fleas!!!!!

[LucyluvsPoppy]

I have found a flea on my dog!! She is due to be Frontlined at the end of this month but Im going to do her (and the cat) tonight instead.
The way I THINK frontline works is that it kills any fleas that come into contact with your pet within 24 hours. It doesnt kill the lavae that may be in your carpets etc but as they hatch and jump on your pet they are then killed.
Im really paranoid now and a proper clean freak - would you de-flea the nursery with spray? (although we do keep the door shut to this room and the actual nursery isnt decorated, set up yet or clothes washed) I dont want ot harm baby but it isnt here for another 2 months yet?
Also thinking about our bedding?? I cant use spray on the mattress as I'll be sleeping in there.
Sofa's are leather so not worried about them. Its made me all itchy thinking about it!!!!!
Can fleas live without pet blood to drink? (ie if they are in soft furnishings will they all die if pets frontlined?) x

 

[minttea]

Fleas can live for ages (months and months) without fresh blood.

Don't bother arsing about with spray, it's too localised. Get rid of them all at once with flea bombs - strip the bedding and wash it (that will kill any on there) so the bare mattress etc is exposed. Remove anything from the room that can be washed and do that, move stuff away from walls etc etc and de-clutter so the mist can go everywhere. Do one bomb in each room they might be in (ie - I never did kitchen when we had them on cat because floor is tiled and there are no curtains, so there's nowhere they'd live).

It's a pain in the bum but it's the only way. The bomb does carry on killing them for a while afterwards so you can do one room at a time, there's no need to evacuate the house and do it all at once.

Good luck!

 

[JynxPhD]

I think if you frontline the animals and vacuum really well you should be ok. I would go ahead and treat the nursery to put your mind at ease.

I know how gross it feels. I found out one of my cats had tape worms last week and I have driven my husband crazy with treating both cats and our dog. I know they aren't contagious (unless an infected flea is eaten and none of the animals have fleas) but it's so gross. My poor husband has been having to clean everything I think the cat had touched everyday to calm me down!

 

[LucyluvsPoppy]

I think if you frontline the animals and vacuum really well you should be ok. I would go ahead and treat the nursery to put your mind at ease.

I know how gross it feels. I found out one of my cats had tape worms last week and I have driven my husband crazy with treating both cats and our dog. I know they aren't contagious (unless an infected flea is eaten and none of the animals have fleas) but it's so gross. My poor husband has been having to clean everything I think the cat had touched everyday to calm me down!

Thats funny as I bought de-wormer when I picked up the frontline as it got me thinking all sorts of creepy crawlies are on them!!!
We take the dog for long walks at the country park where she sticks her nose into everything so to be honest Im surprised she hasn't picked up a flea or 2 sooner. Just creeping me out with images of midwife coming over to check on baby and a flea landing on her!!!!!! x

 

[Soos]

i use advantage by bayer on my cats as soon as i notice sings of fleas and don't bother with the house tbh because they will always be there (we carry them inside the house on the shoes, stroller etc). as long as cats are 'advantagized' and there are no fleas on them i don't see a point in putting the whole house into toxins.

 

[LucyluvsPoppy]

Fleas can live for ages (months and months) without fresh blood.

Don't bother arsing about with spray, it's too localised. Get rid of them all at once with flea bombs - strip the bedding and wash it (that will kill any on there) so the bare mattress etc is exposed. Remove anything from the room that can be washed and do that, move stuff away from walls etc etc and de-clutter so the mist can go everywhere. Do one bomb in each room they might be in (ie - I never did kitchen when we had them on cat because floor is tiled and there are no curtains, so there's nowhere they'd live).

It's a pain in the bum but it's the only way. The bomb does carry on killing them for a while afterwards so you can do one room at a time, there's no need to evacuate the house and do it all at once.

Good luck!

Will it be ok me still living in the flat though while we are bombing it??! Im thinking of what we may breath in? As we arent using the nursery yet I can leave the windows wide open in there if I bomb it and the cat/ dog are kept out anyway x

 

[babythinkpink]

Oh what a nightmare, I know they live dormant, if there is enough of them, we moved into a house, it was fine til the spring and got warm then the bedroom carpet was jumping! (at the time we never had an animal so it was sort of extra yuck!)
We had to get rid of the carpet and then treat all the wooden floor b4 laying anything back in, bit extreme i know but it was awful!

I really wouldn't worry about the 1 you found, certainly treat the animals (frontline is fab when we did get a cat i used it and she never had fleas, she sadly died of old age) but i am not sure a solitary flea could do much breeding, but i may be wrong!

I am so fussy about these things, we only have a hamster because i am so anti hair, flea, fluff etc! My fussyness meant Hamster or goldfish
Have lots of children i clean up after constantly, and de nit but somehow that doesn't bother me!

