Major Flea Problem~We need help!?

Question

Were having a huge problem getting rid of fleas this year. My persian-himalayan has never had a flea problem up until now. We tried advantage, frontline, flea dips, dawn dish soap-NOTHINGS WORKING!!!

The worst part is my son (5) is badly allergic, and he's completly covered in hives from the bites. No one else in the home is being bit~just him.

I bathed the cat a couple days ago, cut his long fur off, and took a flea comb to him. He is now flea free, but our house isnt.

We need advice. Has anyone else suffered this? What did you do? We are to the point of maybe rehoming our cat~but he's been in our family since a kitten with no flea problems. The kids would not appreciate us rehoming their beloved pet.

I forgot to mention the cat is a strikly indoor kitty~he's never been outside except when we moved 1 time!

Answer 1

just an fyi - if your home is that badly infested - getting rid of the cat at this point wont help. cutting his fur off didnt help either really - unless it made it easier to dip him at home.

the main problem of getting rid of fleas once they infest a home as that they live and breed in your carpet, they live and breed on any fabric they can latch onto - couches, curtains, rugs, clothes - anything that isnt being washed in hot water on a regular basis. the reason your child appears to be the only one bitten is he has easier skin to bite and spends more time on the floor... i quite assure you, they will be biting you too.

Easy test - put on a pair of white socks and walk around your house -stand still for 5 min and see how many black specks you see on your socks.

It is possible to get rid of the fleas, but it takes being willing to spend the time and the money. Here's how I did it.

1. buy the flea bombs from the vets office - the regular bug bombs dont kill fleas... buy the flea spray for rooms/furniture from the vets office - you will need alot depending on how much furniture you have - if you dont use enough, you will still have your house infested with fleas whether you have pets or not- you will need to spray every surface until it is damp- that means - take the cushions off, spray both sides and edges, every square inch of the couch - turn the couch upside down and spray every place you can get to with the spray. I mean everything - beds, box springs, couches, chairs, everything. If it has fabric on it, it either needs to be sprayed or washed in hot water. If you skimp on this, you will not get rid of the fleas. If a piece of furniture is totally infested (fleas living inside in the padding - you might need to get rid of it- i had to get rid of a couch because of this)

Spray the furniture first, then leave to drop the cat off at the vets office to get dipped while you bomb the house - when you get back, vaccuum the house and anything you can vaccuum and then throw away the bag (even if its not full) immediatley in a sealed garbage bag.

2. strip your house of everything you can wash .. stuffed animals, toys, rugs, clothes, bed linens- doesnt matter if its clean, if its in the house, it is a potential breeding place and hiding place for the fleas - take it all in black garbage bags and go up to the laundrymat and wash it in hot water.

3. buy the yard granules from the vet - put them out in the yard and make sure the cat has either advantage or a flea collar so new ones dont come in

Its alot of work, but it will take alot of work to get rid of a bad flea infestation - the dang things are harder to kill than head lice - since they can live anywhere and they jump.

one thing to think of- did you recently buy any furniture from a garage sale? i speak from personal experience that my infestation started with a second hand couch i got

and keep using the carpet treatment and vaccuum at least twice a week and throw out the bag in a sealed garbage bag everytime - you can vaccuum up the eggs easily enough, but if you dont empty the bag outside, they will just hatch in your vaccuum and jump right back out into your house.

to check your infestation levels you can either buy those light traps or just do the white sock test.

Answer 2

You need to treat the home as well as the pet or you are going to get nowhere. A flea only spends 5% of its time on your cat and the rest in your home. A flea egg can hatch up to a year later. The products you mention like frontline, advantage etc work fine. I would use them and not the dish soap. They are working but can't kill the fleas in the home and they will get back on the cat although the frontline etc will kill them. You have to get flea bombs and do the house. That is your problem. Get them from the vet . And then do the cat every month and you'll be okay. It's a lot cheaper than having to do your whole home again for sure.

Answer 3

First, you have to treat your house while the cat is not there. The best stuff I have EVER found is called Flea Busters, and while it is a pain to put down into the carpet, it works. Once you've treated your carpet, furniture, etc., then just use one of the reputable flea treatments recommended for cats.

We have several indoor cats and 2 dogs that come and go outside, and we have NEVER had flea problems in the 7 years since I've been using it.

