Fleas

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Dog has fleas.

House has fleas.

I need to get rid of said fleas. Without chemicals.

I'm angry about the fleas.

[Cat]

:hughearti only had a kitty with fleas but i kept them from spreading to other kitty and infesting the house by LOTS of vacuuming and washing. i also used frontline on the kitty with fleas. can you do that?:hugheart

[Can'tTurnLeft]

I can do all but the frontline. It says it isn't safe to use if you are pregnant.

[BarefootBetsy]

Vacuuming constantly... like every day for several weeks - works pretty well. Bathing and combing the pets. Borax on the carpet for 12 hours and then vacuuming it up is good too and relatively non-toxic compared to other chemical solutions. You have to keep the pets off the boraxed carpet though which can be a pain...

Flea Treats are really awesome too! You can start using them now although they're more for keeping the fleas off the pets to begin with rather than getting rid of them.

http://www.fleatreat.com/

It's cost effective when you consider that it's perfectly safe and healthy and compare the cost to something like Advantage. We usually get 2 bottles with 500 tablets each at one time for our one dog and two cats. Click on "order" at the bottom to see the pricing.

The more you order, the cheaper it is so you can go in with friends if you know others who might be interested.

AND they do really work. Our pets didn't have fleas for several years after we started using them until we moved into our current house where there were already fleas :sick

[eoconnel]

We had fleas when I was pregnant with Max and nothing worked except Frontline. I would recommend that you have a friend or neighbor come put it on the dog and then keep the dog outside for a couple of hours to get the stuff to dry.

[duckwithoneleg]

i hear brewer's yeast works :)

also, a good bath with dawn dish soap. for some reason my brother swears the lemon kind works best. it doesn't get rid of ALL the fleas unless you're crazy thorough. but i gave my pup a dawn bath last night and he's much much less itchy. it's a good temporary fix if nothing else while you figure something else out :)

[kiloyd]

I grew up with fleas and doing dips and house sprays before the invention of Advantage and Frontline. All they do is get rid of the current fleas, not the eggs, if I remember correctly.

Frontline or Advantage are the very best! Do NOT use Hartz! We had a cat or two come into our vet clinic in convulsions when they used Hartz.

I don't see why you can't put it on and then wash your hands or wear a rubber glove. Or have someone else put it on.

As for the house, I don't know what gets rid of them naturally. oh! I think there is some kind of black light thing with a sticky pad, i think the light attracts them and they get stuck.

[Rabbit]

I have to make Josh apply it, after Seth was a year old. And it stays permanently in the dog's coat for that month. Every time you pet the dog, you pick up a little bit of residual frontline. And it doesn't wash off. It's designed to penetrate skin and penetrate quickly.

Do you have carpet floors?

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Do you have carpet floors?

Yes :sick The sick face is the nicest thing I can say about my carpeted floors. :sick

Can I use DE on the carpets?

[Rabbit]

Yes, you can.

[BarefootBetsy]

Yes - you can use either borax or DE on carpet. I've never used DE myself, but borax works similarly and that's always worked for us.

I forgot to say this before, but one thing about borax (I don't know if this is true for DE...) is that it attracts moisture (which is how it kills the flea eggs - it sucks the moisture out of them) so in a humid climate you might not want to use it during the humid time of year lest it attract moisture from the air into your carpets.

You could probably turn your AC down a few degrees or run a dehumidifier in addition until after it's vacuumed up. We've used it in both the PNW and the deep south in the winter so it wasn't a huge issue, but we wouldn't use it right now in the deep south :no Not without first taking some serious measures to reduce the humidity a bit more inside.

[kiloyd]

I have to make Josh apply it, after Seth was a year old. And it stays permanently in the dog's coat for that month. Every time you pet the dog, you pick up a little bit of residual frontline. And it doesn't wash off. It's designed to penetrate skin and penetrate quickly.

Do you have carpet floors?

Interesting. If I remember from a seminar a long time ago Frontline goes through the pets oil glands and Advantage through the hair follicles.

I used it when pregnant Im sure and never even knew I shouldn't. but I didn't use it monthly then, only maybe once in the spring, we didnt' have flea problem.

[Rabbit]

Boric acid does that. Borax doesn't. Boric acid (and Borax, too) can be absorbed through the skin, too. It's meant to be a crevice treatment, not a full carpet treatment. It is effective, but there's being pregnant to consider.

Better to do it now, though, when you can still get the floors professionally cleaned before the baby is ready to roll around on the floor.

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Better to do it now, though, when you can still get the floors professionally cleaned before the baby is ready to roll around on the floor.

:jawdrop:jawdrop:jawdrop:jawdrop

I'm gonna have a baby!

