fleas...again....please help!

Ugh! we all know what a pain fleas can be, but I honestly thought that cleaning up and putting them on Revolution would solve the problem as it has every other time. 

So far I have bathed the cats while waiting for the vet, cleaned the house from top to bottom regularly, put(and kept) them all on Revolution, sprayed pesticide on everything that I couldn't wash, and salted the floors, as well as putting DE in all of the cracks and corners. The label said to keep out of reach of children though so I didn't put it in the carpets.

Should I change my treatment? Is there something that I can add? I'm at a loss and extremely frustrated after 3months of battling little bitey things that I can't find

The worst part is, I took on a foster cat a little while ago, thinking that we were all clear, and now they have come back

If you are using the food grade DE, there is no reason not to put it in the carpets, work it in, leave it in overnight, then vacuum.  Be sure to always have some DE in your vac bag also to destroy any fleas that are sucked up.  If you have a paper bag in your vac, remove it when done, seal it in a plastic bag, and throw it in the garbage can outside.

As for flea medication for the cats, personally I much prefer Advantage II to Revolution.  The Revolution includes medications to kill worms and heartworms and if your cats are not going out, you don't need that much overkill, and it's much harder on their systems.  The Advantage II has only two medivcations, one to kill adult fleas and the other to kill larvae and eggs, and it is safe enough that you can apply it as often as weekly during a severe infestation, as long as you are seeing live fleas on your animals. 

To speed up the process, use a flea comb daily, flick any live fleas you get into a bowl of water with a little dish soap in it (that breaks the surface tension so they sink and drown) and you should be flea free very soon.  The flea combing also gives you an instant alert if it's time for another application of the Advantage II.  Although most of these medications suggest they last for 4 weeks, the life cycle of the flea is 3 weeks, so be vigilant and you should be done with them soon.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try the advantage then. I also ordered some flea traps from Amazon to try and catch any live fleas that are straggling around, and a different spray to use on the beds and couch to break the life cycle. 

Matt loves it when I comb him, but it's harder to get the younger two.

Midnight was a feral kitten who is now accustomed to handling, but tolerates very little combing, and Little Helen(the foster) was rescued from a hoarding situation and needed to be socialized. We can pet her, but not hold her in place. The younger two get their backs and necks combed before they take off to hide...for whatever good that's doing.

Advantage and salt on the floors worked for us. But that's when we only had 1 cat. I tried some generic stuff first but it didn't help, after 3 months I got advantage and left salt on all the carpets for 24hr. I actually did the salt twice, and made sure to vaccume every room for a while(normally I just do the livingroom and hall since the beds rooms don't get as much traffic.) i hope you figure it out soon, I hate fleas!

I have never heard of using salt. Is it just regular table salt you use? And one just sprinkles it everywhere?

Did your flea house spray have an Insect growth regulator? Or was it made to kill the adults? I'm getting Precor 2000. Pricy, but great reviews. Hoping two cans (two treatment s) takes care of the fleas. From what I've read, it should. The way I see it if I don't get a handle on it right now, the second winter ends it'll go from horrible to catastrophic. I've heard of the salt thing, but have heard mixed reviews.

Yes, the flea spray has an insect growth regulator. I made sure to get one that kills as much as possible, since I was sure when I bought it a little while ago that the only place left with fleas was the bed of my eldest(which is high up and difficult for me to get to because it's built into the wall with a narrow ladder)

I bought the IGR, stripped the bed, vacuumed and sprayed  the mattress, salted the entire area around it, in the gaps between the mattress and walls....and then fell, injuring myself when I tried to remake the bed. Which is why I had relied on the owner of the bed to do the work in the first place. 

I also sprayed the whole house at the time, and again a few days later when I combed a couple more fleas off the cats. At the time of my first post, I'd combed even more off them, and yesterday I got 3-4 off each cat.  

am I over-reacting at this point? Part of me thinks that only 3-4 is progress, and part of me is freaking, wanting to do another blitz of the house. But the flea traps are on the way, and it REALLY stresses the cats (not to mention the kids) out when I go stir crazy cleaning every corner and spraying everything with vinager if I can't wash it.

They feel like they're being punished while I shut them out of the room that I'm treating for fleas, and Matt looks at me with his big "apology eyes" until I open the door again.

I've had fleas before, but never dealt with an infestation...this must be a bad year with the mild winter up here.

The Precor 2000 recommended vaccuuming every other day. Some recommend every day, for 14 -21 days.

Do you have a crawl space or basement? Are there adjacent units that might have fleas, too?

Where is it damp?

Have you considered buying a dehumidifier (even for winter)? Might help.

The reason you vsccuum so much is because flea larva eat the flea poop. Gross but true.

I read somewhere that in order to excite the pupa into shedding their protective cocon (nothing can kill them as pypae) you can flash a bright flashlight at the floor side to side, then 15 minutes later repeat but going the opposite direction. Then vaccuum or spray.

When you vaccuum, you might want to repeat, as the pupae will have become excited by the vaccuum vibrations and will have left cocoons and become very hungry baby fleas.

If none of this works, you might want to ask your vet for capstar, and advice.

I had bad flea situation last year. I didn't know that my cat had flea for 2-3 months since she didn't let me touch her at that time.

I finally knew until I see flea popped and bid my ankle, flea dirt on my clothes and eww...