Answer 4

I JUST GOT RID OF FLEAS.... this is what I did...

I bathed my dogs once every week, I would even do it every 3 days in your case because of your kid to ensure the fleas that do get on your cat are killed quickly before reproducing. You MUST leave the flea shampoo on the cat for at least 5-10 minuets after lathering it up, if you just do a quick wash you arnt giving the insectiside in the shampoo enough time to do its job because it isnt made strong so it is safe on your cat.

Also buy either flea tick powder or spray and treat your house once everyday, do not let the cat or your kid in the area when you do this, but you must do it on a regular basis because the treatments are weak because they are made safe for the animals, and flea eggs live in carpets and upholstery for up to 4 weeks if left untreated so if you just treat the cat and not your houe theyll just jump back on.

Put a flea collar not on your cat but in your vacuume cleaner or the bag. When you vaccuume you will be also treating the carpet or uphoslstery this way as well.

Continue using the spot on, I know they seem to not work, and they are expensive, but they do HELP, and you need all the help you can get because fleas are SUPER hard to get rid of.

I did these things, my dogs are also solitarily inside dogs, and it took me 5 weeks to finally be rid of fleas completely. But you have to be consistent and bathe the cat regularly. Every time I bathed mine I noticed that each time they had a little less fleas and it made me not only feel better, but also let me guess how bad the infestation was at the time. Finally after 5 weeks of baths and sprays and collars vacuuming I got rid of the fleas on all three of my dogs.

I hope your able to help your cat and your child!!!

Keeping the cat in a short length is also a good step you took and I would try and maintane it at a short length as well to discourage the fleas more for present and future outbreaks.

Answer 5

Sorry to hear your son is suffering so. I believe that the flea eggs can remain dormant for many years, and HATCH when a good host walks by, then they hatch! Try feeding the cat garlic, as well as the family. Baby powder on the carpet could help. Not sure if you can get a certain tablet in USA, which you give to your cat or dog, and watch within 30 minutes how the fleas die and fall out their fur! You need to halt the breeding cycle of the fleas. good luck

Answer 6

Make sure all the windows, doors are closed & set of a flea bomb (Walmart or Home Depot) off in every room, as you are loading up all the pets in your vehicle, to take to a Feed Store or wherever you can have them dipped. Stay out of the house as long as you can, for the bombs to do their thing. The Advantage Plus works good, on mine, so after the dipping, have the Vet to start them on the flea/tick prevention plan. You'll need to re-bomb the house , I'd say, within a week; then after another 30 days. Fleas are bad this year, too. If you can give any of the animals the yeast/garlic pills daily, this will work wonders for whichever ones takes them, but it'll take up to a couple weeks for it to get into all the pores & then needs to be given daily, for their systems doesn't seem to be able to store it. It doesn't need to be the high-cost pills/capsules, either.

Answer 7

A friend of mine had a dog with fleas and she had severe asthma. Her doctor told her she wasn't allowed to use any chemicals in the house for anything. To get rid of the fleas she would sprinkle the house and yard with ordinary table salt. Wait 24 hours (yes it's weird to walk on) then vacuum. Do this again one week later. The fleas eat the salt, get dehydrated, and die.

I've tried this myself with an indoor/outdoor cat. It has worked great for me. And after I treated the yard the first time, I saw one flea in the next two years.

Answer 8

First- If your cat goes outside at all make him/her an indoor cat only. If you have any other animals that go in and out, they are adding to the probelm.

second- go buy some flea bombs and spray from your veternarian. Treat your house and your yard. Sometimes people carry fleas on them without knowing it.
Use the spray to get under funiture where the bombs cant go.
Treat the entire area over again in 11 days. when fleas are in their pupa stage, nothing can kill them. You must wait for them to hatch.

third. Wash all your sheets, ect.

Good luck

Answer 9

You may be getting rid of the fleas on the cat, but not the fleas in the carpet and/or furniture. You will want to treat the house for fleas. There are sprays for upholstry and carpeting.

Answer 10

have u tried bombing your house.....for the fleas? and u must vacuum, vacuum, vacuum!!! try all this with flea protector from ur vet advantage or frontline and that should work!! if u put the frontline on the cat and let the cat go where ever it wants to in the house, she will be like a walking bomb and kill all the fleas! we had to learn this ourselves the hard way!!! hope this helps you!