Flea problem - desperate !!!!!!

[tiger104]

We had a new kitten 3 months ago, and she was riddled with fleas, we treated her no problem, and then found her to have them again recently, even though she wasn't going out, but we do have another cat who rarely get them but she could have been bringing them in or the eggs could have been lying dormant...We went on holiday 2 weeks ago and i had quite a few bites on my ankles overnight so before we went on holiday i stripped the bed down naturally and left it to air for 2 weeks, this sunday we got back and i put fresh sheets on, monday i have woken up with over 20 bites from my neck to my ankles i'm covered !! in my bed !!!!!!!!!!!!! but on inspection of the bed i can see nothing not one flea ! whats going on and what can i do ? i'm ashamed we've got 'fleas', i'm up now typing this at 1.30am cause i'm scratching and can't sleep knowing what crawling all over me and i have fresh bites even though i've sprayed the bed thoughly with a flea spray insect growth regulator ! please help !

[divegirl]

Hi, the problem is that you are treating the cats and not your house. Fleas only feed on the animal, they lay ther eggs in your house....carpets, bedding...anywhere really. To get rid of them once and for all, treat the cats and completely de-flea the house. There are various products on the market for doing this...your best bet is to search this site for 'flea treatments', if the problem is too bad, you may wish to consider getting in a professional pest control person as this can sometimes work out cheaper in the long run!

Hope this helps.

Lisa x

[gem_d20]

I agree with lisa, i work at a vets and i get this problem quite often. Vacuum everywhere and then wash pet bedding thenTreat your house with a household spray from the vets not supermarkets and pet shops as you might find they dont work and use frontline on both cats regularly. hope it works, as they are not nice!

[clair3934]

www.vetuk.co.uk have a look at this website my I reccomend acclaime 2000 for getting rid of the house hold fleas it's very good stuff vets reccomend it

[Andyvon]

I had that problem once Tiger 104. I tried all the shampoos and sprays and they seemed to have no affect except to drain my pocket! It was a simple thing that worked in the end. I tried a flea collar from Wilko and the fleas were gone in a couple of days. It only cost about a pound too.

Apparently, fleas need to drink and they do that by making their way to the animal's head to drink from the eyes, nose or mouth. They can't pass the flea collar due to the chemicals with which it is impregnated and they soon jump off for more convenient hosts.

I do stand to be corrected on the reason but that was how it was explained to me. The flea collars certainly work though.

[rachaelersk]

Hi tiger104, I swear by Frontline. Nothing else seems to be any good. It is expensive but very effective. I only have trouble with my cats and flees when im skint and so buy other cheaper products but in the end always have to buy the frontline. As for your house there are many good household flee sprays around, wash bedding, hoover everywhere and you should get the problem sorted. :0)

[tracymort]

I'm sat here covered in bites too (and eczema which I've only had since being bitten by fleas), they only like me and my middle son. I'm going nuts, I can't cope anymore. I've done everything possible, cat treated as always but I'm stuck on the house stuff. We hoover and steam everycarpet and change bedding daily and the litlle b******* are everywhere still. I can't use sprays as I have a baby, I don't feel comfortable using all those chemicals in our bedrooms.

[tillycat]

Our indoor cats have had them really badly this Summer (we are baffled as to how they caught them too), by the time we realised they had them, they were crawling and so uncomfortable. We used the Frontline combo for 2 months and it was not working on it's own... as we needed to treat house as well. We have used 2 full cans of RIP flea to treat the house, but to be honest, if we have them in a month, I will buy another can of it. It seems to be helping. For people with cats, you need to use a flea comb several times a day to remove teh flea dirt, eggs etc off the cats, as the flea larvae eat teh flea dirt and the eggs fall off the cats as tehy walk about the house... so hoovering constantly, brushing cats and treating the home are needed.....
They were biting us without us realising it - very small itchy red lumps mainly around our ankles.... some people don't find them itchy, but when we looked we had little red marks from them! Yukk yukk!!! We are not allowing the cats into bedrooms until the whole house and they haev been clear for some weeks.
Remove plants, pets and fish when treating a house until some hours later.....
I was told that if you see fleas on the cats - that is only 5% of the fleas you will have in your home and the eggs take 2-10 days to hatch, so keep on top of the problem.
We are stick of constantly washing bedding and tumble drying it to ensure any eggs are killed too....