HELP Please! Flea infestation....

We got a couple of adorable kittens about a month and a half ago....we just recently noticed that they had fleas really bad and started to bathe them every night (in dawn)... So far I've counted about 60 fleas come off them in the past 3 days.  Now the fleas are in our carpet and eating us up.  Should we call the exterminator, or try to take care of it ourselves???

Oh boy. I would recommend reading this article: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-fleas.  Please consult with your vet about which product is best for your cats at their age/size.  They will know best which products are safe for your kittens.  Some over the counter ones are not always recommended.  I would keep up with the dawn baths and use a flea comb in the meantime; but until you are able to get them out of your home too it'll just become a cycle I'm afraid.

Good luck!!

i used a really good spray for the house that kills the live fleas and remains on the carpets and kills any that hatch for up to a year.  it was quite expensive but cheaper than an exterminator.  I had to be very thorough and wash absolutely everything they had come into contact with, clothes, bedding, on a hot cycle.  The whole house had to be vacuumed then sprayed with this spray.  I did a room at a time. The cats cant be present when you do this.  Also its best to de flea them if you are using a product like frontline, whilst they are in a cat box outside as otherwise the fleas just jump off back into your home!  Hope you get sorted soon its not a pleasant thing.

claire

Thanks for the replies!!! We have the kittens living in our garage for now and I put some pet armor for cats on them. They've been getting flea baths everyday with Dawn... A lot of fleas have been coming off during the bath... But they just seem to have more afterward... What was the name of that spray that you used on your carpet?

I dealt with fleas last year. We have all wood floors, but the eggs still fall in the cracks and hatch for months afterwards.  The pupa stage is the tough part. Those things are tough and impenetrable with poison i believe. Vacuuming and spraying will eventual starve the adult, egg and larva population and then you just pick the remainders off when they turn into adults and end up on you or your cat. Maybe you want to quarantine them to a room and hit that room really hard with just the vacuum. I don't think I'd spend the money on an exterminator, but maybe hardwood is a lot easier.

When you first realize it, their population is peaking, but it will get much better. I would get a big pan filled with soapy water and walk around the room in white socks pulled up the whole way. That way you can spot them really easy and you just pinch them off and throw it in the water and watch them sink. They'll lay dormant until movement for months. I started the sock thing and was getting about 30 per room a night at first and tapers rapidly to 6 or 7 a night.

The other think to remember is that when you first notice, they were already feeding off the cat and multiplying. But once you start attacking them they run out of food and can't multiply. Good luck though. It will take a couple weeks until you are comfortable walking around again. First two are the worst.

When we lived in KS we got fleas really bad one year, aside from treating our pets the vet suggested Virbac knockout. It is a spray for the carpet and other surfaces in the house and works for a few months at a time, it worked wonders for us along with vacuuming and treating the cat and dogs. The biggest thing with it is to make sure to remove your pets while you spray and for how ever long after it suggests on the can, I think it's like an hour or so.

I know for sure that vets carry Virbac and I think you might be able to find it in some pet stores and order it online at amazon.

I'll have to go to the vet and check out Virbac.... I've been vacuum cleaning like a mad woman the past 3 days and putting baking soda all over the carpet.... Before we moved the kittens out to our garage, they had been spending most of their nights in our master bath. Our bathroom is the main place that's infested, also our bedroom (they liked playing on our bed.) We've been using a Kirby vacuum cleaner and I think it's sucking them all up. My kids and I haven't had new bites for 3 days now.

Ask the vet for some Comfortis---it's a great new pill that will kill any fleas that bite the cats for a whole month. It's only about $10-$15 per pill, which is a lot cheaper than trying all those things that don't work very well! Vacuuming a lot helps, too.

Read all of this and took notes, our apartment is infested worse than I have ever seen in my life and I am at my wit's end.  I blame the weirdly warm and beautiful summer we're having here in Seattle, but regardless of the reason, I can't live like this - so gross!  Arg!!

Diatomaceous Earth. You can put it on carpets and surfaces and vacuum it off after 24-48 hours. It's all natural and won't bother the kittens. Just be sure that it settles before bringing them back in. You can also rub it on their fur, but not near the face. In sensitive cats, it can cause coughing because the powder can irritate the lungs. I have fleas too. I haven't seen them anywhere but on the cat, and I don't have bites, but she's getting her first bath tonight. The vet said to wait and let them die from her meds, but he's buggin. DE seems to be the best thing. I also used it when my friend had bed bugs. Oh! And apparently, when u put DE on them, after a while the bugs will start jumping off. GROSS! But hey.