:jawdrop:jawdrop:jawdrop:jawdrop

[Rabbit]

I hope that wasn't news to you. :P~

[Can'tTurnLeft]

I hope that wasn't news to you. :P~

LOL It just all of a sudden hits me sometimes that this might be real! You were the catalyst for the night. Congratulations :giggle

[Rabbit]

:grin That made my day.

[Tiquatoo]

Since you have a dog, check out Comfortis. It's an oral flea treatment that you give once a month. It's been working great with our dogs. They don't have a cat version, so we're using the Frontline Plus, which does kill the fleas, their larvae, and their eggs.

We pick the Comfortis up monthly at the vet's office because it is prescription only. Cost about $15 per dog. You may have to bring the dog in for a weigh in the first time, as it's sold by a dog's weight.

[scottishthistle]

Frontline and advantage are both neurotoxins, you couldn't pay me enough to use them

[mamacat]

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:41 PM ----------

[/COLOR]I have found the easiest best flea trick EVER! My son & his fam. had a horrid infestation after their mama cat had kittens and and they tried this and it worked - no borax or dusty DE needed either. You take a white plate - they used an aluminum pie pan and it worked - and put water in it with tiny squirt of dish soap and set them up several places on the carpet.Then you turn off lights at night but leave a small lamp so it shines in water on all night.They are attracted to light and jump in.First couple of nights my son tried this(saw on internet) those pie pans were loaded next day.They kept vacuuming and changing bags to get up eggs. Then I gave them some Kleen Green enzyme concentrate(can do a search for) to make a big spray bottle to spray cracks etc. and it also took care of an ant problem and they used it as a flea dip for the cats.The Kleen Green is safe for preg. nursing mamas or animals. My anti chemical son was considering setting off a bomb while they were away the fleas had gotten so bad.His wife said that she has found one flea on her recently and they used to have scads on their legs and toddler was getting bites etc.

[April G]

I'm unearthing this thread a full year+ later cause the last tenants left fleas behind... :mad I'm COVERED in bites. My son has bites... my dh has none. :scratch :hunh I have the bites the worst... :yuck :shiver

I've been spreading borax on our wood floors (thank God no carpet!!!) and haven't actually SEEN a flea... just have a LOT of bites... I'm dying here... I want them gone NOW. We are bringing kittens home in a couple weeks too and I can't have them here still then. :mad :hissyfit

[mommylove]

I'm unearthing this thread a full year+ later cause the last tenants left fleas behind... :mad I'm COVERED in bites. My son has bites... my dh has none. :scratch :hunh I have the bites the worst... :yuck :shiver

I've been spreading borax on our wood floors (thank God no carpet!!!) and haven't actually SEEN a flea... just have a LOT of bites... I'm dying here... I want them gone NOW. We are bringing kittens home in a couple weeks too and I can't have them here still then. :mad :hissyfit

:hugs I'm sorry. That totally stinks. I have no advice, but I'm glad I finally got to your post that mentioned this is an old thread. My jaw hit the ground in shock upon reading that CTL is pregnant. :lol

[April G]

:giggle :shifty (now what can I do about the fleas?!)

[Auroras mom]

Call the exterminator (there are ones whouse only "natural" substances too, like geranium oil, I think it is), because an infestation isn't going to go away on its own, as they can get into your furniture and everything

Vacuum/dust/mop daily to remove eggs.

Borax is a neurotoxin, so it isn't safe to leave it lying around.

[mamacat]

look back at my post about using the lamps with pans of water.It .really.works. That with lots o vacuuming to vacuum any eggs up

[JellyBean]

We had horrible problems about a year back and found a company called cedarcide (i think). It's just natural oils from cedar but it worked miraculously!! We actually used all the harmful chemicals first and they still didn't kill them off. Its pricey but I still have quite a bit left and it works on other bugs too! I'm on my phone or I'd find the website for you.

You also are going to have to vacuum every day for a month because of the eggs. And I'm talking under couches and beds and everything. Having fleas was seriously one of the biggest nightmares ever so I seriously feel for you!!

[April G]

There aren't any pets on the floor (just birds hanging) and I know mopping will dissolve it, so not worried about the borax right now.

Tried the pan of water next to a light last night. Not a single flea in it by morning. :shrug

I visually SAW the first one last night. Even though my legs are flea bitten I haven't been able to spot one till last night. It was bigger than I expected, so maybe it wasn't a flea. :think It did jump though...

