Fleas Help

So about a week and a half ago I noticed that my 3 cats had fleas.  I used to have an outdoor colony of cats, the last one came in recently making my family grow to 4.....he did not have fleas.  I have no idea where they got it, if it didn't come from outside,  my older more sickly cat who goes to the vet more seem to have them the worse ( maybe she got from the vet?).  She has hyperthyroidism, so when she was scratching and over grooming I attributed it to that. Looking back now this problem might of been brewing for 6 months.  Horrible I know. 

All of them including the one without fleas were treated with revolution. I cleaned my house like a crazy person.  Everything that could be washed was, dried, and then bagged up.  All curtains came down, all cat stuff thrown out, rugs thrown out, my bed was sealed up after sprinkling Diatomaceous Earth on it, and I have been sleeping only with a comforter and 2 pillows that are washed every few days and dried.  My clean clothes are bagged up and anything I wear goes to the laundry. 

I treated my entire house with Diatomaceous Earth, I swept it in every crack and creak in the wood floor and molding.  I let it sit for a few hours, vacuumed up.  Then steamed my floors.  The next day I sprayed bleach in every crack and the molding and washed my place to an inch of its life.  I also tried spraying rubbing alcohol on things.  Everyday I am vacuuming with Diatomaceous Earth in the bag then replacing the bag every few days. I have been changing the litter often and when I can spraying with alcohol and sprinkling Diatomaceous earth.  

All kitties get combed everyday, and any live fleas get put in a glass of water with rubbing alcohol. I set water traps with night lights every night. The problem seems to be under control now, but of course not gone.  The last 2 days nothing in the water traps.  I found 2 live ones yesterday on 2 cats (1 on each), and 1 live one today on 1 cat the rest were clean.  They will all be treated again in a few weeks with revolution.  

I am wondering how much further I need to take this.  Do I need to call an exterminator.  I am worried about the poison. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment I would hate myself if one got sick.  Should I chill out and just see what happens?  I am nervous bc in about a week and a half I need to travel for work for 5 days. During that time no one will be vacuuming and doing the up keep. Will everything I have done be ruined by that travel and come back to an infestation again. I am at a loss and I have read too much information on the Internet. 

On top of it, all the comforts of my home are gone, I have no cushions no bedding no curtains, its depressing.  Also I am trying to assimilate a feral cat to his new home and I can't even put new scratching post out.  So frustrated and overwhelmed. 

Anyone who has experience with this please let me know your story and time it took to get rid of.

Sprinkle DE on every horizontal surface of your house.  Sprinkle it on hard flooring, then sweep into a pile with a coarse broom. (plenty will be left behind to do it's job).

Take the pile you swept up and sprinkle it, and more all over any carpeted flooring, rugs, etc.  Use that same broom to rub it into the carpets.
Vacuum right before you put the DE on the carpets though.

Bath all cats and/or treat with a topical  (make sure it's been long enough since their last treatment...many of those "can" be used every week/10 days to help control an infestation). 
Don't directly dust your cats though!  It dries their skin and renders topical treatments useless. (topicals work with the cats skin oil) 

Leave the DE on the floors for about a week.  Then vacuum, and immediately re-apply DE. Leave it another week, and vaccum.

At your current stage, one week of DE on the floors might be enough.

But, considering what you're going thru?   I'd go three or four more weeks.

I can tell you an inexpensive way of how to be rid of ALL of them in a weekend.  But, you can't stay there, your cats can't stay there, and...well?  I'm all for chemical warfare, but, I've not reached "this" point yet.

Close, but not yet.  

I love that the DE is safe for the cats, but to leave a week is so messy, I worry about them breathing in too...and myself.  I have wood floors so I think a dusting into the cracks leaving for a few hours is good.  I am not sure I can live with powder on me and my stuff. 

I combed everyone this morning and did not see any! Things seem to be calming down. There were also none in the water traps.

I do not want to put any more chemicals on the cats, since they were already treated with Revolution. Two of my cats are 14-going on 15 I worry about their health.  This is supposed to last a month. They will get their second dose in about 2 weeks.  

This weekend I am going to do another DE this weekend, another good cleaning of the place, plus loads of vacuuming.  But I continue to see none or very little I dont think I am going to get an exterminator.  

I had a full blown infestation where there were prob at least 10-20 on each cat at any given time, so the fact that I have days that I see none is making me feel better.

Saw a total of 5 tonight after combing. One cat had 4 :/. Thought I was moving in a better direction.

If you see five, you don't want to know what you're NOT seeing.

My problem is worse, and I can't find a single flea on either cat.  (however, they are Advantaged, and isolated from the problem area).
I WILL win this battle though. 

I think I might of did it! I probably shouldn't say it but haven't seen one sonce Sunday morning. I comb my cats twice a day that's how I do the count.

On Saturday I did this crazy clean. I vacumned really good. Then sprayed rubbing alchole 99 percent in all the corners cracks of the room. An exterminator told me they don't like the smell so it got them out. Then I vacumned again. Then I spread Diatomaceous Earth everwhere. I let it sit for 2 hours. I vacumned it up. Then steamed my floors and then handwashed them to get the DE off. Repeated this in all the rooms. I had to shift the cats from one area to the next as I did it. Saturday I saw 7 of them I think I stirred them up. I got all of those killed them.

