I have fleas in the house and have followed the advice on this site regarding Borax, salt, vacuuming, etc. Nothing has worked, I am finally getting an exterminator tomorrow after finding a flea in my son's hair. Having a cat with fleas is costly, time consuming and making me go insane. I love her, I have had her for 8 years. Is getting rid of her the way to go? Please help.
Monique from Torrance, CA
Do not get rid of the cat, just the fleas. Give the cat odor free garlic tablets daily in her food or some treat she likes. It may take a week or so to get it built up in her system, fleas do not like garlic. The fleas will smell the garlic in her system (you will not smell it). I've used the garlic on my cats and dogs for many years with great success.
After the exterminator gets rid of the fleas inside, if he does not spray outside putting the borax around the foundation of your house and replacing after a lot of rain, will help keep the fleas out of the house if you have sand fleas. Don't forget to give the cat a flea bath or at least some flea power.
Good luck. (08/25/2008)
By C. R.
I had the same problem with my 2 cats and one dog. I eventually had to "bomb" the house with flea bomb. It worked to rid the house of the problem. One thing to remember, when you vacuum fleas, they will live in the vacuum bag, so dump it when you are done.
Now I just spend the money every year and get the animals Advantage. You can find it on line cheaper than at the vets. I have not seen a flea in over 4 years. I put it on once a month and do not have to think about it again. Much cheaper and easier then having to hire an exterminator. (08/25/2008)
By Dianne Bias
Try eucalyptus oil. Do not dilute it. Put it in a spray bottle and spray areas. Also good for bed bugs.
(08/25/2008)
By tonya
I had this problem a year ago. I have two indoor cats and somehow they got fleas. I now treat them with Frontline once per month. It took over 4 months of the cats being treated to eliminate the problem. The cats were allowed free reign in the house and eventually all of the fleas that hatched and bit the treated cats were gone. Again, it takes time, but it worked.
In addition, I added a flea collar to the vacuum bag and vacuumed daily (couches, chairs, etc. in addition to carpets). I combed the cats daily and placed all fleas I found in a bowl of soapy water so they couldn't escape. Again it took a long time, but I didn't have to bomb the house.
Frontline isn't cheap, but I'd rather spend the money on it than on poisons to spread inside the home. I was told that one flea brought into the house on a shoe lace or in the cuff of a pant leg can cause a full blown infestation in a home with animals.
Good luck. (08/25/2008)
By Tina
Don't get rid of your cat. You wouldn't take an 8 year old cat when you wanted a cat, so what do you think will happen to the cat? The cat didn't do anything wrong.
Fleas are treatable. I am extremely allergic to flea bites and I have 4 large dogs. I got fleas when we took in a neighbor's dog who was running in the street about to be hit by a car while they weren't home. Too bad they didn't say thanks or tell me their dog had fleas. Gross to say the least. I bug bombed the house myself. While the bombs were working, I gave the dogs thorough flea baths and a once a month flea product. Any once a month product will do the same thing, so go for the cheap one.
After we went back inside; I vacuumed super-thoroughly before letting the dogs back in and disposed of the vacuum bag outside immediately. I even wrapped it in a plastic shopping bag to be extra safe. Then spray your vacuum with flea killer to be on the safe side. I'm retentive about this so I brushed the dogs and vacuumed daily. Garlic works for a lot of people so by all means try it, but it didn't work for my dogs.
Wash your cat's bedding repeatedly, if not just get rid of it after the first bombing. If it's an expensive bed, give an extra spray with some flea killer post-bombing. The cat might stay away for an extra few days, but it's worth it. If it smells from the spray, put it into the garage for a while or seal it in a plastic bag for more than a few weeks while respraying at various intervals to catch any hatching larvae.
You must rebomb about 2 weeks later and repeat the vacuuming to catch the larvae that will have hatched into biting fleas or you will never get rid of the problem. I rebombed at both one and two weeks later to be on the safe side. It's pretty cheap if you do it yourself and just as effective. Honestly, after the first bombing/flea bath cycle I had zero problems, but I knew I had to follow up or the problem would repeat. The relief was blessed none the less.
I'd definitely try that before I paid an exterminator for at least 2 visits. It's imperative you do the 2 bombings, the flea baths before going back into the bombed house, thorough vacuuming/dumping the bags and spraying the vacuum after bombings. You want to make sure you never "contaminate" your flea-free areas by trekking in with fleas on anything. I even flea sprayed the bottoms of the pants I was wearing after shampooing the dogs and before re-entering the house, but that was probably over-kill. I then washed the pants with other items for a post-bombing wash in hot water.
Just a few things done in the right order and you should be permanently rid of the problem for well under $100 total. You can't skip one part like the flea bath if your cat doesn't like baths. You have to do it all. Planning it out seems like a big chore, but it's worth it to kill the problem completely in one swoop. Done right, you will have full relief after the first cycle.
Best of luck to you.
(08/25/2008)
By Pet Lover
My cats came home from the vets office infested with fleas (go figure). My house became infested. I sprinkled Mule Team Borax all over my carpet in every room. I left on for about an hour or two and then vacuumed. They were gone, forever. (08/25/2008)
By Melissa M.
Use a small, bright light and a bowl of soapy water. Make sure the rest of the area is dark, turn on the light and shine it on the water. Fleas are attracted to the light, jump into the water and drown. Do this every night in every room, and it will get rid of your fleas. (08/25/2008)
By AuntyC
We have 2 cats and had quite a flea infestation last year when a neighbor's cat came in through our cats door. I tried everything I had ever heard of to no avail. Finally we went to our local farm supply store and purchased a large container of pest control called "Home Defense", I am in Canada, which will kill both eggs and hatched fleas. I sprayed one day, vacuumed the next, sprayed again, vacuumed again then waited a few days and repeated the process. I sprayed the vacuum hoses each time and disposed of the bag. We have a very large home, 18 rooms, and had found fleas in many of the rooms since my cats have free reign.
This worked well along with Advantage for the animals themselves. I did a "spray round" this summer when I saw my neighbors' cat scratching, but have found no fleas in my home so far. One of my children and myself seem to really attract them and always seemed to be the ones who got bit if any were around. No bites so far so assume all is well. Good luck. (08/26/2008)
By ERP
I work in a vet office and some of these ideas sound crazy. Go to your vet and request Frontline or Revolution for the cat, you should also get a bottle of Knock Out area spray. If they don't have it in stock you can find it on the internet. You will need to treat the animals and environment. Vacuum well then use the spray it will protect from re-infestation for seven months. Make sure to spray under cushions and furniture as well.
Flea bombs do not work, because the medicine settles on top of furniture, but fleas will hide underneath not solving your problem. You do not need to spend a lot of money or time trying to get rid of fleas, just follow those instructions and you will be flea free in no time. (08/26/2008)
By Abby
Frontline gave my dog a bad reaction so I used lavender oil. I mixed a few drops of lavender oil in water and sprayed the pets, beds, couch, everything. In about 3 days I didn't see a single flea. I haven't seen a flea at all on the pets in about a year now. You can add eucalyptus oil to the mix as well. I spray them about once a month now. (08/29/2008)
By Daniel
OK, you're gonna laugh at me, but here goes. When I was little we had a "playhouse" that sometimes provided shelter for the family cat. At one point, it was so badly infested, you could not go into it without being covered in seconds. My grandmother (old wise woman) said to eat bananas and lay the peel in there and the fleas would go away (let the peel dry until it is black). We did and never saw another flea. (09/01/2008)
By Marilyn
Black walnut flavoring will get rid of fleas. Just put a little on cotton balls and put around your house. Works great. (08/28/2009)
By ruth
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