Fleas!

Just got back from the vet.  We took Swanie over this morning because he has been reacting when we pet him down his back. Thought it was pain and figured we needed to have it checked out.  Vet was feeling down his spine and said, it's not pain! It's fleas!  In one way, I'm very relieved it wasn't something worse. But on the other hand, dang it! Neither cat goes outside, but vet says NC is the flea capital of the world and they have ways of getting in. Oh joy.  So now what?  We ordered these collar for Swanie and Cricket, on vets advice:

http://www.petsmart.com/cat/collars/seresto-flea-tick-cat-collar-zid36-11913/cat-36-catid-200036

She assured us that they are safe and that they work. When the manufacturer first made them available for cats, she convinced them to give her several to try for free and spoke very highly of them. I've never liked the idea of putting chemicals on my cats, and she agrees about that.

So anyway, we ordered those and they're on their way.  What else do I need to do to get rid of them in the house.  I've never seen one, had no idea we had them. I don't want to bomb or use chemicals in the house that would be toxic to the kitties (and us), and I don't know what I would do with the cats while that was going on.  Could board them I guess, but I hate the thought of that, and very expensive also.

What is the best way to make sure I get rid of the things?  I should mention that I don't want to use DE (tried that once and it was nasty) or borax (also toxic).  Anything non toxic (exept to fleas)?

In all honesty, I'm not sure the flea collars alone will be effective though you are welcome to give it a try. Most collars are effective at preventing infestations but not so effective at curing existing infestations. Just so you know, most flea collars work by  emitting toxic gasses that keep fleas away. These toxic nerve gasses are inhaled by your cat, and absorbed into his skin. I mention this only because you seem very concerned about putting chemicals on your cat, ut in reality collars function similarly. There are oral medications that can be given to cats that are highly effective and that don't involve putting anything topical medication on their body if you are concerned about that.

We do have an article about fleas and how to get rid of them here: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-fleas  

If you do call an exterminator, they do have products that are not toxic to cats they can use.  You'd probably be better discussing this with them than here. If you are looking for something you can do entirely yourself hopefully others might be able to chime in with products that worked for them.

The more I read about these collars, the less I feel like I want to use them, despite the vet assuring me that they are safe.  I'm very depressed at the moment.  I'm going to check the link now, thank you.

I forget the name of it, but I purchased a home flea spray from Wal-Mart (in the pet section) it was a natural spray, smelled like cloves and worked wonders...just had to spray once a week or so (as new fleas hatched) .

Could try thieves' oil.

Hatchytt said:

https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/products/thieves-household-cleaner

Click to expand...

Essential Oils harmful to cats, or so I hear.  Otherwise it sounded good.