The war with fleas!!!!

[CRYROLFE]

I have NEVER had a flea problem in my home.

My home is FULL at the moment and apparently our little foster dog brought in fleas.

So I did the normal thing....bath, wait 48 hours, Frontline Plus....NADA...STILL FLEAS!!

It's going to drive me insane!!!

 

I have NEVER had to use a fogger and am terrified to do so around the birds. I supposed if I had to, then I would take everyone out - and keep the birds in the garage (non attached) in their cages.

But for how long after?

The foggers say 4 hours.....but I'm sure that's not even close for birds.

 

This is going to drive me crazy!!!

I am now going to try Advantix on everyone and see how that works.

 

My poor old dog is allergic to fleas bites and now looks like a junkyard dog.

 

Has anyone had to use a fogger?

[JDS5607]

SALT!!!

I used foggers- which is dangerous because of the film it leaves on EVERYTHING... Not to mention, the residues left in the air. We had to take all 5 birds and three cats to my mothers for two days, and left the windows open. Also, foggers generally don't work on fleas.

 

We used to foster kittens, and they were INFESTED with them. We had it so bad that our birds were chasing them on the floor, and I couldn't let the birds out for a loooooong time on the floor

Anyway, we got all of our cats on ADVANTAGE. Frontline didn't work for us. Then, we bought 3 or 4 things of salt, and COVERED the floor in the morning, went to work, and came home and vacuumed the floors, and laid down more salt.

It's the most agonizingly frustrating process EVER. The trick is, that the eggs are laid in the carpet, and the salt kills the eggs and any fleas on the floor. The advantage kills off the fleas on the dogs or cats, and stops them from becoming a safe zone from the carpet, not to mention cats and dogs will roll in the salt, thusly killing more fleas.

The entire process took us about 2 months to completely RID our apartment of fleas... of course, that included trial and error. Even after you see the fleas gone, keep doing the salt thing for a week, and the advantage for another month.

 

IT WORKS!

Good luck!

[JDS5607]

oh- and make sure NOT to use advanTIX, use advanTAGE!

[Dave007]

There are a number of home remedies to kill fleas.,. The favorite haunt of fleas in your home are your pet’s furnishings. So, wash your dog’s bedding regularly by adding eucalyptus essential oil to the final rinse. This oil is so effective it kills 99% of the house dust mites too! Also, by vacuuming the home thoroughly and sprinkling a fine layer of ordinary table salt over the upholstery and carpets, you can get rid of fleas. Another way to get rid of fleas is made by adding lavender and cedarwood essential oils to pure almond carrier oil as the base. This is then shaken well and spread over the pet’s skin to keep the fleas away. Some people make effective flea collars by rubbing an essential oil of eucalyptus , tea tree , lavender or geranium on webbing, rope collars or even a doggy bandanna if you use that kind of thing .

Another way to keep fleas off your dog is garlic. It's extreme but when fed to your dog it works wonders. This is because its smell is excreted through the skin making it ‘inhospitable’ for the fleas. Brewer’s yeast tablets also help in controlling fleas. Another good alternative is natural apple cider vinegar that makes the skin more acidic and unpleasant to fleas and ticks.

None of the above items can hurt a bird the way sprays or foggers can. All of these things are used on your dog, not sprayed.

Before using any of the above, I would suggest that you give the dog a thorough disinfectant bath first.

[danmcq]

GreYt advice from Dave and JDS!!!

[CRYROLFE]

Great ....I am trying the salt thing ASAP! What does this do to your carpet....anything? We have wool oriental rugs (not that they're fancy anymore by any means).

The bad thing is that I already gave the 3 dogs and the cat Frontline so now they say I have to wait at least 3 weeks!!! Ugh!

I've been bathing them to help ease it a bit, but that doesn't last long.

What a nightmare....the worst is our little Boston always hops up in our bed to sleep so we wake up with him under the blankets....yuk! I haven't been bitten yet, but washing my comforter over and over is really raising my electric bill....lol.

