Is it possible to catch fleas from your neighbour's house?

Question

I have a dog who is Frontlined regularly. My neighbour has 3 dogs and doesn't look after them (that's being polite!). We've noticed that lately we have been getting bites to ankles and arms (areas we know where fleas bite). I groom my dog and use a flea comb daily with nothing coming off him. He's not scratching or anything. We havent spotted any fleas in the house. We live about 6 feet from our neighbours and I'm wondering is it possible for fleas to come across from their house/garden? We are never in their house to have them jump on us there (that is of course assuming their dogs have fleas).

Answer 1

Oh my yes! Fleas are devilish little things and can be such a pain to get rid of. Whether they are typical "dog or cat" fleas or sand fleas, it only takes one hitching a ride on your shoe or pant cuff to migrate from one place to another and set up housekeeping. Six feet is nothing to them really. I've heard stories of people carrying fleas home on them or they're personal items even after being on a flight for 10 hours or a five day road trip!

If the fleas are indeed coming from your neighbor's home then you'll need to consider treating your areas to deter them from wanting to travel into your home and kill whatever might be presently hiding there now. If there is any outside space between the homes you'll want an outside lawn and garden repellent as well.

Vacuum daily after application (throwing the bag out after each time so no one escapes back into the home) and remember that anything in your home may not be gone after that. If there were any eggs put down in your home, then expect to see some action again in about 3/4 weeks. This is where using a product with IGRs (Insect Growth Regulator) are very helpful. It will prevent them from reaching a mature breeding age and thus die out.

If your have an issue with some chemicals in your home or getting on you, you can try an all natural alternative for yourself. I myself use a homemade concoction of herbal essences on young pups, in my truck and crates and on myself, when I go out to shows with my collies, thus lessening the chances of carrying something unwelcome home.

You could then consider asking your neighbors or in some polite way bringing up the subject of "greater then normal amounts of fleas" this year which could get your neighbors to consider treating their home and pets as well. I like this approach as it helps avoid the awkward conversational turn to the financial ability of the neighbors to get flea and tick repellants themselves and doesn't "blame" them for the problem.

Good luck and below you'll find a couple of links to some natural alternatives of flea repellants to get you going.

http://herbsforpets.anniesremedy.com/pets_conditions.php?use=21
http://www.nixalite.com/fleaandtickrepellent.aspx
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/1985-05-01/Natural-Flea-Control.aspx
http://www.lacetoleather.com/safefleacure.html

Answer 2

Yes, it is, and not just from your neighbour's house. Fleas will enter a house looking for a meal. If you don't treat your actual house, they're going to be able to set up home there. Your dog should be safe as your Frontline regularly, but you're getting bites from the fleas that are actually in your house. Get a housespray from a VETS, like Indorex, Acclaim, Staykil or Skoosh and protect your house too. Don't use anything from a pet store.

Chalice

Answer 3

Fleas can be carried on grass, so its quite likely they are jumping onto and off your pets whenever they go into the garden. As your pets have been Frontlined, the fleas may jump onto the pets, then jump off when the enter the house as they will release they are being killed. Try using Acclaim or another household flea spray from the vets to do your whole house over. It could be that cat fleas are in the grass, and cat fleas on dogs are harder to kill that dog fleas.

Answer 4

Its very possible. Are you getting the bites just in the yard or in the house too? You can put something on your lawn to keep the fleas in your neighbors yard, but you have to be careful to use something that is not toxic to your dog. If you are getting bitten in the house, your dog may be carrying them into the house and they drop off onto the floor because of the Frontline.

I do know that a product used in some pool filters called diamatous earth is also useful for controlling all sorts of creepy crawlys, including fleas. I copied this from a web site, its referring to ants, but it does the same things to all bugs.

"There is a product called diamatous earth or dirt. It is nox-toxic. It is made from finely ground silica. The ants get it on their bodires and carry it back to the nest. The diamtaous earth cuts the ecoskelton of the ants and they die. Used this on black ants( teo inds), red ants and carpenter ants. It worked. After a rain you will have to reapply. Can be purchased at Lowe's or a garden center. Works on catapillars and cut worms,too. "

This product will not hurt you or your dog. If you want more information on it, I would suggest typing diamatous earth or dirt into your search engine and see what comes up. I have heard some pretty great things about it. You can also sprinkle it on your carpets and pet bedding, let it sit a bit and then vacuum it up.

Too bad your neighbors don't take care of their dogs as well as you take care of yours. Sounds to me like Animal Control or the Humane Society needs to be called to check out the ill-treatment of the dogs. Good luck.

Answer 5

Fleas can be carried and therfore passed on, by any warm blooded animal. This can be as 'obvious' as a dog or cat, but they will also be feeding upon vermin such as mice and rats, and even on garden birds.....so whilst they COULS have hopped on over to you, it is more likely that they have come in on a 'little visitor', or picked up whilst you have been out walking. And remember, the frontline only has any effect on the individual fleas who feed from the treated animal....

Answer 6

Yes.

Answer 7

The answer is definite YES.

Answer 8

Yeah it's possible.

Answer 9

yes - my friend caught crabs from his neighbours house

Answer 10

YES