I need Help= MY HOUSE HAS CAT FLEES?

Question

I have 2 cats and about 5 days ago saw that they had flees so went down vets got frontline and dosed them up...didnt work! Went to pet shop got flee tablets and they seemed to have worked on one cat but not the other but what is even worse is my house has flees now. I have bites and so do the kids i have seen then on me and even in my drinks i brough a expensive spray for my house and used the whole can but its been 2 days and i have seen 3 more.............. what can i do?

Answer 1

Hi there...some cats will be resistant to flea products so trying another is usually recommended. Unfortunately, most over the counter products usually don't work as well as Frontline, Revolution or Advantage.

For the home consider using Borax. It kills fleas instantly within minutes by dehydrating them then vacuum up. Here's an article on how Borax works: http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/fleas.html

Answer 2

I'd agree that sometimes these things don't work overnight. I had real problems years ago with my two dogs. Kept treating them & the house but it seemed like they'd just go out for a walk & come back with more fleas ... then the fleas started biting us. Ugh.

I was using flea treatments that I got from the petshop & the supermarket & they just didn't work - it wasn't until I used Frontline & also treated the house that I solved the problem.

The Frontline that you've put on the cats should last for up to five weeks ... I wouldn't bath the cats, I'd imagine that it would be an exceptional cat to put up with that sort of treatment. I think that Frontline is excellent, it's safe even for young kittens (so I sort of imagine it to be safe for children too) & once the fleas have got onto the cat then they will die.

I'd also treat the house (which is what I did all those years ago). I vacuumed everwhere, under the settee cushions, etc. Washed all the dogs bedding. Then I used Nuvan Staykill (it might possibly also be known as Acclaim) & sprayed under the settee cushions, under the dogs bedding, around the edges of all the rooms & just generally over the carpets.

I found that the spray really made me wheeze & felt quite ill afterwards. So, if you use it, use it on a good day & take yourself & the children & the cats if possible, out for a hour or so after you've sprayed. Perhaps it would be good to use a face mask or scarf.

The Nuvan Staykill kills adult fleas for a short period of time but it's best benefit is that it stays active for about 12 months after that as it as it contains growth inhibitors to prevent flea eggs & larva hatching into fleas.

Of course, you could always call your local council & they'll do something for you. Don't know what it costs or what they use ... but you'll still need to leave the house for a while, I'd imagine.

Then if you treat the cats, regularly every five weeks or so (see the instructions) with Frontline, then you shouldn't have any future problems.

If you are in the UK then along with Frontline, you can also get something called Stronghold - it's dabbed on the back of the neck in the same way, but along with killing fleas, it also claims to treat ear mites in cats & kill roundworm - which is great, no messing trying to get a tablet down a reluctant kitty's throat.

And, as you've been advised, harbouring fleas generally means that the cats will also have tapeworms. (The eggs can sometimes be seen around the cats bottoms they are supposed to look like grains of rice ... ick) Panacur will kill these - or, if you want to avoid giving the cats tablets, I think that there is something called Drontil that you just put on the back of the cats necks. I'm sure that your local veterinary centre will give you advice.


I'd imagine that you'll see some improvement within a week.


And I do hope that you don't have any tropical fish - or if you do, that you can send them on 'holiday' while you're treating the house.

Good luck!

PS After spraying the house, I started to use Frontline regularly & thank goodness have never had the same problems

Answer 3

To eliminate fleas, you need to be thorough; in the end it will be less expensive because the fleas will not return.

Fleas spend very little time on the animal. They feed, hop off, and lay eggs. The eggs hatch in about 3 weeks, jump back on and start the whole process again. The eggs can also lay dormant for up to a year.

Begin by giving your cat a flea bath, rinse very well, and towel &/or blow dry. For cats over 12-16 weeks old, use a good flea shampoo, such as Adams. Kittens under that age cannot tolerate the chemicals in a flea shampoo. For kittens 5-12 weeks old, use a premium shampoo such as Eqyss and let the shampoo stay on the fur for about 5 minutes to kill the fleas. Do not bath kittens less than 5 weeks old.

An alternative is to ask the vet for Capstar, which will begin killing fleas within half an hour. There are some very good flea prevention products on the market. My favorite is Frontline Plus. This kills fleas and prevents more from hatching. You apply it once a month.

In addition, you really need to treat your home. A flea “bomb” will fumigate the premises. My favorite brand is Zodiac with Precor. This kills adult fleas and contains a growth inhibitor to prevent more from hatching. Further, it lasts for 7 months. Then apply a premise spray under any large furniture, such as your couch and bed.

Vacuuming daily in addition to other treatments also helps. A warm light in an outlet over a tray of soapy water will drown any stragglers (the warmth attracts the fleas who jump into the tray), but this shouldn’t be necessary if you’ve already “bombed” your house.

If this is an outdoor cat (hopefully not), you may want to treat around your house as well.

For very young kittens (under 8 weeks old) stay with the natural remedies. Powder them thoroughly with cornstarch (safe, but destroys the exoskeletal system of fleas). Then you need to hand pick them off. A flea comb is helpful to do this.

