Fleas - please help

Fusspot · 16 February 2019 at 1:54PM

I hope someone here can advise me. I have two cats who have been with me for seven years now and have never had fleas before.

The cat I had before them did get fleas quite badly before she died and I had to have someone out to get rid of them.

My two cats now don't go out much, not at all in the winter so I must admit I haven't been treating them every month with flea treatment and I have had no problems at all.

However, these past few weeks my feet have been itching. At first I put it down to eczema which I do get, but last week I noticed a dark speck on my foot and it jumped when I touched it. Fleas! I now recognise the itch as a flea bite. But I have only seen one flea and none since. I have checked over my cats and there are no fleas on either of them and there are none in my flat. I have since treated them however.

This is strange as when my other cat had fleas they were all over the flat and all over my legs. I don't understand why up to now I have only seen on flea and only on myself. Can anyone help?

iammumtoone · 16 February 2019 at 2:04PM

You see one flea or hundreds it doesn't matter you treat as if the same.

You have treated the cats now get some indorex to do the house.

Before spraying hover, hover again then hoover some more. Spray everywhere.

Then hover everywhere at least once a day.

What you can do at night is leave a shallow plate out with soapy water in. Put a light in the middle, some say to use candles but for safety I used to use those battery powered tea lights. In the morning you will see fleas in this as the days go by you should gradually see the amount of fleas decrease. When you don't see fleas don't stop the hoovering still carry on until you haven't seen any for a while.

Good Luck

Fusspot · 16 February 2019 at 5:05PM

Thank you for your help. Will the spray solve the problem? Just that last time I had fleas in the flat nothing worked and I had to get someone out to sort it.

I only have carpet in my bedroom by the way, the rest of the flat is flooring.

iammumtoone · 16 February 2019 at 6:01PM

Fusspot wrote: »

Thank you for your help. Will the spray solve the problem? Just that last time I had fleas in the flat nothing worked and I had to get someone out to sort it.

I only have carpet in my bedroom by the way, the rest of the flat is flooring.

Yes the spray will. Just make sure you get a decent one like indorex (I believe acclaim is good as well but I have always stuck with indorex as it works for me)

You need to spray the flooring as well, make sure you spray in the gaps/joins. The hoovering makes the eggs hatch they need to all hatch to get rid of them completely. Unhatched eggs can survive for years.

It is possible that some eggs left over from last time have hatched due the heat (have you had the heating on a lot).

iammumtoone · 16 February 2019 at 6:04PM

what did you treat the cats with?

Fusspot · 16 February 2019 at 11:57PM

I treat the cats with Advantage flea treatment. I am going to try to spray, thanks for your recommendation.

Fuzzy39 · 17 February 2019 at 1:10AM

When our cats had fleas l brushed them every day in a dry/empty bath with a nit comb. When the fleas came out they were easy to see and I simply washed them down the plug hole. Also used sprays, flea treatment and plenty of hoovering. Took a few weeks to be completely clear.

iammumtoone · 17 February 2019 at 12:07PM

Fusspot wrote: »

I treat the cats with Advantage flea treatment. I am going to try to spray, thanks for your recommendation.

That's a good treatment, with using the spray as well and dedication to getting rid of them (ie hoovering) you will be fine no need for expensive all outs.

Just remember to treat the cats again at the recommended time.

minimuffin12 · 17 February 2019 at 5:24PM

We also had fleas about September time and it was so stressful. We were all getting bitten around our ankles and legs. We indorexed all the carpets and hoovered, hoovered hoovered!! The soapy dosh works well too, we are amazed at how many were in it. About to go again with indorex incase there's more eggs!

KiKi · 17 February 2019 at 5:27PM

It's highly unlikely to be just one flea. There are probably a lot, but you can't see them - it's actually quite unusual to see them, so please don't be fooled by this idea that there are 'none' in the flat or on the cats. There are probably quite a lot, especially if you've seen one!

Get your cats to sit on something white and brush them. If little black dots are on the paper, then they have fleas - the black bits are flea poo. Start treating the cats again, and treat all rooms with Indorex spray, including wood. Treat sofas, corners of carpets, corners of floorboards, between floorboards, skirtingboards etc. As others have said, the eggs can last for ages, so you've been lucky to only get one now!

iammumtoone · 17 February 2019 at 5:35PM

Another tip to tell flea poo from dirt is to put it on a damp white tissue. If it stains red its flea poo, stays black its dirt.

The hoovering is not to hoover up the eggs or fleas. The disturbance tricks the eggs into hatching. Nothing will kill flea eggs they need to hatch as the fleas can be killed (either by biting a treated cat or the Indorex will get them)

You said your cats are mainly house cats but for those with outdoor cats another tip is during this stage to keep the cat in the house as must as possible. You want the fleas to bite the cat (sorry cats) as this kills them.

Also remember to spray the inside of the hoover with Indorex.

Fleas - please help

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