Posted: 5/22/2015 11:15:39 PM EDT
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Dog is picking up fleas from my back yard and brought some into the house. My indoor cat got some from him but now I think we have it under control. Question is, can I do anything about the infestation in the fenced part of the yard so we dont keep bringing them in? only talking about an 90' x 50' fenced area. Dog is normally indoors due to size and 'yotes. Is the problem likely to diminish when it finally dries out around here? I'm in central TX and we have had almost a month straight of rainy days, which is great for some reasons and poor for others, but it should dry up and get hot soon.
Thanks! |
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I've always though that hot and dry is good for fleas, but I've been wrong before. Anything that will kill fleas in the yard will probably be bad for any other good bug. The stuff you put on your animal's back (the stuff only from the Vet; Frontline?) works pretty good, but you have to get separate cat and dog formulations; they can't be used one on another. Good brushing and vacuuming will also help. Have you tried Comfortis- the new flea stuff that's a pill for dogs and cats?
You can treat the animals easily, but yes, the other part of the problem will be people bringing them in from outside. If you spray your legs with Off or Skin So Soft- will that keep them from jumping on you? Normally concentrating on the animals for flea control will be enough to make the inside problem non-existent or negligible. |
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Before I had dogs in the yard I liked sevin dust. After playing on the net and reading about folks who do use sevin dust on their pets and that a bit too much can cause issues, I don't recomend it. Anyway, reading about dusting the yard got me to reading about diatomacious earth yet again, stuff pops up all over the place it seems. Fleas have hard shells. Dusting yard and having animals up while you do it and you wear a dust mask while you do it seems to have helped out for some folks. It raining all the time might be an issue somewhat, washing the dust away and whatnot. Friend has a serious tick problem at his place and I am waiting for him to start on various methods and see what happens bit by bit to the ticks. Just picking up a dog kennel I was getting ticks all over my hands and arms. They are set up on everything and waiting to drop off stuff onto the next living thing to wander through. |
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Use an insecticide containing pyrethrin.
Supposedly low human toxicity, same for dogs, reports vary for cats. If your cat is indoor only spray the yard and don't worry about it. We used it indoors without problems when fighting bat bugs. DAE is relatively cheap and has worked for spot treatments on moth larvae for me. Maybe try that too, or alternate until you get them controlled. |
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We put down a coating of 20
Mule Team borax when we had an indoor flea infestation. We put it down generously on all of the carpet and it didn't smell or get funky in any way. It kills fleas & the eggs, but you need to leave it down for 3 or 4 days, IIRC. Just vacuum it up. It funny with white powder on the carpet, but it works and the pets didn't care either. I have used diatomacious earth, also, in the dog lot, as a preventive. It seemed to work. FYI John |
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Cat is indoor only. Dog doesn't spend much time out in the yard. Even though it's fenced in the yotes are everywhere and I don't like leaving him out. We will try the pyrethrin. It's rained almost every day this past month and is supposed to rain until Sunday, at which point I head out of town for a week, so Mrs. Lokt asked me to leave it for her and she'd do it.
I'm tired of putting pants on to walk the dog out by the road...much easier to let the dog out the back. |
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I have DAE inside the house, under the couch cushions and the bed. Haven't really dusted (edit: with insecticide) inside. Got some Frontline or something from the vet for the cat and he seems to be doing a lot better, and the dog gets a pill.
Good to hear that about Borax. If they revisit us I'll give it a try, too. A little easier to get than DAE. Any repellent containing DEET seems to help on humans, but most seem to come in with the dog and while the thought of spraying him did cross my mind  , he will definitely ingest it.
Thanks! |