Sunday I Diatomaceous Earth my cats spread the powerder ovwr their bodies. I wasn't going to do this but after much reading it seemed safe. Like I said haven't seen a flea since Sunday morning it was just 1 dead on on one cat.

Still vacuming everyday with DE in the bag emptying the bag every couple days.

In about 2 weeks they get there second flea dosage I feel like this should be under control.

I also read a great blog that was like why the panic over a small bug. Not saying we should be dirty and let it fester but yeah I agree. It said panic leads to poison and I agree a flea is really only a small neusance. I wasn't even getting bite.

Still hoping though this goes away now after all this work.

Put some shallow dishes of soapy water in the most problem corners (you know).  Desk lamp over them, OR, a put them under or near a little night light.
Yeah, they call them flea traps.  I think they should be called "flea checkers".   They aren't going to solve or cure anything, but, they will let you know when you are rid of them.  (give the traps a few weeks to make sure).
I find this to be more accurate than a flea comb.

And yes, just a little tiny bug.   BUT, imagine having 50 of them on you.  And then consider your size-vs-cat size.  (three of them on me would drive me nuts) It has to horrible for a little animal.

Dusting your cat with DE isn't all that bad for them or anything, but, for DE to work....It has to stay there awhile.  You would have to dust them daily for quite a while for it to work.  Which, still isn't all that bad for a cat.

But, you know what DE does to your skin.  It will dry out the cats skin and might be uncomfortable for the cat since their skin is considered somewhat of an organ. (I might be saying that wrong....it's just something different for a cat than it is a person).
And the most important thing.  Topicals (frontline, advantage, etc).  Those work WITH the oil on a cats skin.  If you dry it out, those stop working. And topicals are not cheap.

I'm glad your making progress,  DE does work, if you give it time.  Fleas have no immunity to it.  Just takes awhile. 

Yes I set those night traps. Nothing in them for a week. When I first started I would have 1 or 2 nothing too crazy.

Didn't know DE messed with the topicals. I used revolution hope I didn't mess it up.

Found 2 tonight after combing. On two different cats. One dead one alive. My new cat that was feral has had it with the combing so didn't really get to do him. Was hoping to stay on my none streak but my guess is there has been another hatching. Not bad though. Two more wont live to make more eggs.


I hope that after the next revolution treatment in about 2 weeks ( a little less) that it will be smooth sailing.

How about turn to a vet. I don't think cats have that many fleas.

Hi Aurorus

Not sure you read my original thread but they were all treated with revolution from the vet. It's unfortunately hard to break the cycle of fleas due to the eggs they lay and the indestructibleness of the pupa stage. Yes they can have that many and much much more.

Yes they can.   Little Goober turned six gallons of bath water BURGUNDY  (six gallons of water, half a cup of Dawn, one bottle of Harts flea "dip", and he was scrubbed with Harts flea shampoo).  He staying in the water and lathered up for 10 minutes.  We inspected him for cuts/wounds because the white fur on his back legs looked like BLOOD running down them. 
FLEA DIRT.

And I have no idea how many fleas....I wasn't even going to attempt counting them.

The very next night....Bathed again.  His bath water ran clear.  However, I counted 50 fleas.  (24hrs after being bathed in stuff that's supposed to kill/repel fleas.....I found FIFTY more!)
The next day, after he dried, it was 30 days from his last Frontline.  So, he got Frontlined again. 

He went to the vet four days later for an overnight stay to be fixed.  When I picked him up, he had fleas crawling all over his face/nose. And I couldn't bathe him for at least two weeks due to his incision.

They were not going away, so, a few days later, I dosed him with Cheristin. 
Apparently not even that works as advertised.

So, I isolated him from the house, and from any possible new fleas. 

I started on the house the day of his first bath, and have been on it non-stop since then.

What's amazing (in a bad way) is....I can be down to NO fleas in 24hrs in a flea trap, in one corner. 
I then move it 12ft away, to the next corner?  Too many to count 24hrs later. 
Seems they don't migrate toward a flea trap, light, or heat.... very far.

It's INSANE!

I might of finally got rid of the fleas! Everyone was treated with a 2nd dose of revolution on Saturday. I saw no dead ones or live ones after combing on Sunday.

I stopped living like I was in prison and put all my linens back. I finally have curtains, rugs and bedding again.

Even if they are not totally gone I figure I broke the cycle good enough that with treatment every month and vacuming they should die. Of course my vacumn bag zipper broke this weekend so now I have to get a new one...probably wore it out with this whole thing.

Hope your battle is going good.

some helpful person on this board recommended i use a steam mop on hardwood or smooth floors, and pump it till it heats the floors.  i did - always got them over 130 f (i actually carried an infrared thermometer and checked) and that was that.  you can also use one of those hand steamers if you have carpet or want to heat your furniture or other stuff hot enough to kill the fleas, eggs, larvae and pupae.  i wouldn't suggest using a steamer on good furniture, though.