I have been invaded with fleas and I am at my wits end with them. My two house cats managed to be completely infested as well after being treated with Frontline on a monthly basis. We have used the flea foggers and pesticide sprays in the house with no results, we have tried Pine Sol, salt, and baking soda, vinegar, and eucalyptus oil along with vacuuming several times daily and steam mopping and steaming my furniture.
By Teresa0318 from Macksburg, OH
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Hi Teresa
We had the same problem and got some wonderful advice from our vet and it actually works. Get a spray bottle and pure vinegar. Spray your whole house. It stinks for a few days but well worth it. We did this two days in a row and it killed the fleas like you wouldn't believe. Also, during this time take a white bowl, put some water in it.
I had a flea problem myself with all 3 cats i usef a combination of table salt and dawn rubbed on my cats let it sit for 10 min and bathed them also Capstar. U can see the fleas fall off of them. Around the house and rugs i usef Raid flea spray with Pine sol. I had a good nite sleep no cats crying from pain.
Do not put water in the white bowl, put white vinegar you will kill much more fleas. If you don't have a white bowl use a shining metal bowl. Fleas are attracted by light. The complement of this solution is a powerful vacuum cleaner. You don't have to add any product in the bag of the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner's action is enough to kill the fleas. This was discovered by scientists collecting insects in the wild with a small vacuum insect catcher. They noticed that the insects were dead when reaching the end of the tube. It is not known wether it is the aspiration or the many times the insect hits the inside of the tube that kill them.
Fill a shallow white container (even an old plate will work) with soapy water. Set this on the floor and put a light by it. You need a bulb that turns out heat. Leave on over night. The fleas will be attracted to the heat and white of the container, jump toward the heat and land in the soapy water. They cannot break free from the water tension created by the soapy water and will drown.
Change the water everyday until there are no fleas in the water. I would suggest doing this on a regular basis, maybe once a week, then once a month, and sometimes, just because. I have used this method and it works, but it takes some time.
I went through a similar situation. The only way I got 100% rid of them was waiting for winter.
They first time we had forecasts for freezing temperatures I turned all the heat off and opened the windows for two days. Exposure to freezing temps killed all the living fleas. Do it again two weeks later to kill any new fleas that have hatched from the eggs laid by the lil' buggers you killed on the first freezing days.
I made it fun by doing it on the weekend and treating it like a camping trip: sleeping bags, hats, coats smores, cocoa, hotdogs - but in the house with TV & Internet!
If you do just open up your house in the cold, be sure to find out what you need to do to protect your pipes! You might get rid of the fleas, but ruin your plumbing!
We used a product that was basically a scented borax powder. You vacuumed, (got rid of the bag), then sprinkled it all over your carpet and upholstery. You let it sit for 2 or 3 days, then vacuum. It worked like a charm, and was safe for my dog, birds, kids.
The problem is that the eggs laid by the now dead fleas are hatching. You must vacumm your house twice a day for a week and they will be gone. Haven't you noticed there are less bites right after you vacumm?
Winter in Ohio should kill off most of the fleas living in your soil outside-which is where the fleas in your house are probably coming from. However, a few of the eggs will over-winter and you will have the problem again as soon as the ground thaws in spring. What you are more than likely dealing with are sand fleas, and they are tough little beasts. So...
Try Liquid Sevin-be sure to read and follow the directions very carefully. You'll need to spray inside and out every ten days for the first month, then once a month forever.
Liquid Sevin (main ingredient is carbaryl) is fairly safe if used as directed, see the label for dose mix for fleas. Apply it with a canister spray with the nozzle turned to the fan spray. Outside make sure you drench the soil, be careful not to spray when bees, kids, or pets will be around.
Use the spray canister inside too-first go around the foundation of your house outside, then make sure you get the perimeter inside (baseboards, under sinks, cabinets, etc) then using the fan nozzle, spray the floors, furniture, and pet bedding. Keep kids and pets off/out until the spray dries.
Yes, the spray is white and will dry white on your floors and furniture. I don't know if it will permanently stain hardwood, but I do know from experience it won't stain vinyl or upholstery, and can be vacuumed and washed from those surfaces 24 hours later-time enough to kill the active fleas who've escaped from the baseboards, etc, where they were hiding.
Be faithful about spraying every ten days for the first month, and once a month thereafter.
Good luck to you, I've been there-done that, and fleas are really hard to get control of, but it can be done.
You might consider keeping the pets indoors, the fleas are hopping a ride into the house on their fur, also coming in on pant legs, socks, etc, if people pass through an infested area-fleas can jump the equivalent of a 20 story building to get to a host, and will see your comings and goings as the way into the house.
