Posted: 8/9/2013 6:36:48 AM EDT
| My family recently moved from the suburbs to a hobby farm and are dealing with something we have not had to deal with before, fleas on our cats and dogs. Our cats are indoor cats, one with long hair and the other medium length hair. Our dog (collie mix mutt type) is an indoor/outdoor dog who thoroughly enjoys being outside with us going to the barn or to the garden. But the fleas have been really bad for about the past two months. We tried using Frontline Plus on all pets, but that did nothing to curb the flea problem. Then we tried flea collars (in conjunction with the Frontline), but all that did was cause the fleas to congregate in areas on the animal's bodies away from their nexk. Also, we have been bathing them weekly using a flea shampoo, but that only seems to provide a short few day respite, and it doesn't kill all the fleas on the animals. Most our our home has wood floors, except the bedrooms which are carpeted, and we have been vacuuming about every other day. Still, the fleas persist. What more can we do other than just grin and bear it and wait until fall hits and cooler weather kills off the fleas? I've read you can spray outdoors, but that doesn't seem very feasible on an eight acre hobby farm where the dog roams all over. Other than flea bombing the inside of the house, I'm not sure what else to do. |
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Bomb the carpeted rooms once a week until gone . Coat the hardwood floors with lemon oil like you find in the furniture polish section. This suffocates them, because they breathe through their lower abdomen.
we had a major infestation about ten years ago. The above was all we could find that would work. We had the house professionally treated twice to no avail. |
| A friend got fleas in her garage,, I read some online solutions for that----sprinkle table salt everywhere as it dehydrates them. Guess what??? It worked. I have had problems with my lab also this year,, took him to the vet and got him dipped and she put ''something'' on his back and said the only flea collar period that works is a ''Seresto'' made by Bayer. They are pricey but I bought one [ $80 with a $20 rebate ]--- no scratching now in two weeks. If you ever fool around and get them bastards in your house---you have got problems....BTDT |
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please keep in mind most outside flea stuff and livestock flea stuff is deadly to cats
pyrethrin and permethrin... both of them great flea killers.... both of them bad for your cats fine for your dogs have sand around your house? possibly birds? my sister had a hell of a time with fleas around here house years ago could walk to her front door and be covered in them. permethrin for outside and DE messy but works and is totally animal safe ETA: never heard the table salt idea... need to try that |
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Quoted:
My family recently moved from the suburbs to a hobby farm and are dealing with something we have not had to deal with before, fleas on our cats and dogs. Our cats are indoor cats, one with long hair and the other medium length hair. Our dog (collie mix mutt type) is an indoor/outdoor dog who thoroughly enjoys being outside with us going to the barn or to the garden. But the fleas have been really bad for about the past two months. We tried using Frontline Plus on all pets, but that did nothing to curb the flea problem. Then we tried flea collars (in conjunction with the Frontline), but all that did was cause the fleas to congregate in areas on the animal's bodies away from their nexk. Also, we have been bathing them weekly using a flea shampoo, but that only seems to provide a short few day respite, and it doesn't kill all the fleas on the animals. Most our our home has wood floors, except the bedrooms which are carpeted, and we have been vacuuming about every other day. Still, the fleas persist. What more can we do other than just grin and bear it and wait until fall hits and cooler weather kills off the fleas? I've read you can spray outdoors, but that doesn't seem very feasible on an eight acre hobby farm where the dog roams all over. Other than flea bombing the inside of the house, I'm not sure what else to do. this will kill every live flea that bites the animal for 24 hours. get the right sizes for your pets: http://www.amazon.com/Little-City-Dogs-FLAVORED-Capsules/dp/B003YCUDVW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1376061648&sr=8-4&keywords=capstar this one disrupts the flea life cycle get the right dosage for your pet: http://www.amazon.com/Little-City--month-CONTROL-Capsules/dp/B0086O43SC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376061740&sr=8-2&keywords=program these two together will do the job. also the queen city animals brand works too. they are both way cheaper than Capstar and Program. |
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Quoted:
Bomb the carpeted rooms once a week until gone . Coat the hardwood floors with lemon oil like you find in the furniture polish section. This suffocates them, because they breathe through their lower abdomen. we had a major infestation about ten years ago. The above was all we could find that would work. We had the house professionally treated twice to no avail. don't bomb the carpets poison the well instead. see my post. |
| Capstar pills for the animals. Then follow that up with a monthly flea/tick treatment pill. Your woes will continue if you don't. Deal with the house infestation as suggested, but they will be back if you don't treat the animals that are allowed inside. Very simple. |
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You have a big fight on your hands if they are in the yard and the house. for chemicals check: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/fleas-c-24.html Ive used them often for buying pest control products, good people and its typically the same place the exterminator companies buy from. For the animals: ~Frontline or comfortis and a dip for the immediate problem. ~the vet also sells a single tablet (I cant remember the name) for about $1 that is very short lived but it will kill every flea/tick on the animal in 24 hours, shelters use them a lot to clean rescued animals. ask your vet before mixing it with comfortis however. ~put some DE in their bedding for the yard: ~cut the grass short ~nuke everything with yard spray, Spectracide or similar (get the stuff that's in a jug and screws onto the garden hose or check the link above for something stronger). for the house: ~vacuum several times a day with a flea collar or flea killer in the bag ~get some ultracide from the link above and use as advertised ~use a mix of non-toxic DE (from lowes, $10 a bag) and borax powder (walmart, "20-mule team borax"). sprinkle it into the carpet and and broom it into corners and hard wood floors. fleas will live in the cracks and under the baseboard trim, put powder in there. ~a victor lighted flea trap cant hurt either to catch adults at night You have to break the flea life cycle as they hatch for several weeks: ~kill the adults now ~kill the pupae or larvae before they mature ~remove habitat ~remove food sources |
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Quoted:
please keep in mind most outside flea stuff and livestock flea stuff is deadly to cats pyrethrin and permethrin... both of them great flea killers.... both of them bad for your cats fine for your dogs have sand around your house? possibly birds? my sister had a hell of a time with fleas around here house years ago could walk to her front door and be covered in them. permethrin for outside and DE messy but works and is totally animal safe ETA: never heard the table salt idea... need to try that Quoted:
please keep in mind most outside flea stuff and livestock flea stuff is deadly to cats pyrethrin and permethrin... both of them great flea killers.... both of them bad for your cats fine for your dogs have sand around your house? possibly birds? my sister had a hell of a time with fleas around here house years ago could walk to her front door and be covered in them. permethrin for outside and DE messy but works and is totally animal safe ETA: never heard the table salt idea... need to try that Just use malathion. It is the active ingredient i many of the dog dips (don't remember if cats are listed). The typical bottle of dog dip is 12% concentrate, diluted out at around a tablespoon per gallon of water to make 'dip' (IIRC) but follow thedirections to the letter. The stuff is dangerous at the wrong level (related to nerve gasses). It can also be sed outside at higher concentrations than dip mix. The garden sore has Malthion50 with a label listing fr fleas, one of the highest on the label. If you use flea bombs in the house, use enough of them (every room, even the bathrooms). About one smaller can for each 10 x 10 foot room. Larger rooms get two cans, one at each end (better than a single larger can). Just set them off as you back out the door, then come back in about 8 hours. Turn OFF any HVAC systems. you want the stuff to stay in the rooms, not get spread by the HVAC system. this will kill every live flea that bites the animal for 24 hours. get the right sizes for your pets: The problem with these is that every flea still gets a free bite. OK for a few, not good enough for a major infestation. |
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Quoted: Treat the animals with Revolution. +1 That is what I use. My house got infested bad several years ago. Two treatments of Revolution, along with bombing the house twice, flea powder in the carpet, and vacuuming everything several times a week got rid of them. This place has it the cheapest that I have seen. https://www.canadavetcare.com/ Use code cvc1088 for an extra 10% off. |
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If the frontline didn't work, you didn't follow the directions.
