The Fleas won't go away, HELP!?

Question

We have 3 cats, 2 are about a year old, and one is only 13 weeks old. They are adopted from a shelter and did not have fleas when we adopted them. They are ONLY inside cats. We got boxes of Christmas stuff from a family who had stored the boxes in the garage. As fast as we put up the (faked) Christmas tree etc., we had fleas in the whole apartment! The fleas are everywhere; I now sleep on the leather couch in the living room where it is a little better. We seem to have tried EVERYTHING but nothing seems to help. They have bitten me around my ankles and on my feet so I am totally destroyed and it itches as H---. What can we do (and not harm our cats or our selves)? The itch will soon make me crazy and it is also burning like fire. We live in southeast Florida. Please give me some advice what to do! Excuse my English, I am from another country

Answer 1

Consult a vet first, there are strong chemicals which they can supply that will end your misery. Treat the cats and take the vets advice about treating your home. Get rid of the stuff that brought the fleas in, its probably loaded with eggs!
Start eating lots of garlic or take it in capsule form, seriously! Fleas hate garlic and it will stop them biting you as much whilst you are dealing with the problem. Once you have the worst of the problem under control you will need to get some flea bombs and fumigate the house. You will need to have yourself and any pets out when you do this and stay out for up to 6 hours. Its a pain but it will kill off the remnants of fleas in the furnishings. To keep on top of it, make sure the cats do not lapse in their treatment for fleas (even if you cant see any still keep doing it) and keep their bedding well washed (very hot wash) and hoover all the areas they go daily.
Its a lot of work to get it under control, but its worth it in the end.
Good luck;

Answer 2

Unfortunately, you have a mass flea infestation, and it takes drastic measures to get rid of all of them. First, go to your vet, groomer or a good-quality pet supply store and buy the 3-pack of Frontline Plus, Frontline or Advantage--for CATS. Don't put it on them yet.Put this treatment in your car, you will need it later. Next, make arrangements to either stay with friends or relatives, or a hotel/motel for 2 days (with your cats). Then, purchase 2 or 3 flea/bug "bombs" (depending on the size of your home--it will tell you on the label how much area it will cover).
You will need to put all food away, cover any/all fish acquariums, plants, close all cupboard doors that go to any type of food supply. Basically, you must move out of there for 2 days. Do NOT go by the directions on the cans which say you can re-inhabit the home in 4 to 6 hours, the treatment will not work. After everyone (including your cats) are loaded up in the car, designate someone (perhaps YOU) to go in and set these things off. They are an aerosol spray that will encompass the entire house. GET OUT! When you reach your friends house, motel, wherever, then you can get out the flea treatment for your cats. Read the directions carefully, and apply at the back of the neck between the shoulder blades of your cat(s). Just get comfortable and wait it out for 2 days. You can go back home then. Would be a good idea to dust thoroughly and give the carpeting a good vacuuming and immediately throw the vacuum bag (full or not) in an outside trash can, just in case anything possibly lived thru this. I had an infestation last year from totally unknown sources and had to do this. I have had no more problems. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Fleas can be brought in on ourselves (they seem to know when there's animals in our homes), but since you just adopted the kitten, most likely it already had some fleas on it you didn't notice. Call the vet on treatment for the 13 week old, but most flea treatments can be used with it. All the ones I use say 12 weeks and over. Try the information below. Sometimes steps 1-9 need to be repeated in two weeks, but not always. Strp 10 is for when all fails.

Flea bombs are the easiest to use.
1) treat the cats using a vet approved topical flea treatment - Frontline, Advantage
2) Raid flea bombs work great, get enough for each room in your home, check package for amount/size of room
3) use a spray to get under furniture, bombs don't always get everywhere.
4) once the cats been treated, gotten the flea bombs and sprayed under the furniturea and cushins, open all closet doors and dresser draws, turn off the gas at the main valve (you may need help with this), turn heat off if possible or turn it down to about 55, remove all other pets, turn off fish tanks and cover with plastic tightly, get kids out.
5) cover your mouth and nose with a cloth or mask -respirator if you have one
6) starting with the furthermost room from the front door set each one off -make sure to point can away from your face. Go as quickly as you can and get out fast shutting the door behind you tightly.
7) wait at least 2-4 hours whatever the package recommends. Still keeping your children and pets out, go and open up your house, turn on the heat- leave gas off for now. Fumes are too strong from bombs wait till smell is mostly gone. Uncover tanks and turn filters back on. Fumes usually take an hour or so and you'll be fine to bring all back in.
8) all counters, tables and other surfaces will need to be wiped down, wash bedding also.
9) vacuum, vacuum, and vacuum
10) if the above fails call in a professional

