Fleas in my house

Swampy3k

My partner moved in some months ago and brought with her 2 cats, I don't mind the felines and actually enjoy their company however we now have fleas in the house. and these are doing my NUT right in, does anyone have any hints/tips or know how to get rid of them/ how long this took?

it went some weeks before we noticed there was fleas, and they have properly attacked my legs... due to me never owning cats before and them being housebound before she moved in with me. we didn't know what to look for (the cats escaped one day and came back so we figured what to hell, got them both injections etc and let them carry on as they seemed happier exploring). But due to the time lapse I feel they are now well established in the house and they bite on me all the time, (and it's sooo itchy!!) Yesterday I hoovered the bedroom (and house) from top to bottom and changed the bedding, showered, then put on shorts and went to sit on the bed, and alas there was a flea on my leg noshing on it. as well as my partner was in bed and reached for her phone which was charging on the floor and her arm came back with 4 fleas on it...
HELP! :eek:

so_very_confused

Hi Davie G I get Advantage or stronghold from vet and use Indorax in the house, however not everyone favours these. There is an extensive thread in pets and pet care within the marriage and relationship board lots of posts. Good luck with the fleas:)

elaine373

I second the Advantage and Indorax. We had this problem and it was quite frankly , a very annoying and embarrassing problem. Took several cans to get on top of it. Been fine since but you do have to keep up the flea drops.

JodyBPM

Advocate at the vets to treat the cats. Its a monthly medication, and you have to keep it up to stop the problem reoccurring.

Indorex for the house. Buy it from Amazon, its about half the price than at the vets. You may need to spray several times so solve the problem as you have an infestation, so buy a couple of tins. Then routinely spray a couple of times a year as a deterrant. I find its good to spray in the spring, and then again late summer.

You can get the council in to deal with the infestation. We did that once, but it cost about £70, but they do keep coming to respray until the problem is gone. Might be cheaper if you are a council tenant or in receipt of benefits.

Errata

my partner was in bed and reached for her phone which was charging on the floor and her arm came back with 4 fleas on it

You have an extremely serious major infestation of fleas which only the council will be able to reliably deal with. You are also neglecting the cats by not regularly grooming them and checking for flea faeces.
Additionally, both you and your partner need to be confident that you're not transporting fleas into your workplace on your clothes.

Seabee42

This has happened to me to. The thing to know about all the flea killing stuff is whilst it works fleas have a pupae stage and in this the flea stuff doesn't work because the chemicals cannot get in.

I used flea bombs which worked for me (you must treat the cats as well or they will just get reinfected and bring them back in) and remember to re bomb every week for at least three weeks because of the pupae stage.

Good luck! Vacumming helps to, flea traps did not work for me.

CathA

Another tip is, if you get a flea collar for the cat and cut off any excess, put the excess in the hoover bag/cylinder. Then when you hoover and possibly pick up fleas or their eggs, they are killed by the pesticide from the collar. I don't know if there is an actual product designed to go into hoovers, but I've always done this with my dogs.

sarahkmv

RIP Flea Extra is fab for carpets/the house.


http://www.monsterpetsupplies.co.uk/p-20900-rip-fleas-extra-spray-500ml.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=google-shopping&gclid=CNHB0sHbrMECFVGWtAod9G0AFw


We sadly got infested when looking after someones dog for a couple of days - it was heaving with fleas (I Was not best pleased with that someone!)


Generally any of those Bob Martin things or stuff you can buy for cats prescription free are unlikely to be as strong as prescription stuff. However prescription stuff is pricey - I tend to get a private prescription from the vets (£6) and buy my flea treatment for my cat online from Petmeds/Viovet or similar, makes it much cheaper.


Like others have said you will need to treat for a while to get all the eggs, and vacuum every other day too, moving everything. RIP Flea stuff does kill the eggs but even so...


Regular treatment for the cat, ie monthly drops on the back of the neck with something like Stronghold or similar is really the way to go to prevent this.

j.e.j.

Errata wrote: »

You have an extremely serious major infestation of fleas which only the council will be able to reliably deal with. You are also neglecting the cats by not regularly grooming them and checking for flea faeces.
Additionally, both you and your partner need to be confident that you're not transporting fleas into your workplace on your clothes.

:eek::eek:

Oh lordy, I'm starting to scratch reading this thread :rotfl:

OP couldn't your partner have put a flea-collar on the moggies?

gettingtheresometime

I didn't like using a collar when we had our cat.

Would second using indorex but you need to use it in conjunction with other treatments so vacuum like you've never vacuumed before, and treat the fleas on the cats.

As a quick 1st strike you could have a look at capstar tablets.

KiKi

Frontline or Advocate for the cats - poor things. They're drops that you put on the cats' skin on the back of their necks. And if you're being bitten, then imagine what they're going through; there's no way you'd have such a bad infestation unless the cats were already riddled. Don't use a spray on them, use a proper, vet-prescribed neck-drops medication (and don't use Bob Martin).

Indorex for the carpet and house - this is essential, as the fleas are now laying eggs in your property, and it takes a long time to stop the cycle. You will need to regularly do this, as well as regularly medicating the cats.

If you can see fleas on your arms and legs then you have a real problem. And your cats desperately need treatment; their skin must be awful by now with all their scratching and biting.

HTH
KiKi