I use Dawn dish liquid for fleas on my 5 animals. When I run bath water for them, I do not put Dawn in with running water. I squirt a few drops on their backs and around their ears. then I lather them up real good, sit and talk to them for about 5 mins, then rinse them. I also spread peppermint seeds all over my yard in April and we have never been bothered by fleas or ticks. I hope this works. I've heard this (but never had to do it) Take a banana peel and lay on floor and supposely fleas will go to that.
Hire a professional who gives at least a 30 or 60 day guarantee for using the special chemicals that kill not just the fleas but also the eggs and the larvae plus who will tell you how to completely prepare for them spraying inside and outside your home.
This will include doing things like taking cushions off of sofas and chairs, setting at least mattresses off of the bed against a wall, placing any bedding and clothing etc that might be infested with the eggs in plastic bags and laundering them away from home during the spraying, process and airing out of the chemical time.
It also means your kitty cats need to be flea bathed away from home at that time too. Been there and done that. You might want to consider not allowing your kitty fur babies to wander around outside at all and no one else's pets in or on your property in the future even when using frontline :-(
2 and a half cups dry 20 mule team borax for average sized carpeted room. Sift over carpet. leave for 2 weeks before you vacuum. Immediate knock down but the 2 week period is for life cycle of eggs, larvae and adult. Bathe cats in dawn or bar soap (dial). Yard - cedercide granules. Please no poisons.
I had the same problem,so I know what you are going through. I have 5 dogs in my house (3 belongs to me, & 2 my son has). There is a pill called "Capstar" that you get at any vet's clinic. Just go in and ask them for it. they have some for only dogs and cats (it goes by weight), and some for dogs only (which goes by weight also). The pills cost $3.10 each.
I put all the dog's in my bathroom,laid puppy pad's on floor (you can also use news paper) and gave each one a pill. It takes about twenty minutes for it to start working. The pill paralyzing the flea's which drop off the dog's and died. It was amazing to watch. I then put Frontline on them. If you have any questions about these pills, just ask your Vet. It works!
Hope this helps, Roadrouser
PS: tried K9-Advantix and my dog's had a reaction from it (chewing paw's & scratching). Puppy pads work better because you can see them dropping off the dog or cats.
Thank you for all the ideas! I have been continuing to vacuum and I used a product called Enforcer Home Spray for Fleas that contains Nylar and it did us yet again no good! These things are driving me insane, I am waiting for a return call from Orkin, has anybody tried using them to get rid of fleas in the home?
Teresa, I am certain Orkin will do a fine job! They are quite reputable! Make sure you ask them to use the special chemical that kills, the eggs and larvae too! Only pest control companies are allowed to use it (sorry that I don't remember what it's called) and you can't purchase any product yourself that contains it.
When I first became disabled I had to move from a second floor to a first floor apartment. Apparently the tenants before me had a cat who had horrible fleas and didn't tell the landlord. Even though the apartment had been thoroughly cleaned before I moved in it wasn't treated because the landlord had no idea about the problem.
In less than two weeks my place was so infested that it was frightening and my eight year old indoor cat, who had never had fleas in her eight years, was completely miserable. I tried almost everything that you did but it's impossible to get to every single crevice to kill the dormant eggs and larvae :-( And fleas lay those eggs even under the stove and in crevices whether there is carpet there or not.
Anyway, the landlord hired a pest control company and had me prep for them the way I mentioned in an earlier post here. Had to close the place up tight for four hours (no people or pets inside) and then completely air it out for a couple of hours after that before settling back in. That was over a year and a half ago and there has not been one single flea. Oh, and they sprayed exterior areas around my apartment too.
I don't know if you have Sprague Pest Control in or near your area, they are only in a handful of states, but that's who got rid of those little buggers in my place :-) Like I already mentioned, Orkin will do just fine. Just make sure they give you a guarantee that they are also killing those eggs and larvae.
Oh, and ask pest control what to do to keep your yard flea free in the future and your vet about how to keep your fur babies from bringing in the fleas in the future too.
One more thing. Cold does not kill the eggs and larvae; it just makes them go dormant.
Let us know how all turns out for you :-)
Make sure that you and your cats leave while an exterminator is there. And never use Pine-Sol around cats...it's toxic to them. Good luck.
I'm beginning to think we have super fleas or something of the sort! These little guys will not die. Since my last posting we have had Orkin come in and spray the house with no results, as soon as I entered the house they were jumping on me, we have used Adams flea and tick bombs with again no results, still vacuuming at least once daily usually twice or more a day when possible, and we have sprayed the Adams flea and tick spray all over the house.
My poor kitties are outside in a building for the time being since we are trying to combat these things in the house and on the cats at the same time. Someone told me to try putting the cedar bedding throughout my house and that would help, does anybody have any insight on this?
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