do afterwards please? The bottle doesn't suggest about hoovering afterwards, so is that all there is?

I've done all the areas where the cat usually walk on/and sleep (catflap too). Should I wipe down the surfaces where he sleeps? Although, it's suggested the human bedding shouldn't be sprayed on, but I gave the air a good spray just above it.

Oh, forgot to mention that I've not spotted any live fleas either on myself or the cat. I've noticed yesterday for the first time, a flea dead ones on him, and one live one when I emptied out the vacumn cleaner.

I'm at the end of my tether now to the point where I'm losing sleep over this as I'm itching like mad in the middle of the night and getting very hot and bothered. Anyone going through this nightmare?

I can't wait for winter to come...:cool::cool:

balletshoes

have you sprayed your whole house?

I use Indorex, once a year - after hoovering all through the house I spray every room of the house, close to and around the floors and skirting boards, as well as around my soft furnishings.

meritaten

have you got a steam cleaner? if not, can you borrow one? you can do all the soft furnishings and kill any fleas with one of those.
fleas are becoming a real problem - many of the proprietry treatments don't work now. Frontline is one of them. try a different brand.
Staykill is fine for house deflea-ing. but, in my experience the effects don't last a full year.

I had a very bad infestation the year before last - I had to use household flea killer, a steam cleaner, and a change to Advantage spot on before it got under control. and I still battle fleas! I actually saw one jump ON my cat in the garden the other day! poor cat was whisked up and combed until I found it!
good luck!

dandelionclock30

These are good for the house http://www.pestcontrolsupplies.co.uk/insecto-flea-destroyer-bomb-150ml-triple-pack.
One for each major room, the others I sprayed with Indorex. You also have to wash all your bedding and hoover the matresses and also get the pets new bedding.
Hoover the whole house everyday and pay attention to the skirting boards and buy Advantage or Stronghold for the cats. Cheap flea stuff ,like Bob Martins does'nt work. Also like someone above said Frontline doesnt either or anything with Fipronil in.
For advantage and stronghold you either have to get it from the vet or get a prescription from the vet and buy it online.
Unfortunatley all this is fairly expensive but its worth it not to be bitten all the time.

livingfrugally

Hi, The flea eggs and larvae can live in the environment for up to 2 years and each female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day! So it's easy for things to get out of hand very quickly. Indorex is excellent.

I would strongly advise you to get your flea control from your vets, it's more expensive because it's prescription, and because it's prescription it works! Treat all pets in the household regularly, wash any bedding on a 60 degree hot wash if you are able, don't stop flea treatment over the winter as they are a year round problem now. Only 5% of fleas are found on your pet, 95% is the eggs and larval stage in the environment. If you use a prescription product from your vet like Stronghold or Advocate they will not only kill the live fleas, but sterilise them also, so they cannot reproduce. This is what you do not get in over the counter medicines so if you treat with a prescription product all year round you shouldn't get a problem in the house so regular house control should not be necessary. Good luck!!

dogstarheaven

meritaten wrote: »

have you got a steam cleaner? if not, can you borrow one? you can do all the soft furnishings and kill any fleas with one of those.No, I haven't...at what stage do I use this - before the treatment? Now that I used Staykill, I shall wait and see if it's had any effect. I woke up with just the one bite today but another one came up later:o
fleas are becoming a real problem - many of the proprietry treatments don't work now. Frontline is one of them. try a different brand.
Staykill is fine for house deflea-ing. but, in my experience the effects don't last a full year.

I had a very bad infestation the year before last - I had to use household flea killer, a steam cleaner, and a change to Advantage spot on before it got under control. and I still battle fleas! I actually saw one jump ON my cat in the garden the other day! poor cat was whisked up and combed until I found it!
good luck!

oh dear, seems like i'm looking at a longer-term solution for this year then...

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

These are good for the house http://www.pestcontrolsupplies.co.uk/insecto-flea-destroyer-bomb-150ml-triple-pack.
One for each major room, the others I sprayed with Indorex. You also have to wash all your bedding and hoover the matresses and also get the pets new bedding. i have done that... unfortunately, my upright Dyson doesn't work with the hose so I had to haul the whole thing on the beds:eek:
Hoover the whole house everyday and pay attention to the skirting boards and buy Advantage or Stronghold for the cats. Cheap flea stuff ,like Bob Martins does'nt work. Also like someone above said Frontline doesnt either or anything with Fipronil in.
For advantage and stronghold you either have to get it from the vet or get a prescription from the vet and buy it online.
Unfortunatley all this is fairly expensive but its worth it not to be bitten all the time.