Answer 4

Do the right thing.............invest some money, but it will get rid of your problem. First of all, find a vet, take all three of your cats. Have a shot called capstar, then ask the vet to put revolution on them. Find a vet that will let you drop them off. The next thing, find an exterminator. Get someone professional to come in and bomb your house. After that is done, go home, vacuum, then throw the vacuum cleaner bag out. Don't just store it. After the exterminator has been, your house is vacuumed, then at the end of the day, go pick up your cats. Let them be the last thing you do that day. The shot capstar kills fleas and eggs immediately. The revolution is just like frontline, but better. It kills fleas, eggs, ear mites and worms. It will take some initial investment, but look at he relief you will have. It is definitely worth the money to go ahead and get it done, but it is a whole day process. If you could find an exterminator to come first thing in the morning and then vacuum two times, that would be even better.

Answer 5

I live in the uk, and have had a flea problem. I have 4 cats and 2 dogs. You need to go to the vets and get some strong flea treatment for the animals. You can also buy a spray for the house (over here it is called Acclaim) You spray the whole house (making sure you cover any fish tanks - lethal to aquatic life but perfectly safe for humans) You leave it for a while before you air the rooms. This should kill every single flea in your house (eggs included) It is lethal to spiders etc too, and the effects last for 12 months. If you have fleas in the bedrooms, my advice to you is to take any duvets and pillows to the launderette and wash them - that will kill anything that may be living in there.

Also get some ointment for the bites - They will stop itching soon, but flea bites take ages to go down - I still have marks on my ankles from the flea problem i had - that was 4 months ago!!!

good luck - hope you get it sorted./

Answer 6

Ok, the first thing you should do is go to your local vet or pet store. Buy some "Frontline". You will have to have a good idea of how much your cats weigh, before you buy it. (They have different boxes, according to the size of the pet). This can be expensive, but works like a charm. We have two cats, but only buy one at a time, since there can be three applications in one package. (Depending on what size ya get)

Apply the frontline as directed to each cat.

The next thing you should do is "bomb" the house. You can buy bug bombs at hardware stores or grocery stores. Try to find one that kills flea eggs, also. Follow the instructions for this product, as well. You'll need to plan a day to take all your animals and family members out of the house for a long period of time.

If your home is as heavily infested as it sounds, you may need to bomb the house again.

This is something we do every year. We bomb once a year, and use the frontline when we start seeing a flea or two. Once they accumulate, it's very difficult to get rid of them. Good luck.

Answer 7

We had a flea problem once and I can sympathize it was so BAD!!!!! Ours came from our cat, which we no longer have. This is what I found to work. First I had the house exterminated by a professional ( make sure you mention your problem), and that didn't take care of the problem so then I went and bought a $5 bug bomb at the local hardware store and bombed the whole house while we were gone one weekend. It seemed to do the trick. I also loaded up stuffed animals, plush toys, barbie dolls and anything else that I thought they might like to live in and sealed them up in garbage bags and put them outside in the garage where it was cold.

Sometimes they live in the grass outside so even if you treat your house you still may have to treat your lawn outside because you can bring them in on your shoes, clothes or whatever. I read somewhere you can tell if you have them in your house or yard by wearing a white pair of socks and walking by scraping your feet around on the ground because they are attracted to lighter objects.

Good luck! I know they will drive you crazy!

Answer 8

Purchase Frontline or Advantix and use that on your animals. Find a safe place for a few days to keep your pets while you bomb the apartment. (Flea Bomb - purchase at any department store, Lowes or Home Depot). That will kill the existing fleas and eggs so they won't reproduce. Keep the animals out of the apartment till you've had a chance to vacumm and wipe away all the residue.

The parasites are living and reproducing in the carpeting and upholstery. Not just on the animal. You have to treat the entire environment

Good Luck

Answer 9

you have to treat the house and the yard at the same time or summer is going t better hell. get the cats out of the house for a day and flea bomb the house, launder all bedding and spray under all the beds too, go to your local Lowe's or Home Depot and get the flea granules for the yard and treat all around the house as directed. you are bringing in the fleas on your clothing and footwear. treat yard at least once a month for the next three months good luck

Answer 10

Buy a flea bomb. Let it off. Leave the house. Bring the cats to the vet. Ask the vet about the fleas. Stay out of the house until the bomb says you can come back. When you can come back, wait like a day, and let another bomb off. If that doesn't work, call an exterminator. My sister had the same problem with her house.