Help!......Fleas....

[TC2]

We keep a cat indoors. She never goes out, and has never had a problem before. Recently she has become infested with fleas. As has my house, grrrrr.
She wears a collar, has been powdered, the carpets have been sprayed and powdered, and still fleas. May have to call the Ext. But first....
any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[whodunit]

We as much as I hate them have used the house bombs, took care of the problem, quickly.We left the house for the day and put the animals out in the garadge one time, another we set the bombs off before we went camping for a weekend and took everybody with us.

I do know however not to use tea tree oil on cats as it is poisonous to them. Cant remember where I read that.

Mrs Whodunit

[moopups]

Place a wide bowl of water with a few drops of dish detergent in it under a night light. The fleas leave the critter to seek moisture, jump at the light and fall down into the water and drown. It takes about 5 to 7 days for all of them to be gone, poison free.

[Pony]

This topic comes up a lot, I've noticed. Darned, pesky, blood-sucking fleas! <shudder> I hate 'em!

Here are the links to Flea Threads here on HT. Hope they help!

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthr...ighlight=fleas

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthr...ighlight=fleas

Pony!

[ajaxlucy]

When we first moved here, the previous owners had had three or four cats, and there were fleas everywhere. Aside from treating our dogs, I remember buying something ("Precor"?) that you diluted into a spray and used to treat upholstery, rugs, curtains, and other things so that fleas couldn't hatch. We had no more fleas after a couple of weeks.

[Guinea mama]

My recommendation would be to get Revolution for your cat. Works great and takes care of the fleas, larvae and eggs and is also good for ear mites too. They only thing we have found with the over the counter methods is that they don't work Have tried every one every thing and the best we have found is Revolution. You can get it from your vet or online which is where we got ours.

[BaronsMom]

Far fewer problems with fleas since products with Insect Growth Regulators came on the market, and better products for your pets.

A word on "bug bombs" - those will kill anything out in the open but in the vast majority of cases, insects and spiders move away from the insecticide and deeper into the walls. Not a good plan for cockroaches, fleas...

Resources: Integrated Flea Control

Be sure you read the Warning I just posted from the EPA on flea collars for cats

WARNING - Problem w/Hartz Flea/Tick Drops for Cats/Kittens

[Dances In Woods]

Advantage!

but buying at Vets office is $$$ so I buy mine at Jeffers Pet.com ...really great prices. Also, the soapy water trick works, only I put a tea-lite or votive candle in a holder and set it down in the center of pan. They jump in for the lite but soap kills em. Then the next morning do a "body count". Do this each nite in main room until you catch no more.

But Advantage is awesome. Don't waste your money on store bought brands.

[TC2]

Thanks everyone, for the advice and the links! Will look into all of it.

[OD]

I vote for Revolution, too. I had a bad infestation of fleas about 3 years ago, & tried everything-bombs, sprays, salt, dish washing liquid, boric acid--you name it & I tried it, but nothing worked & on top of everything else, we both got bronchitis from all the insecticide in the house.
Finally, I used some Revolution on the cat & the ones that bit him would be sterile, & the ones that bit us got mashed & finally, they just faded away.
I put it on him every 6 weeks during the summer, & he hasn't had a flea in 3 years. A good side effect is that it deworms them, too.

[auntieemu]

Advantage is good, so is Revolution.

One other tip - When you vacumn the carpets, dispose of the bag immediately. Otherwise, the eggs hatch inside the vacumn cleaner and reinfect the house.