Here are a few sites where you can buy these products:

www.jefferspet.comJeffers Vet Supplies (Dr. Jeffers & vet techs answer questions, too)
www.petedge.com/PetEdge
www.drsfostersmith.comDrs. Foster & Smith
http://revivalanimal.com/Revival Animal Health

Answer 4

I had the same problem just a couple of weeks ago with cat fleas. The cat got into my room and the fleas seemed to stay in the carpet.
The first thing to do is make sure that you have got rid of the fleas from the cats. You can buy anti flea collars for cats, but if none of the products you have tried work, then take the cat to the vets.

The next problem is that the fleas will probably have jumped off the cats and into the carpet and furniture.
I tried buying some regular household crawling insect and flea killer from a shop but it did not work.
In the end I had to buy a fumigation pack from the internet. This is the pack that I bought, but I suspect there are others out there that do a similar job: http://www.pestcontrolshop.co.uk/acatalog/FLEA_PACK.html
I washed all my bed sheets and clothes, vacuumed, then had to fumigate my room with the smoke on two seperate occasions (once wasn't enough) and sprayed the carpet and bed once. They seem to be very resiliant little creatures.
If you don't want to treat them yourself then I suggest getting a professional in.
Good luck, I sympathise with you.

Answer 5

I had the same problem and flea season is the worse...

I bought a large cage to keep the cats in for a while in a small room while I fumigated the other rooms. Complete with liter, newspaper lined, water and food. In the mean time I took a flea comb to their fur while I gave them baths. If your cat freaks out near water then you may need to just use the flea comb alone. You need a bowl of water and pet shampoo mixed into it and when you run the flea comb over shake the fleas off the brush and into the bowl of shampoo water. Sometimes you may need to use an old toothbrush to get the fleas off. (kind of gross) This takes some time to do, you may need to keep doing this until you can find fleas on the comb anymore.

Then when the rooms have finished being fumigated, vacumed, cleaned..etc. Let the clean cats go into the treated rooms and treat them with front line, or flea drops.

Now you have to fumigate the room that the cat's were caged in.

It worked really well last time, but over time it does come back a little.

Answer 6

You need to go to the vet and ask for a can of Nuvan spray for the house and get a prescribed flea treatment for the cats. The spray is effective in your house for about 6 months. You won't even have so much as a spider in your house after using this stuff. It's the best you can buy and costs around £15 - £20, expensive, I know, but lasts forever.

Answer 7

This happened to me and here's what worked for me.
1. Do not buy stuff from a pet shop as it is useless. Go back to your vet or contact your local Environmental Health Department. This way you will get the proper stuff to spray round house.
2. Before you spray give cats flea tablets and worm them (fleas can cause worms)
3. Hoover the carpet, curtains, hard floors and mattresses.
4. Spray every nook and cranny of your house. Including inside wardrobes and mattresses. Do not just do soft surfaces do every surface. Leave for at least 48 hours before hoovering again.
5. Wash all soft furnishing that will fit in the washing machine at the highest temperature for that fabric.
6. Wash every item of clothing in your laundry basket and the clothing you wore when spraying house.
7 Take cats into bathroom and fill sink with water and a little bleach and soap and use a fine toothed comb to go through their coats (you can buy flea combs). Drop any fleas into the sink - water does not kill them but the bleach does and soap means no surface tension for them to walk on the water (they just sink and die).
8. After 48 hours hoover whole house and respray especially in places where cats like to lay about.
9.If the infestation is really bad then Environmental Health can come out and do house for you but this will cost.

Best of Luck. I actually spray my house every May and October now, just in case. Fleas can be terrible to get rid of so I take no chances and the stuff I use (white can name begins with a Z, sorry can't remember its name) is terrific - I have never seen as much as a tiny spider anywhere since I started doing this.

Answer 8

_1you have too treat this dilemma same way you would with lice on kids hair 2- bath the cat and leave until she starts licking herself 3- zodiac, is the best i have found yet you can get the spray for the house and furnishings 4- wherever kitty rests her dear soul has to be washed hot water any pillows, stuffies ,everything you can wash has to be washed ,5- make sure you don't keep the vacuum bag throw it out when your done the carpets with the spray, 6- get little miss kitty to the vets and get the zodiac nodule for her neck, 7- be prepared to do this again as the eggs hatch 8-SORRY TO HAVE TO TELL U THIS BUT ANIMALS CAN BE A LOT OF WORK!!! as far as the flee bites go if they are itchy you should get some benadryle for the icth

Answer 9

I had this problem with my two cats. You NEED to bomb the house with flea bombs. Put a few around the house (it depends how big your house is), wash all of your linens the cats have access to, and be sure to reapply the Frontline to the cats on a timely manner. It sucks and it is a long process. The bright side is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, BTW, make sure to mop and sweep the floors (vacuum if you have carpet) to keep up on the debris. Good luck!

Answer 10

Getting rid of fleas is a long process if you have a bad infestation. Frontline does work but it wont control the fleas already living in your house. It just protects the animal. Go to a reputable pet supply store, not Walmart or Kmart or something like that, and ask about a mutli-step process to get rid of fleas. That could include bombs, sprays, etc. to kill them during their different life cycles. The other alternative is to call an exterminator.