Fleas problem

We have 2 cats. One of them has always been indoors since he was a kitten and he generally has no interest in going outside. The second one we rescued from the street and if at first he seemed to be satisfied being indoors, he later demanded to go outside so much that we gave in (he started throwing tantrums, throwing and breaking things to demonstrate how unhappy he was and yell all day long). Now the second kitty seems pretty happy and he doest go far from the house at all, comes inside to sleep and eat. 

The problem now is fleas in both cats. The one that goes outside bring them in so our indoors cat has them too. I just recently noticed them. Got a shampoo last night but it did not seem to help coz I saw those little things crawling on them this morning. 

My question is if there is any good remedy for fleas that is NOT a shampoo (they both HATE bath and it did not seem to kill the fleas anyways). And my second question is if there is any way to PREVENT the indoor/outdoor cat from getting the fleas in a first place and bringing them in? And lastly, can this "cure" be bought somewhere without prescription? 

Thank you!

I use Advantage II on both my cats now (I've used a multitude of products), and that works great on them indoors, but we have an issue with the yard getting fleas & ticks. They are really bad this year.  Yesterday I treated the yard again with Sevin granules, we buy huge bags of it every year and spread the granules using a hand held grass seed spreader--throws it around easier.  I also have a push-type fertilizer spreader I use.  We live near the woods (back yard backs up to acres and acres of woods) so we battle them every year. I'm supposing the squirrels, possums, and whatever else comes to visit from the woods bring them up near the house as well.  They hitchhike on us into the house.  If you have a yard of any size I'd recommend treating it as well as the cats.  I had an indoor/outdoor cat for a while that I finally had to ban to outdoors (she really isn't my cat, she is a neighbors cat that I would let in when she showed up, I kinda share her with a neighbor and we both feed and vet her).  She was bringing in ticks/fleas, I would treat her with Frontline Plus or Advantage and they would hop on her, then hop off once they got in the house.  I highly recommend treating the outdoor areas around the house.  It's the only way we keep them at bay during the year, but we live in the countryside, near woods, fields, and such, so we can't eliminate them entirely.  We just fight a good fight every year.

I don't think I can get Advantage over the counter or online or can I?

And my husband did not treat our yard AT ALL this year because I am pregnant and he wanted no chemicals around me. I am sure it is part of the problem. There has to be some kind of a solution  

Advantage can be bought over the counter at Petco or Petsmart. Our vet recommended it when we couldn't get the prescription kind. I use revolution now. 

Yes, like Louann said, I purchase mine at Petco.  I was using Revolution I got from the vet--that stuff is awesome!  But my older dude had a reaction, so I just went back to the Advantage on both of them.  I like Frontline Plus--that was my second choice, but it started becoming ineffective in our area and our vet said we needed to swap again.  The Advantage II is working good for me right now (I have to buy the large cat formula for my chunky monkeys haha!)

I do understand about you not wanting chemicals around you, congrats on the pregnancy!  I don't react well to spray insecticides, that's why we use the granules.  We have a huge ant problem too that the Sevin granules helps control, that's a big reason why we use that.

New here. My cat (indoor only) snuck outside one night and brought back fleas. They are now everywhere! A friend swears Boraxing the floor and vacuuming it up will do wonders. My question is this: the fleas are mostly in my bedroom, so I figured I would lock the cat in his bedroom and let it sit overnight. I picked up a pair of pants off the floor last night and the fleas were all over the place, but fogging didn't do anything. I called the vet, but am in a bad place financially (worried my power is going to be cut off) and just can't go. If I do one room at a time, would this be effective? Or will they just move to a new room? This is disgusting to me and it's embarrassing to have people over now.

One time years ago I sprinkled Sevin dust in the carpet and let it sit, vacuumed, and it worked. I've always heard the borax works but never used it. Wear a mask though, the vacuum stirs it up. I'm sure it didn't do my sinuses and lungs any good, but it did kill the fleas.

We ended up spending a bunch of $$$ at the vets and getting 3 months supply of Revolution for both cats. Hopefully after 3 months it will get colder and the flea season will be over. Revolution is expensive (((

Revolution is the best I've ever used, it really is worth the $$$! You (and they) will be glad you did!