 

[LucyluvsPoppy]

Oh what a nightmare, I know they live dormant, if there is enough of them, we moved into a house, it was fine til the spring and got warm then the bedroom carpet was jumping! (at the time we never had an animal so it was sort of extra yuck!)
We had to get rid of the carpet and then treat all the wooden floor b4 laying anything back in, bit extreme i know but it was awful!

I really wouldn't worry about the 1 you found, certainly treat the animals (frontline is fab when we did get a cat i used it and she never had fleas, she sadly died of old age) but i am not sure a solitary flea could do much breeding, but i may be wrong!

I am so fussy about these things, we only have a hamster because i am so anti hair, flea, fluff etc! My fussyness meant Hamster or goldfish
Have lots of children i clean up after constantly, and de nit but somehow that doesn't bother me!

No, defo not seen them anywhere else or on the cat and I havent been bitten or anything. Will see what happens with the frontline....
Does the washing machine kill fleas if I wash the pet bedding? X

 

[babythinkpink]

I would imagine if you give it a good long hot wash then they would be washed out if any are there xx

 

[minttea]

I did all the spray and cat treatment and bedding and stuff after seeing one flea - figured that would be enough. But a week or so after that I started getting bitten! As soon as anything warm-blooded goes past the larvae it wakes up and come to live. HORRIBLE thought! Made me feel itchy constantly, so I'd always just do the bombs at the very first sign of them in the future.

You can live in the rooms quickly afterwards, no problem - I think the bombs take about six hours or something, so we did downstairs before going to bed one night and did the bedrooms when we were off out for the day. Peasy!

 

[babythinkpink]

I did all the spray and cat treatment and bedding and stuff after seeing one flea - figured that would be enough. But a week or so after that I started getting bitten! As soon as anything warm-blooded goes past the larvae it wakes up and come to live. HORRIBLE thought! Made me feel itchy constantly, so I'd always just do the bombs at the very first sign of them in the future.

You can live in the rooms quickly afterwards, no problem - I think the bombs take about six hours or something, so we did downstairs before going to bed one night and did the bedrooms when we were off out for the day. Peasy!

Never heard of the bombs, sounds pretty effective!

This threads gonna make me itch in a min!!

 

[hinkybinky]

If you've only found one or this is the first time you've noticed, I'd think it'd be ok to do the frontline and then hoover really well in all the rooms.

Our cats got fleas last summer - by the time we noticed it had got to be quite a problem, but once we'd used the frontline and then made sure we hoovered daily and washed bedding regularly, they did go. Then we just made sure we kept up with the frontline (actually, we are using stronghold now as apparently frontline is not as effective as it used to be) and we haven't seen a single flea since! I would know if we have fleas as they always go straight for me!

God luck x

 

[WhiteGeisha]

My cat has had the odd flea now and then and we have 2 dogs and they have never caught fleas off the cat...we never had a problem with fleas being around the house either.

U could treat the pets and their bedding and monitor the situation - you may not need to treat the house.

x

 

[Kirst264]

I would avoid the spray but you can buy Frontline Combo which means when the fleas fall off your pet it also kills any eggs that are in your carpet or on any bedding etc x

 

[amylou1992]

was pet beddin on a 60 *c wash and then hang outside 2 dry. wouldnt be too worried about 1 flea, but then again u can buy smoke bombs specialy for fleas from pet stores which are really good, just make sure you don't have no pets in the house at the time and for a few hours after

 

[Mrs Liamxxs]

i have just de-flead my cats and dogs as they had a couple on them, i use bob martin flea killer for the animals and flea bombs for my home, i just strip all the bedding from the beds leaving the matteress's bare open all my doors and put one in each room and then leave Oh to set them ioff and we go out for the day, only have to leave for six hours, then when we come back wash all the bedding, wash throw overs for sofa's and hoover and mop the floors, it really ois as easy as that hun xx

 

[LucyluvsPoppy]

My cat has FIP so doesnt leave the home (other than to sunbath on the balcony) can i leave him in a different room or will he have to go elsewhere for the day? x

 

[minttea]

different room will be fine - we let ours have the run of the house except the rooms we were doing at the time

 

[LucyluvsPoppy]

different room will be fine - we let ours have the run of the house except the rooms we were doing at the time

Thank you! I even de-flead my rabbits in the garden! Lol x

 

[chocolate]

We had a nightmare when we moved into our new house, we had no pets and I was getting bitten about 20 times a day and they started on my DS so we tried sprays, flea bombs and finally paid for a specialist to come in and spray all round the carpets. We didnt even have carpets downstairs, just wooden flooring but I begged the guy to do round my sofa as thats where I saw the flea's and he did but usually they dont do hard flooring or something ...........
Anyway, I couldnt believe it when they were all gone, well worth the £60 ish pounds, we must have spent that on ordinary flea sprays and bombs!

Good luck