still living with fleas? i dont see this ever going away??

Question

hi since september we've had to live in an infested house of fleas as soon as we found out, we:-

hoovered, bought spray from vets @ £15 went thru 2 bottles worth! - sprayed everywhere
bought dog a new bed, washed dog with flea shampoo
used frontline on him - the correct way on his skin, got him a haircut

now its october and we're still seeing them occassionally.
the dog is still biting and itchin>the other day i seen 2 in his water bowl after he drank from it - i assume they went there when he was drinking.

took him for 2x free flea check with vetinary nurse and she was hopeless couldnt tell whether he had them. although my mum says the vet can use a microscopic thing to tell?

at the moment none are jumpin on us, we dont know why?
2 weeks ago we put the heating on, and that night 2 were on me! so since then we havent put the heating on!
our big problem is storage we are slowly clearing out junk on the house..we cant call a fumigator in til we clear carpetspace.

Answer 1

Check out the site I linked to below, we're currently dealing with a small flea infestation in my house as well & its been really helpful.

My advice...find a place for you & your dog to go for a few hours & set off a flea bomb. THEN vaccuum EVERYTHING: Carpets, upholstery, curtains, bedding, etc. Wash your bedding & clothes, & keep up on the preventive (I'm finding advantage helps with getting rid of flea infestations better than frontline because it also kills the eggs & not just fleas.)

Don't forget to take good care of your yard too, fleas live out there as well as dog parks & open fields, etc.

(Oh, and by the way, GARLIC is TOXIC to your pet, so please don't give anything to your dog without checking the product with your vet first. Although you aren't going to find a vet that recommends giving garlic to your dog, its common knowledge that its toxic!)

Answer 2

Yeah, putting the heating on would've really livened the fleas up!

I'm sorry a vet nurse couldn't tell if he had fleas or not - I'm ashamed for my kind! All you have to do is comb through the dog with a flea comb, paying particular attention to neck, armpits and belly and see if there are flea dirts on the hair on the comb. If you comb over wet white paper, the flea dirts will fall on this and turn red. You don't need a microscope - flea dirts and fleas are clearly visible, as you know. I suppose you could use a microscope to look for eggs or larvae.

Anyway. Any vet or nurse should be able to tell you not to use flea shampoo - besides not working, if you wash the dog within 48 hours before or after applying Frontline, the Frontline is unlikely to work - it needs the natural oils of the skin, and bathing removes these.

May I also suggest you start using Frontline Combo, since it also kills eggs and larvae, so it's more of a complete product if you like. You could also consider Program tablets, these are a good preventative measure as they sterilise fleas - it's good to come at a problem as severe as this from all possible angles.

Now for the house spray - what have you been using? Indorex, Acclaim or Staykil are usually sufficient, but they don't kill flea eggs so you often have to spray, hoover the next day, the repeat the process about 10 days later to get the newly hatched eggs. There's a new product on the market called Skoosh, which I strongly recommend you ask your vet to order if they don't stock it - it kills fleas, eggs and larvae and is pesticide free.

You won't necessarily be bothered by the fleas yourself - not everyone is sensitive to flea bites, I'm not. Do consider the points I've mentioned though - there's a certain way to deal with flea infestations, it sounds like you have a particularly tricky one to deal with but there's no reason it can't be manageable.

Chalice

Answer 3

We just went through this routine as well. I bathed all the animals, each got a Capstar tab - kills all live adult fleas on the animals, put on front line, washed beds. I vacuumed the entire house - including the tiled areas. I sprayed the house with ectokyl - which has a chemical that prevents the flea eggs in the carpet from hatching. I also sprayed the furniture, baseboards and thier bedding. I threw the vacuum bag in the trash. So far, three weeks later, no fleas.

I think the reason you had more fleas is the eggs in the carpet hatched when you turned on the heat. I would do the whole thing over. Make sure you throw away your vacuum bag. The eggs you vacuum up will hatch and re-infest your home. In order to break the cycle you have to be aggressive. The way to check your animals for fleas is with a flea comb. It will pull "flea dirt" and sometimes fleas. Best of luck.

Answer 4

I am having the same trouble at the moment! Glad im not on my own!

We have 3 dogs, and they all got fleas from somewhere, 1 more than the other 2, we have just spent £55 pound on flea stuff, you move everything, and spray the house spray everwhere, we got the flea spray and shampoo, and about 3 days ago, put "spot on" on the dogs!

We even got a flea bomb, which you have to light and leave the house for, for 3 hours for it to get to work, this has done a great job on our garage!

I have been bit all over, and have been very depressed by the whole thing, but slowly after 4 lots of treatment on our house, I am starting to see less and less of the little b******s!!!!!

Good luck!

Answer 5

I know how frustrating it can be. I found patience and diligence worked. If you're finding dead fleas (in the water dish??) that's a good sign. Every time one bites your dog it will die. Are you removing the hoover bag every time you use it? Fleas will live in and escape the hoover. Also are you using a crevice tool to get along baseboards? I've used the spray from the vet and front line and it worked. However it did take some time. Boric acid does work. You just sprinkle it all over your carpet. I once used a flea trap (purchased at a pet supply store. It has an ultra violet light and sticky pads. You turn it on at night and the fleas are attracted to the heat and light and become trapped on the sticky pad. My husband thought I was crazy, but I caught fleas every night. I continued vacuuming and spraying and when no fleas were on my trap in the morning I knew we were clean. Hope some of this helped.
Good luck!!
Been there.

Answer 6

The only way you're going to rid your house of fleas is with a pest control professional. Yes, you will need to clean up the junk so they have access to the floor. They will come in your house wearing a white foot to head suit and they will spray chemicals all over your house. You will need to stay away from the house for several hours. When you return do not bring the junk back into the house. Continue to vacuum diligently, use frontline or advantage on your pet.

You may have to have the professional come more than one time.

Answer 7

They are likely in your ductwork and filters. I had this problem once (maybe not quite this bad) but I got Advantage for my dogs, I haven't seen one flea a month after I began to use it. My dogs stopped biting and scratching about 5 hours after I applied it to them. Only about 10% of fleas are on the animals are on the dogs, the rest is in hte house, I would clear out the junk ASAP and get an exterminator. Get your dog checked for tapeworm, fleas can cause this.

Answer 8

You may have to wait until you can fumigate your house. If fleas were in your house already before you started treating the dog for it they are most likely still there even with sprays from the vet. The entire house would have to be sprayed out, to ensure than nothing is there. Then you should have proceeded with treatment.

Answer 9

To prevent fleas from hitching a ride on your pets add a quarter of a garlic clove to their pet food (works as a dewormer, too) or comb some diatomaceous earth into your pets' fur. You can get it at any garden center, you can sprinkle it about the house where fleas are a problem, and it's not very costly either. It will kill the fleas but won't harm other creatures or the environment.

Good luck and please try to avoid using chemical insecticides on your pets.

I lost a 16 week old puppy to insecticide poisoning becuase I wanted to protect him from getting fleas. A so-called "harmless" flea collar made every muscle in his body convulse and contract after only a couple hours of wearing the collar.

There was nothing the vets could do.... after three days of intensive care treatment, I let my little pup go while I held him in my arms.... the worst day of my life.

I have heard of people having the same problem with the topical flea "drops" as well.

Use your instincts and go with natural remedies for things like this.

Answer 10

Fleas are stuck in your house somewhere. You need to do a thorough cleaning and vaccuuming of EVERYTHING in the house. Unfortunately, this is the only way. If you have carpets, vaccuum them well and spray something to kill the eggs.

Flea eggs can live up to 3 months.