FLEAS! What would you recommend?

Hi everyone!  Need some personal experience/advice.

So we had a bad year with fleas down here in the South.  The cats all have fleas now.  They are indoor cats, so the fleas obviously came in with us humans.  They are all on advantage II.  On a trip to the vet last week for one of my cat's yearly appointment, I discussed the problem with the doctor.  It was suggested to me to get a professional pest control company in to take care of the house.....she said we need 3 treatments 14 days apart.  I understand the 'why" of this.

My 2 questions are this.....

What recommendations would you have for treating the house and what might your experience be with a professional company if you used one?

Between Advantage Multi and Revolution, do you think one is better than the other?

I use Revolution because it protects from different worms also.  When we had a dog she brought in Fleas one year.  Nightmare. I took care of my house myself. We bought bombs from the vet. We boarded our babies while we bombed. We took every material article in the house to the laundry mat so we could do all at once, We left everything in our cars until we steamed cleaned all furniture and the one room we have carpet. Then we proceeded to clean all hard surfaces in the house. It was a lot of work.  It would have probably been less stressful and cheaper to hire an exterminator. We did not even think of it at the time.

I also use Revolution...I've always had great luck with it.

If you're planning on tackling the house yourself, one thing that helps it to buy one of those cheap flea collars, cut it up and put it in your vacuum canister or bag. that will help kill any fleas that the revolution misses. I've not ever gone the professional route, but I would make sure to ask for references and their experience specifically with fleas. You may want to contact your vet or a local shelter and see if they recommend anyone.

Are you getting bitten by the fleas?   Are you seeing fleas out in the open?   If not, then I wouldn`t call it an infestation.   If this is the case, just treat the cats with whatever the vet recommends.   If you have carpeting the Raid Flea killer in the purple can works well.

Doing it myself is not exactly an option right now because of the "time" factor.  It is my understanding (and kittymomma1122) confirmed it for me that this can be a very time consuming process.

Have we been bitten by fleas?  Very seldom.  I don't see them out in the open, but the reason for that is that if given the option between humans and cats, fleas will pick cats every time.  There are 4 cats in the house, so they are having a feast.  Every time I use a flea comb on one of my cats, I pull off up to 10 fleas at at time and flea excrement, which means they've had a meal.  The way advantage II is supposed to work is when a flea jumps on a cat who has been treated and that flea is working its way through the fur to reach the skin, the advantage is supposed to paralyze them so they can't bite.  If there is flea excrement, they are biting.  Another thing the vet mentioned to me was that if you can take a flea off of the cat and it doesn't immediately jump away, but instead just sort of moves around in circles, then it is dying.  I've seen both pulled off of the cats.  She told me that over the past several years, many clients have complained that advantage II is no longer effective on their cats.....and this is also the reason why you don't need a RX for it now.  The vet said that if we continue to see fleas this long, then the problem is in the environment and that is why she suggested bringing in a professional.

I'm going to make some calls today to see what I can find out.

So the fleas are on your cats then how will treating your house kill the fleas on your cats? I'm just trying to look at this logically. The only product I have used is frontline and it has a good reputation.

An infestation to me is when you see fleas out in the open and they are biting your ankles. But if they are limited to the cats then treatment with a good product like frontline has always eliminated the problem for me.

Because the flea eggs fall off the cats wherever they go around the house, when these eggs hatch, the residual from the professional treatment would kill them before they can get onto the cats.  All the cats are on Advantage II and have been their entire lives.....they range in age from 5 years to 10+.  One vet recommended Advantage Multi and another vet recommended Revolution.

I called some of the pest control professionals today on my lunch hour and one of them suggested to me to just try vacuuming the entire house.  I'm not sure how often and for how long, but he said I'd be picking up the flea eggs.  I know Ms. Freya recommended the flea collar in the vacuum, so that's an option.

That sounds like a safe option. I don't think you would have to do it long as the flea eggs should get sucked into the vac quite easily.

I have my two cats with daytime outdoor privileges on Revolution and my two indoor-only cats on Advantage II.

I've had several TNR cats through the house over the last few months that I know had fleas when I caught them. These rescues had flea treatments applied at the same time as their surgery. I've had no flea problems. The key is to stay ahead of the situation if at all possible and not let fleas get established.

I have old asphalt tile and bathroom tile in the section of the house where the rescue kitties go, and any towels or bedding get laundered in hot water and dried at high heat. Then the space gets mopped down after they leave. If I had carpet in that area, I can see it being a much more difficult problem to deal with.

Edit: Just to make one of my points more clear, if you're having a problem with fleas becoming resistant to one treatment, then it might be wise to switch products.

Do try Revolution.

When I first moved here, the apartment was just infested. Bombed twice, washed everything, vacuumed every day w/Borax put down first, vacuumed twice a day, washed everything again...no fleas to date. A lot of work, but it did get rid of them. If you've not got the time, I'd go for the exterminator. By the way, how long have you being giving them the aA dvantage II - it does take a while to work to rid the place of fleas.