I'm going to look into changing to this brand then, although I have bulk-bought Fronline for the next 8mths!!:eek: being the MSE that I am

livingfrugally wrote: »

Hi, The flea eggs and larvae can live in the environment for up to 2 years and each female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day! :eek::eek:that's just sosoososo bad news, I feel sick!!So it's easy for things to get out of hand very quickly. Indorex is excellent.

I would strongly advise you to get your flea control from your vets, it's more expensive because it's prescription, and because it's prescription it works! Treat all pets in the household regularly, wash any bedding on a 60 degree hot wash if you are able, i haven't woollen blankets for the sofa so they had to go on a woollen wash last night.. will that be okay. I I wasn't sure whether sticking it in the freezer would kill off the bluddy nasties (not that I have the room) don't stop flea treatment over the winter as they are a year round problem now. Only 5% of fleas are found on your pet, 95% is the eggs and larval stage in the environment. If you use a prescription product from your vet like Stronghold or Advocate they will not only kill the live fleas, but sterilise them alsothat's reassuring to know, so they cannot reproduce. This is what you do not get in over the counter medicines so if you treat with a prescription product all year round you shouldn't get a problem in the house so regular house control should not be necessary. Good luck!!

I'm surprised that no-one else is having this problem on here. Maybe the population just migrated to Nott'm as we're just tastier!!:cool::cool:

dandelionclock30

I'd sell the leftover frontline on Ebay, they may be ok for some cats and areas.
I got bitten myself 4 times in the night on the ankle so I'm going to have to do all this myself again.
I've struggled with this since a big infestation last September.
Good luck with it all.

dogstarheaven

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I'd sell the leftover frontline on Ebay, they may be ok for some cats and areas.
I got bitten myself 4 times in the night on the ankle so I'm going to have to do all this myself again.
I've struggled with this since a big infestation last September.
Good luck with it all.

i've had to deal with this on my ownsome as no-one at work nor family seems to understand. How can you have had this continue for all this time, despite your recommendation of Indorex etc. How often are you spraying? I'm seriously thinking of chucking out my duvet and pillows now, much to my dismay.
what treatment are you using for the bites? I've used the rubbish Anthisan from Boots, Sudocream and tea tree oil. Taken Piriton, Certrizine and currently Lora...tine or something (suffer with hayfever too) but none of these worked.:(:(

dandelionclock30

Well they had totally gone from September until about a month ago when I got another bite and then last night. So its not been a constant continuing problem.
I sprayed round last about a month ago and obviously I wash the bedding regularily anyway.
If after this time I get bitten again then I'm getting the foggers as they seem to work best.
Most people I know with cats get the odd flea bite, maybe other people dont.Some people are more suseptable to being bitten than others as well. I dont treat them I just let them heal up by themselves.

meritaten

don't chuck the duvets or pillows - get a steamer! honestly hun - no flea can live through that! I do mine a couple of times a year. even though I used Staykill last time - I steamed ALL the carpets, duvets, cushions.
I am allergic to insect bites - so is my cat. and fleas like to live in the carpets near skirting boards and lay eggs anywhere - but preferably somewhere soft and warm.............so I nuke them with the steamer!
I cant use the 'smoke bomb' - cant take the chance because of asthma - but its the most effective 'bug killer' according to many sites. but it kills the 'good' bugs too.

iammumtoone

I had an infestation and i dont even have a cat :eek: they came from a cat that visits us

To those who are getting bitten, It can't be very nice but does have one advantage - you know you have fleas! they don't bite me (must have bad blood :rotfl:) however this meant I didn't know I had an issue as I had no cat to see scratching either! When I noticed one, I then started looking and saw about 5 or 6 - thats a bad problem. I sprayed the house with Indorex it seems to have worked after that the ones I saw were not very quick and I could catch them easily, but I do worry that they will re-appear again

What it did was lay out a plate with washing up liquid and water in every room at night (about 1 part liquid to 2 parts water - I got the cheapest value liquid). You are suppose to light a candle in the middle of it but I didn't fancy leaving lighted candles unattended so used those battery operated tea lights (4 in a pack from £land). The fleas jump toward the light and drown in the water/washing up liquid. The first few nights I did this I caught loads then it went down, it was a way to monitor it. I still do this about once a week just to check they haven't come back:(