[JDS5607]

Salt did nothing to my carpets... I wouldn't imagine it would do anything to yours at all! Try it on a small patch and see!

[CRYROLFE]

How long do I leave the salt on the carpet? How often?

 

Last night when I vacuumed up the salt, it freaked out Tesla and he flew off his cage....doh!

The good news is HE STEPPED UP ON MY ARM!!! I had a sweatshirt on so he didn't scratch up my arm.

He only hesitated a tiny bit.

 

So now I know to lock up Tesla when I vacuum....the macaw LOVES the vacuum and anything else really noisy.

[Barbara2]

My Hahn's macaw takes a bath when we vacuum.

[katana600]

I just learn something new here every day. I did not know how beneficial salt could be, I was just reading a book about essential oils and read a chapter last night regarding salt and here it is this morning. Thanks so much for that advice. One thing that we did years ago when we had fleas come into our house while we had small children was to fill a cake pan with some soapy water, add a thin layer of oil, and then set it on the carpet overnight with a light shining. The fleas were attracted to the light and we could not believe the number in the pan every morning. It wasn't so much a remedy as an indicator that we were making progress with the other methods of encouraging them out of our home.

[JDS5607]

I left the salt on the carpet all day, vacuumed it up when I got home from work, and put more down IMMEDIATELY. I did this for about a week, then I would just sprinkle salt (lightly) at night, and vacuum it when I got up in the morning. It really worked wonders after a few days!!! It may not take as long for you- I mean we had it BAAAAD

 

I vacuumed so much bc i couldn't stand the thought of dead fleas..yuck.

Hope this is working for you! It's the most inexpensive way to do it. It's a pain, but it's better than being bit!

[Ray P]

This has been a bad year for fleas for us. I don`t remember it ever being this bad

We do live on a mini farm.

[reggieroo]

I had a similar problem at my old house with fleas on my cat Binks, he got infested like never before. What I had to do was to keep giving him flea baths & using a flea comb to actually get them off him. The problem is the eggs, so you have to eliminate the cycle which I did using a spray that stops the cycle & prevents then from breeding for up to 12 months. I then gave him a flea collar to keep them off him & also used something that you put on the back of the neck like front line but can't remember what it was.

 

Interesting about the salt though, I would give it a try & see if it works. I actually had hardwood floors would you believe & still had the problem even with no carpet. They live in the cracks around your house if you have no carpet & jump out on the pets when they go past. When using the spray we just put our parrot outside in the garden in his cage for the day with us. Once I sparyed the house & treated the cat a good few times I finally got on top of it & now just use a flea collar which works just fine.

[JDS5607]

Reggie, please be careful with those collars, and make sure you check it daily for anything unusual!! We had a neighbor who's cat had a flea collar that caused quite a bit of harm. When the cat would clean himself, he would go over the collar with his tounge, and ended up getting burns on his tongue, and an allergic reaction to the skin on the neck. The hair fell out and the powder on the collar ended up eating part of the skin away. This all happened rather quickly too! He recovered, but is still missing hair around his neck

[DrTak]

Salt is not very effective, IMHO. What works best is Boric Acid Powder, available at drug stores. Sprinkle into carpets and vacuum out. Boric Acid is pretty low toxicity stuff -- you might not want your newborn eating off the carpet, but they used to use the stuff as eyewash (in a dilute solution.)

 

A WARNING ABOUT GARLIC AND DOGS: They can only tolerate small amounts. Larger amounts, (and onions) can give a dog hemolytic anemia.

 

Please, no accounts of how you always feed your pooch onions without a problem. The plural of anecdote is not data; just because you can swim alone does not make it smart.

[danmcq]

Great posts all!

 

DrTak - Boric Acid, thats a new one I hadn't heard. I have read many good control of various types of insects using Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled down as well. Are you familiar with it as well? Never had to use any of these yet, but it would sure be good to know the safest and most effective treatment should it ever occur, since I have dogs.

