Fleas

Well, my baby boy has fleas and we are going to try and get rid of them this wekkend. Does anyone have any advice. He is a strictly indoor cat. He is almost a year old. I also want to make sure that we get them out of our carpet and everything if possible. We do give him baths so I would prefer a shampoo if anyone knows any good ones. Thanks.

 

Hi. Here are a few ways to get rid of fleas.

1)Advantage flea drops are place behind the cat's neck once a month. This product works very well. Fleas stop biting within five minutes and are then killed off. Also any new fleas that jump onto the cat will also be killed. Plus you will need to vacuum your entire house.

2) Throw a flea collar into your vacuum bag and vacuum your entire house. Then remove the bag and place it outside in a plastic bag into the trash.

3) Flea bombs: Don't use this method. Very toxic to animals/food/people. If you do use this method all animals/fish/people and so on must not be in the house. Then after the flea bombs are finished spraying, you must open up all windows/doors to get fresh air in your house.

4) Carpet flea powder. I don't like this method either. Also very toxic to animals/people. Cats may lay down on the floor and get trace amounts of powder on them. Then they will lick their fur and it can make them very ill.

5)Flea shampoos. These are a temporary solution, as it only kills the fleas that are on the cat when bathing. Each time people come into a house after being outdoors they may have fleas on their clothing that will now be in the house and the flea cycle repeats itself.

So, in my opinion purchase Advantage flea drops and vaccum your place very well.

 

If you have a problem with fleas in your carpet you can do a couple of things:

1) Some companies will come in a spray Boric acid on your carpet. They usually guarantee the treatment for a certain period of time. You can also spray Boric acid on the carpet yourself if you want to.

2) Some vets have a product called Vet-Chem Siphotrol Plus Area Treatment. It is applied to the carpet and will kill the fleas.

Both of the above products are only harmful to insects, not people or animals.

 

The Advantage works great! A stray that found us at our campground in October with only two days left in the camping season was loaded with them. Since it was going to be so cold that night my husband and I brought her into our trailer. I took her to the local vet to be check out and the used Advantage on her. What a difference and it worked so fast! We tried to locate her owner but there was no luck. The owner of the campground wanted her for an outside cat, but I was reluctant because the campground is located near a very busy highway. So, being the push over that I am I took her home and now her new home is in Delaware living the life of a queen with my son in his new home.

 

i personally use advantage on my cats but b4 i apply it i use adams bath wash i love the adams it works great....and when my house gets infested i move the cats and dogs all the other animals into aniother room and buy that RAID flea control u spray it on the carpet and let it set 4 a few and then vac. it up i do 1 room at a time.... everyonce in a while i will give my dog a capstar pill (alot of ppl have said they dont work but ive seen the fleas jump right off my dog 30 after he took it) and then i place adavantage on him....also if u have the fleas in ur house u might wantto treat ur yard if thats possible see at my house we live in front of a creek that overflows all the time and thats when our house gets infested so we use this stuff made by scotts and its outdoor flea control it works really well and u only have to apply it every 3 months... its like a fertilizer u put down and then water in and its will kill the fleas ticks etc... whatever is out there....hope that helps thats what we do anyways to treat fleas i hate those darn things.....

 

also give your cat a good brush/comb everyday to get all the unhatched flea eggs out of the fur. dispose of the dead hair down the toilet in case there's still some live fleas crawling about in it. obviously don't forget to "flush" as those little beggars will have a good go at jumping themselves out of trouble even after being submerged in water!
the weather has just started to get warm over here in the UK and i found the first flea of the year a week or so ago, then today one on my bed while i was grooming my youngest :?
ive always found the drops for the back of the neck to be quite effective, i will be picking some up next time i'm at the supermarket thats for sure.

 

no no no don't use the stuff in the supermarket - please never ever buy this stuff. Pets have died from the Haartz products. They are supposed to be labeling it as being potentially deadly but I don't think they have yet. Please buy the products from your vet - most of the OTC stuff is deadly or useless

 

after typing that I see you are in the UK....I don't know about what you have over there but the stuff sold in supermarkets here shouldn't be used

 

I've heard of cats dying from that stuff to. I use a flea/tick/fly spray made by Hartz on my dog w/o any problems, but we once used some of the Hartz drops on our cats and one of them ended up going bald where we put the drops (it eventually grew back).

-Chelle

 

i've used the UK supermarket stuff ("Spot On" by Hartz) loads of times, never had a problem. i use it because it's a lot cheaper than the stuff at the vets. it is cheaper because apparently its not as strong but it still works ok. i once told a vet i used it and they never told me it was dangerous.
supermarkets are not allowed to sell the strong stuff ("Frontline") here, you have to be registered at a vet and have your pet go for regular check ups to get it.

 

You can also find it on line by search google. There are some good place that sell it. Good luck. It took us years to get rid of our fleas and all our cats are in door. We now make sure we brush ourselves off before entering the home. I also got the electronic bug things to go into the outlets. They really help for bugs and mice but are not harmful to humans or animals. Apparently, they send out some sort of signal that bugs and mice don't like. Use them in my trailer and last year on saw one spider. [-o< Thank God. I am not a fan of theirs. They are not that expensive either and you can get them at your local Wal-Marts for around $12.00 for a package of 4. Good luck!

 

If you don'T want something so harsh

maybe you could try Eucalyptus Essential Oil, Tea Tree Essential Oil, Citronella Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil or Geranium Essential Oil. That is from a website called safe natural cures. If you want I can tell you the address too. But I have this thing, sorry I don'T know the name of it, where a candle burns the lavender oil and I haven't seen any fleas on my dog or my cat. Although I can't say this will work for everyone. But it worth a try and my house smeels pretty!

 

Most essential oils are highly toxic to cats. Never use them, unless your vet okays it. Many cats have gotten seriously sick (poisoned) or died from essential oils. I will never use them on my cat.

 

I don'T use the essential oils on my cat, I burn them which I was told is ok? But is it realy not? Thanks!

 

I use Advantage on all of my pets and it works great...I purchase it on Ebay and all of the boxes I receive have current expiration dates so no worries there. Although my vet just gave me something new called " Revolution" it also works great ...it's worth checking out. \/

Chloe

 

oh...i guess I lost some of my post...the reason that Revolution is so great is because it also helps with earmites and heartworms...lot's of info on google.