Anyway, I also used DE food grade for my carpet. I left it for a day or two days, then vacuum.

I also used Ultracide for spray and applied it for those areas I cannot vacuum.

I noticed flea stopped popping and biting my ankle after 2-3 days.

I can tell that flea are somewhat gone after that treatment, but I made sure I vacuum every day for next two weeks

Since then, flea free!

Hope this helped

I think there's a crawl space here, but it's behind a wall. We have a dehumidifier in that room, and the humidity is turned way low in the house. We have a climate-controlling furnace system. I powdered the ENTIRE basement with DE, heavily, since I don't have to worry about the cats down there. I suppose I could spray the wall that the crawl space is behind?

Your comment about Adjacent units is interesting, as the neighbors just moved out, and they had pets....their house is only about 4 feet from ours, so I don't know about the likelihood of migration in winter? I'll put one of my flea traps near the crawlspace in case that's a source.

I know that the Revolution is helping, because I routinely find dead fleas on the them, but I want the environment flea-free too. 

Thanks for the support, it's better to talk about this than to stress and obsess over it.

Oh, I got a suspicion your neighbors were infested, all right. I grew up in a duplex. This completely fits flea migration behavior. Nothing to eat there, so on they move...
Can you have the owner of the adjacent unit treat it for fleas?

Not a chance...slum lords. We own, but the owners of the place next door are miles away and only care that they get their money. 

Can you complain to the health department?

From what I understand, the tenants called the health board on their way out. We'll see if anything is done regarding the place, but after two sets of tenants calling the health board on the way out, I honestly don't know how much is going to be done. It would be nice to see the building condemned, rather than watch yet another set of tenants move in for a few months and then report them on their way out the door, but I suppose only time will tell.

My main concern is getting these fleas under control right now. I got the flea traps in the mail today, so I'll see how they go. If nothing else, they make nice lamps  I'll make them a permanent fixture, I think.

No fleas  seen today, so I'm happy.

I'd definitely call the health department and maybe city inspector as well. Maybe if they know the problem isn't isolated to just the unit, something would be done.

If you can get proof their tenants complained to the health dept, might be worth taking them to small claims court to have them pay your costs for the problem as well. Just my thoughts.

I moved into a house one time that was so infested and nasty you wouldnt believe it.

I told the lady she would have to take out the carpet or no deal.The guys removing the carpet had to go home and shower

before laying new carpet.Urine was pouring from it as they carried it out.And fleas were biting the ankles

as you walked through the house.These people only had one dog for gosh sakes!!Poor animal ,I think they were stone alcoholics.

Cans full of empty booze bottles,jeez.

If there is carpet in that apartment it has to go!!

I had been using Revolution on my kitties and even the kitten at first and it worked very well. Then the recession hit and I lost my job and couldn't afford the Revolution so I resorted to using the flea comb. You have to use it diligently. If you see the cat scratch then you know they have fleas and start combing. I was able to keep the flea situation under control. My one kitty hates the comb and the other tolerates it, but doesn't really enjoy it. They somehow get wise that you are going to come after them with the comb so it makes it more difficult to out smart them. Then I had a friend tell me she purchased Sargeant's Flea vials from Dollar General for $5.00 and she thought they helped. I decided to try them on my kitties. BIG MISTAKE. The one kitty did fine with the medication with no reaction, but the other kitty developed some strange neurological behaviors shortly after applying the vial of medication. It really didn't kill all the fleas. Truthfully I thought I could be responsible for killing my kitty. I called the company and they told me to wash the cat three times with Dawn to get it off her skin and then take the kitty to the emergency vet. I was afraid of driving in an unsafe town in the middle of the night so decided to watch my kitty carefully. Besides the initial visit would be $95 which I couldn't afford. The emergency vet just told me to keep an eye on the kitty. No one could tell me if they could do anything for the kitty. That morning I took her into my local vet. By then she seemed to be improving. It took her more than 12 hours for her to start acting normal again. I will never put anything over the counter medications my kitties ever again. I guess I should have known better because my kitty has always been very sensitive to medications. He also had an adverse reaction whenever I had to take him in for his routine injections. When I told my friend what happened she then told me the same thing happened to her kitty and she didn't wash it off her cat. It was three days before the cat was normal again. She also was concerned she could kill her cat. She will not use it again. Just be leery of any over-the-counter medications. They may not be regulated and the vials may not have the amt. of medication that they should have in them.

I cannot believe Sargents flea topicals-Hartz too-is still allowed. Those companies have killed or maimed hundreds if not thousands of animals. And if it's this toxic to pets what does it do to humans, especially children, the elderly and ill??[emoji]128533[/emoji]

For the first time in 8 years of having my two ladies I had fleas in December. Now I'm obsessed with every move my cats make. They can't do anything and I'm thinking it's a signal of flea infestation.  They got frontline which was the most horrible night of all of our lives, I read that the fleas are super active before they die and my little cat was miserable!

Since then I've washed and vacuumed everything like a crazy person. The ladies aren't biting, or excessively grooming or anything but they do scratch occasionally, which might be normal itches we all get. I also check the girls and their bedding regularly combing with flea comb, and damp cloths no flea dirt.

So my question is, can cats have fleas but not have flea dirt anywhere?