[DrTak]

Diatomaceous earth is another natural insecticide. It is a mechanical killer-- grates the little buggers to death.

 

It works well on anthills and for roaches, but seems less effective for fleas.

 

Cautions with it: Wet, it is harmless and useless. Dry, it creates clouds that should NOT be inhaled -- it can cause lung disease called silicosis.

 

Also, DE is sold for pool filters, and for insect control. They are exactly the same except for price and warning labels. But, if you can believe it, there is a federal law with a fine in the US if you use pool DE for insect control.

 

Don't tell anybody.

[reggieroo]

Reggie, please be careful with those collars, and make sure you check it daily for anything unusual!! We had a neighbor who's cat had a flea collar that caused quite a bit of harm. When the cat would clean himself, he would go over the collar with his tounge, and ended up getting burns on his tongue, and an allergic reaction to the skin on the neck. The hair fell out and the powder on the collar ended up eating part of the skin away. This all happened rather quickly too! He recovered, but is still missing hair around his neck

 

That particular cat was obviously allergic to the collar. Personally never had a problem or ever heard of any problems using them & my parents have kept cats for 25 years+ & always used flea collars. I'll bear it in mind though as it could be like people with a nut allergy, just the odd case here & there.

[JDS5607]

So glad you've never had these problems I've always been terrified to use the collars on mine... glad they work for ya!

[Coral&Andrew]

when i lived with my mum, our 2 cats had caught fleas they were everywhere in every room, upstairs,downstairs,and even in the attic, there discusing things we used frontline on the cats, but it dont seem to really work properly, and my mum used tons of sprays, and we tried to wash the cats it was so hard though when there so scared of water, but she managed to get rid of them in the end, hot summer weather surpose to be the worst for fleas.

 

 

and they both wore flea collars for years - they surpose to work, but they don't

and ive also heard there not safe, well the 2 cats that had fleas, live with my mum at the moment and they just wear normal collars

[KimKim]

Frontline works for my dogs... But when I worked at an animal shelter and we got in kittens that were covered in fleas, we bathed them in palmolive dish soap and that killed them. Probably cheaper than flea shampoo too.

[CRYROLFE]

Thanks guys!

The fleas are still here and I have salt EVERYWHERE....LOL. I am using Neem sprays to relieve them, it does kill fleas on contact and is supposed to keep them away but I'm not sure about that.

There is no way I'm bathing my cat that often though....he's a killer when you try to get him wet

I don't see them anywhere in the house, just about 4-5 on each dog. I am still waiting til Friday to put Advantage on everyone and hope like hell that works.

My vet says they seem to be having a big problem w/ the Frontline this year. Also, early Fall is the WORST time for fleas since they like the cooler weather also. In Summer months they tend to stick to the shady areas like under porches and bushes....where unfortunately so do pets.

I'll let you know how it goes after the Advantage.

[reggieroo]

Thanks guys!

The fleas are still here and I have salt EVERYWHERE....LOL. I am using Neem sprays to relieve them, it does kill fleas on contact and is supposed to keep them away but I'm not sure about that.

There is no way I'm bathing my cat that often though....he's a killer when you try to get him wet

I don't see them anywhere in the house, just about 4-5 on each dog. I am still waiting til Friday to put Advantage on everyone and hope like hell that works.

My vet says they seem to be having a big problem w/ the Frontline this year. Also, early Fall is the WORST time for fleas since they like the cooler weather also. In Summer months they tend to stick to the shady areas like under porches and bushes....where unfortunately so do pets.

I'll let you know how it goes after the Advantage.

 

It does take a while to get rid of them & break the life cycle. I'm sure you'll get there in the end but you may have to consider one of the household sprays to treat the house.

[danmcq]

Thats great news and it's good to hear the salt is working as well.

[JDS5607]

The salt definately takes a little bit to get the cycle to break... and you may have more than you realize... They often will be more active at night. Just keep trying!