From the frequency of the baths, I would guess you bathed them either to soon before/after applying the frontline. With the ferequent baths you are washing away the effectiveness of the product before giving it a chance to work. You need to wait about a week after a bath to give your animal a dose. Then don't bathe them for atleast a week after they are treated. I would probably wait even longer so that the frontline can do its thing. Flea bomb inside your house twice within 7 days. |
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Diatomaceous Earth get 50lb bags , spread everywhere on yard / in house , it works , fleas were gone in a 2 weeks. THIS +10 You can put it on your animals as well, the microscopic shards in this stuff actually dices the fleas. I have used it in a food grade also to worm my cats and dogs, same effect except internally on the worms. Can also use on vegetables to ward off insects. Best part ? Non-toxic, just don't be breathing a lot of the dust if you get it airborne. Use a mask if spreading a quantity. |
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Diatomaceous Earth get 50lb bags , spread everywhere on yard / in house , it works , fleas were gone in a 2 weeks. I tried that. Did not work. My basement floor is covered with a fine coat of it now. Fleas hatch out of it and jump on me every time I walk through. The garage is the same. The only thing I have had any luck with so far is spraying gallons of ortho home defense on the floor till its in puddles. If you use enough it kills everything. Probably us humans too. |
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THIS +10 You can put it on your animals as well, the microscopic shards in this stuff actually dices the fleas. I have used it in a food grade also to worm my cats and dogs, same effect except internally on the worms. Can also use on vegetables to ward off insects. Best part ? Non-toxic, just don't be breathing a lot of the dust if you get it airborne. Use a mask if spreading a quantity. Quoted:
Quoted:
Diatomaceous Earth get 50lb bags , spread everywhere on yard / in house , it works , fleas were gone in a 2 weeks. THIS +10 You can put it on your animals as well, the microscopic shards in this stuff actually dices the fleas. I have used it in a food grade also to worm my cats and dogs, same effect except internally on the worms. Can also use on vegetables to ward off insects. Best part ? Non-toxic, just don't be breathing a lot of the dust if you get it airborne. Use a mask if spreading a quantity. I also tried it on my pets. Over and over. I never could see any effect on fleas. Maybe I used the wrong brand. I got it at tractor supply. 
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Place large bowl of soapy water (dish soap to reduce the surface tension) in middle of room PM before bed. Place some kind of light bulb over dish water, leave on overnight. Fleas will jump at heat/light and fall into soapy water & drown. Try it in one room, if it works well, try it in other rooms as well; anywhere you have fleas. Never tried it outside, may work there as well.
Soapy dishwater will take care of the live ones. You will see a large number when you start, will diminish as you reduce them over time. When the dish is clean --no fleas in the bottom, they're gone. Unless you break their reproductive cycle, you will have them all the time. Biblical order pestilence! This is where you have to use some chemistry on them. We use Trifexis, no flea problems with 3 beagles & 2 indoor cats. Had yard treated years ago ...killed all the small creatures, including the small insect eating snakes. Sad about the snakes. They've made a good come back. |
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My brother was a professional exterminator. He used to treat our property in Kali every 8-12 weeks or so for fleas. We had inside dog and cats. The bugs were a huge problem. We tried everything and then called him. Cats are the big culprit and the ONLY success we ever had of ridding our property of the fleas was having a pro treat the yard and house. We treated the animals and used the vet-supplied drugs too. |
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Capstar pills for the animals. Then follow that up with a monthly flea/tick treatment pill. Your woes will continue if you don't. Deal with the house infestation as suggested, but they will be back if you don't treat the animals that are allowed inside. Very simple. I'll second this. As for the Capstar tablets - holy shit, I've never seen anything so effective on fleas. Within minutes of the cats being fed the pill, dead fleas were literally falling off of them. The tablets do have some possible side effects, though. One of my cats got really vocal for about a couple of hours and developed a case of the fire-breathing shits that lasted for about a day, but the other was unaffected. |