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fleas!

post #1 of 11
8/14/10 at 11:58pm
Thread Starter 
well, my new place [the rental] has carpets... & i've seen a couple of fleas on Pixel. what can i do for the flooring that DOESN'T involve bombing - i'm very sensitive to insecticides.
also, best treatment for the cats - oral, topical, brands?
those of you w/experience, please advise!
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post #2 of 11
8/15/10 at 12:08am
likely need a topical that kills fleas and eggs for her and any one else with four on the floor in the house... Diatomecous earth works great in the carpet ( you do vac it up) some use borax( safety?? ) ... I use De flea
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post #3 of 11
8/15/10 at 5:06am
Food grade DE is great in carpets. I refuse to put poisonous sprays in my house, as I almost killed a dog one time with a vet prescribed product. Make sure you buy food grade, as if the cats ingest it (walk across it and lick their paws), it does no harm. I've only found it online.
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post #4 of 11
8/15/10 at 11:05am
Thread Starter 
great - i actually already have food-grade DE - bought it for fly control outside at my Sanger house [when it rained, the ferals' kibble would get wet & draw major flies]. i'll check w/the vet for a good topical & use the DE for the floors. thanks!

ETA: ordered some advantage for the topical - should be here soon.
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post #5 of 11
8/15/10 at 12:17pm
The fleas here are horrible this year, but we've not had any problems with an infestation. Since we live in mosquito country, you may want to look into Revolution which treats fleas, ear mites, hook & roundworms, as well as containing a heartworm preventative.

If the DE doesn't work, you can try Borax, but you'll need to block off the area from the kitties for the night. Put a flea collar in your vacuum cleaner bag when you vacuum it up. Whatever you use, sweep in into the carpets with a broom and let it sit overnight.
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post #6 of 11
8/15/10 at 1:07pm
FYI - Treat them with the topical for at least 3 consecutive months. When I had fleas in the house that's what I did & it worked *knock on wood*
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post #7 of 11
8/15/10 at 4:07pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephanietx View Post
The fleas here are horrible this year, but we've not had any problems with an infestation. Since we live in mosquito country, you may want to look into Revolution which treats fleas, ear mites, hook & roundworms, as well as containing a heartworm preventative.
they don't go outside - matter of fact, i try not to, either! so haven't had any skeeters yet
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post #8 of 11
8/15/10 at 4:20pm
Mine don't go outside either, but skeeter do make it into the house on occasion. Fleas travel inside on humans, too.
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post #9 of 11
8/15/10 at 8:19pm
Mine(my 2 inside only) are on Revolution as well, it isn't unheard of and is rather common to end up with a skeeter in the house. I found one flea on Attitude and went and got the Revolution to make sure we weren't infested. There are fleas outside, I know the outside cats have them(and Paul pulled a tick off one the other day.) Skeeters are bad here, I went for a bike ride yesterday(in 110-117 degree heat index, I needed out of the house before I killed my kid for being obnoxious.) I was out less than 10-15 mins(obviously) and got a skeeter bite.

There are actually more skeeters here than in TX. The fire ants were more annoying than skeeters.

Better safe than sorry. If you are treating for fleas you might as well use a multi-spectrum product.

Taryn
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post #10 of 11
8/19/10 at 8:25am
First time in 4-5 years that we've had an issue. We used Front Line Plus about two weeks ago. Now my food grade DE has arrived. Hah ! I ordered 10 lbs and didn't realize how much would be coming. Two large 5lb bags ! That's cool, it has an indefinite shelf life.
Vacuumed my room about 5 days ago and not one flea for about a day and a half. Now there's a few "very small" fleas jumping on my bare feet. Must be the next round of hatchlings. Will be putting the sprinkle on my carpet today and monitoring. Keep you posted.
Marty
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post #11 of 11
8/19/10 at 10:38am
I hope you can get them taken care of before they get out of hand. We (unknowingly) moved into an infestation and it has taken me just over 3 months to completely get rid of them off the cats and out of the carpet, etc.

I used DE, flea spray, vinegar on the room and switched from Frontline (which wasn't working AT ALL) to Capstar (for a couple weeks) and Revolution.
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