Fleas, Flease, and more Fleas

I've read all your posts about flea infestations. Thank goodness my babies do not have them but my daughter's Chester does. He has been given Advantage, Frontline & I think Revolution. They work for a while but then he's infested again. I told her to use DE but we need instructions on how to use it in the house. Chester is an indoor cat. My dght. has birds, we need to know what dangers to them. Also my dght. house is so cluttered I don't think she could get to all the carpeting. (Thank goodness she doesn't read this site, she would be mad at me.) I've told her she needs to get rid of the eggs. She takes him to the vet all the time for this medication but the vet is no help in advising how to remove the eggs. If someone could refer me to a good site it would be helpful. I've been online and know what the stuff is and where to buy it but not how to apply in a house and the dangers. Thanks

I have never had that bad of a flea infestation so I am not sure how you use DE. Usually just 3 months of Revolution takes care of the problem.

First, ensure the DE is the human/food grade. Sprinkle it in the rugs and sweep in down into the fibres. The human grade DE will not harm your kitties if they should ingest any but it's not good for either you or the kitties to inhale the dust so be careful when applying to protect yourself from inhaling the dust. As for the bird, I honestly don't know if it will harm it or not. I would take the bird out of the room being treated until after you've sprinkled it around. I'm assuming the bird won't be sitting on the carpet so can't see how it would actually get any to ingest. You can also put some on the furniture and ensure it gets down into the fibres as well. Between the treatment to the cat and the DE on the carpets and furniture the flea problem should clear up fairly soon.

If she uses a spot treatment regularly, it will break the cycle and you won't have to worry about the environment. It takes time and patience. Her cat needs to be treated every single month without being late. If it's really bad, she can talk to her vet about treating the cat every three weeks. She cannot miss a spot treatment or the fleas will just begin to breed again. They need the cat to breed, and if she keeps the cat toxic to fleas, the population in the house will eventually die off.

Any bombs will be harmful to birds. Spot treatments are the simplest way, and are quite effective if used properly.

When I was growing up, we had such a bad flea infestation in our house. We had 2 cats that were indoor/outdoor and my mom apparently didn't use Frontline (or maybe it wasn't invented back then?).

It was horrible!!! We could come home from a vacation and as I walked through the house, fleas would jump on my legs!!!! For fun, I would put on long white socks, walk through the house and then pick off the fleas and flush them down the toilet!!!!!

We smoke bombed the house several times and the fleas would just come back.

Before I moved out, I had my cat flea dipped. I picked him up from the vet and went to my new home....I didn't even dare bring him back to my parents house.

Finally, after years of struggling on our own with over the counter stuff, my mom finaly hired a professional pest exterminator. That finally got rid of the fleas.

You may be thinking that my parents house was messy and cluttered, but it wasn't at all, my mom kept it very clean. Once you get that many fleas in your carpet and furniture, the eggs can live a long time and they are hard to get rid of.

Good luck!!!

I've been in a home where it was so infested that the spot treatments didn't take care of it. In that situation I bought bombs from the vet. I arranged to leave the home and board my pets for 24 hrs. And set the bombs off. That took care of it immediately. I think it's very important though that you buy the bombs that the vet sells. I've heard others buy over the counter from stores or pet supplies and they didn't work nearly as good.

My daughter took the cat back to the vet and he was treated again. She then went to Petsmart and bought 3 bombs. The birds and the cat were put in a storage shed and everyone had to stay out of the house for 2 hrs. Then the house needed to be aired out for at least 2 hrs. before the animals could be brought back in. I'm hoping that this clears up the problem. From what I've read Fleas are a problem this year.