[mamacat]

Hmm when my son did that they got hundreds of fleas.Did youuse a plate or pie plate? Something flat and the little lamp has to be shining right on the water

[April G]

I used a shallow bowl... and put a lamp on the floor with a cover over the top so it was shining right on it. :-/

[mamacat]

maybe try something flatter? Think it also has to be white or silver

[April G]

My dad's wife just called and they are going to pay to have the place fumigated. :phew

[Delaney]

I know this thread is oldish, but I was wondering OP, did you solve the issue? What worked for you? We are dealing with fleas right now. We had been using Frontline on the pets, but we must have had some sort of flea exposion and the Frontline stopped working. We are now using Revolution and we see the dead fleas. We have covered our place with DE. Vacuum. DE. Vacuum, etc. I would think that we had solved the problem, but my DS is still getting bitten. a lot. His poor little legs. :( I am going to look for the cedarcide.

[lalaithnil]

You can make an AWESOME flea trap. Just use a white plate (I used the bottom of my cake carrier), cover the bottom of the plate with water and a drop of dish soap, then direct a desk lamp onto it. Leave it out over night. (make sure the lamp can't fall into the water!!!!) The fleas will jump in and die. Make as many as you can. We only made one and put it on the carpet where I was being bitten. This, combined with Frontline, daily vacuuming, and pets off the carpet for a time completely solved our flea problem. HTH

[Saphirah]

Are you sure they are flea bites?

[GentleMomof4]

I was going to suggest the water/dishsoap/light thing too. :giggle The I've heard it was to put the dish under a nightlight, don't know if that makes a difference. :shrug3 fwiw, it didn't work for us when we tried before, but we're getting fleas again so we might try it. But how do you keep your dogs from drinking the soapy water? My dh sprays our yard every year, I think he uses cutter (kills fleas, ticks, mosquitos, & a bunch of other stuff), it lasts a couple months. We're going to have to do another spray though because it doesn't seem to be working this time around. :think

[MomtoJGJ]

My animals drink anything, and they won't touch the soapy water. We have gotten infested twice since we've lived here... our whole neighborhood does, so it's awful. The last time we had to do cedar in the yard on top of spraying, salt on the carpets as well as an exterminator, PLUS the flea traps in every room. It does not have to be white, just light colored. I use casserole dishes because they are very large ;) If we are just checking to see if we have any fleas I use a regular plate. We do that every few months.

I also wonder if they are actually fleas. We never had an issue with fleas being on our hard floors or in the furniture on the hard floors. It was all in the carpeted areas. Google what a flea looks like. They are pretty recognizable. But anyway, if we are getting bitten by fleas there are always some in the dishes i set out.

Flea infestations are awful.... I hate them...

[Delaney]

I am sure they are fleas. Our pets were covered until the Revolution, and I have seen them as well just in our home. I will have to try the soapy dish trick again.

[AngelaVA]

You can make an AWESOME flea trap. Just use a white plate (I used the bottom of my cake carrier), cover the bottom of the plate with water and a drop of dish soap, then direct a desk lamp onto it. Leave it out over night. (make sure the lamp can't fall into the water!!!!) The fleas will jump in and die. Make as many as you can. We only made one and put it on the carpet where I was being bitten. This, combined with Frontline, daily vacuuming, and pets off the carpet for a time completely solved our flea problem. HTH

This is what worked for us to. Each night after the kids went to bed we would cover the floor with Borax, let it sit awhile and the vaccuum before we went to sleep (including the furniture and under it) and then we would put out the dish with dishsoap and the light in as many places as we could. We knew when they were finally gone because we would not have any on the plate with dishsoap in the morning. HTH

[NewCovenantMama]

We got rid of a flea infestation 2 years ago by vacuuming, vacuuming and more vacuuming...I used to watch them jumping around inside the Dyson! :giggle. We also gave the cats 4-Fleas tablets (nitenpyram (sp?)) every 4 days over the summer then once a week all winter, as every so often having the heating on caused more fleas to hatch.

Just a couple of things:

- The active ingredient in Frontline and some others is a "suspected" human endocrine disruptor - do NOT use if anyone in the home has endocrine problems. We avoid it because of ds1's thyroid issues.

- Someone mentioned bathing cats in Dawn dish soap - this is NOT healthy for the cat. No matter how carefully you rinse, it will leave some residue in the fur, which the cat will then ingest when it grooms. This can cause stomach upsets.

[hey mommy]

:popcorn

[AnotherNamedKate]

We had fleas when I was pregnant with Max and nothing worked except Frontline. I would recommend that you have a friend or neighbor come put it on the dog and then keep the dog outside for a couple of hours to get the stuff to dry.

We had a bad outbreak of fleas once in our old place. Frontline was the only thing that stopped it permanently. No amount of bathing or cleaning could get them all. So, I agree with this. Maybe have someone else put Frontline on them, and don't pet them for 24 hours (I think that's how long it takes to dry completely). Since moving into a house with wood floors instead of carpet, we haven't noticed any fleas (and we don't use Frontline unless we see them), so getting rid of carpet really seems to help too.

[April G]

We ended up paying an exterminator to come in and spray and went to a B&B for 3 nights. :bag Gone! :phew