How long does it take for Frontline & Capstar to work?

Okay. Olivia (foster kitty) had a serious flea problem when rescued. She got Capstar (to kill live fleas) about three days ago. This morning I put some Frontline on her (for the eggs).

I am strapped for cash and do not want to treat my currently flea-free house cats, and want to know when it will be safe, without risking transmission of fleas, to:

1.) Move her crate into the main part of the apartment, off the covered back porch

2.) Start letting her out of the crate and sharing litter boxes and food bowls with my cats.

I'm going to guess #1 will be safe rather soon, as soon as the Frontline can be expected to get rid of the flea eggs and such that are most likely still stuck to her fur, and provided I use a separate scoop for her litter box.

Has anybody had experience with quarantine, and ensuring nothing spreads to the house cats?

Capstar kills all live fleas on them within 24 hours....but is not effective beyond that. Frontline can take up to 48 hours to get rid of the fleas.

When I brought two feral kittens to the vet she gave them each a Capstar and the examining table turned black within half an hour! I don't know how a combined weight of 6 pounds of kitten could have held so many fleas.

As they had already infested my house it took a few weeks for the Advantage she put on them to get the fleas back under control, but as you've kept her out you should be safe once you no longer see fleas or flea dirt on Olivia.

Capstar starts working in about 30 minutes. Frontline in about 48 hrs. I'd keep her quarantined for at least 3 days. It's not the live fleas that will be the biggest problem, but the larvae and eggs. Even if all the adult fleas are gone, every time she walks around/ rubs something/ etc it's a salt shaker effect. Flea eggs will just fall off wherever she goes. And since the life cycle of flea can be weeks long, you could very well have a flea problem come next month.

So I've brought her inside; the crate is in the kitchen now. I couldn't bear to leave her on the back porch last night, as was going to drop down to 60 degrees, which is comfortable for me or for a healthy cat, but for Olivia, I just don't know... so I brought her in and will be sweeping the kitchen floor religiously and dumping the contents of the little kitchen vacuum into the outdoor trash. I just couldn't stand leaving her out on the (covered, but the same temp as the outside) porch anymore.

When I had a bad infestation it was suggested to put a flea collar inside thew vacume, that the little devils are so small that it doesn't injure them to be vacumed and they can jump back out! Might be a good idea to do that to prevent an infestation at your house.