I am coming in late to this post but haven't seen anyone mention capstar. I had an issue with my kitty years ago where frontline just stopped working and we had a really bad infestation due to an outside stray and the dog bringing them in. Switching to advantage helped alot after we got all the initial fleas dead. Capstar is a pill and works in your cats bloodstream. One pill always did the trick for Denni. You could literally see all the dead fleas.....all over. Eww. We had to use it maybe 3 times in 10 years she was with us. She was a flea magnet - poor girl.  I am not sure how healthy it is for your kitty and others may be able to weigh in on the potential risks. Denni never had a problem with it and lived a good long life til 18.

Kelly

In my experience, I've had better luck with using a flea comb and coconut oil than Frontline, and I have seven indoor cats. It's far safer for the cats, too.

I use revolution because fleas lead to tapeworms.

I know your pain.  Last year our house was overrun by fleas.  I have four indoor cats and a dog.  The best way I found to handle this and had amazing results was I use Revolution for the cats as over the counters don't work here.  For the house, I blocked off a room at a time and sprinkled Twenty Mule Team Borax (found in the laundry aisle) all over the furniture and carpeting.  Leave it at lease an hour, I left it four hours and then vacuum it up.  Then I sprayed Bengal Full Season Flea Killer Plus on the carpet (especially along the walls) and undersides of furniture.  Do this for each room.  I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I only had to do it once and it worked great.  Just remember to throw the vacuum bag out as soon as you're done.  Good Luck!

I had a minor flea infestation a few years ago and had my regular pest control company treat the house. Actually, they only treated the first floor; the tech said it wasn't usually necessary to treat the whole house, just the places where the cats spent most of their time. The tech also said that the most effective treatment is to vacuum thoroughly and frequently. If you're using a bagged vacuum, dispose of the bag outside, and if you're using a bag with a canister you empty, empty it into a bag outside the house and spray the bag with bug spray. You'll have to move the furniture and vacuum underneath, and ideally vacuum daily for a week following each treatment. As your vet noted, you'll need several treatments to catch the fleas in all the life stages.

The good news is that it worked--the fleas were gone and have not returned.

In terms of flea treatment, Advantage Multi and Revolution are both good products. See what works best on your pets. You can also try Comfortis, which is an oral treatment. And Capstar is invaluable for getting the fleas off of your cat immediately and for figuring out how badly the cat is infested. If there are a lot of fleas, your cat will start scratching and biting itself 20-30 minutes after the dose. When I had the flea infestation, I gave the badly infested cats Capstar daily until they stopped the bitting/scratching when they were dosed--meaning that they didn't have any or many fleas on them. You can buy Capstar online at Amazon or the generic version from Little City Dogs. The active ingredient in Capstar is nitenpyram, so look for that in the generic version. It's very safe.

I had the same problem... Just before and all season long I had been bragging about how I didn't have fleas and all high and mighty about it... Then, someone brought their dog over with fleas and well... There went my good streak of luck!   I usually use Revolution as my main one.  But I was strapped for cash and the babies were miserable with itchies...  Don't bother with Frontline Plus (it used to be my #2).  It doesn't work anymore hardly at all.  Lots of complaints from clients and patients at the clinic wanting a refund after. 

What I normally do is switch back and forth.  The reason Frontline Plus doesn't work for a lot anymore is because the fleas build up a tolerance to it.  It stands to reason that if a flea survives a treatment and goes on to reproduce, then the babies will be tolerant to it, as well.  This is why sticking with one for so long doesn't work or loses it's effectiveness after awhile.  This is also why they have to keep improving them or coming up with new formulas.  Anyway, so far (knock on wood) Revolution has been #1 for quite some time.  But as I said, I was strapped for cash, and I reluctantly tried Advantage II.  I didn't have much of an impression of the first Advantage.  So I say reluctantly because of this fact. 

However, I am impressed with Advantage II so far.  Fleas started falling off and dying immediately!  And within a few hours, the cats were no longer scratching.  The real tests will be how long it lasts before I need to reapply.  If it makes it 3 weeks, I will be happy... The full 4 weeks, I will be ecstatic!!  Revolution usually works for about 6 weeks or more for me.  I now only use it as a preventative.  So if Advantage II can lasts all month... I will give it 4 stars.  So far, it has 2.5 stars from me and the kitties. 

Diatomaceous earth! Safe and effective against fleas! Cheep too. google all about it. It is just crushed fossilized sea shells. sprinkle on carpet and bedding and on cat...buy buy fleas and intestinal worms

Make sure to buy food grade

Good luck

This is a great post!

Also vacuum everywhere, it's great for getting rid of fleas and their larvea!!

I used a fogger and it got rid of the fleas inside my home buy one for each room they work.

It's also a good idea to throw away the vacuum bag (dispose of it somewhere outside your house) each time you vacuum so that the eggs don't hatch in the bag and the new fleas don't re-infest your house.