Any tips on how to get rid of fleas? I'm currently staying with my mom (house is STILL for sale in another state), and her dog got fleas from the groomer. 3 weeks ago, I was sent to the store for Frontline for both my cat and my mom's dog. This was the first summer my mom failed to give it to her dog. My cat has never been treated because she's never been outside and my mom's dog is the only other animal she's been in contact with. Anyway, we treated them 3 weeks ago. A week later, the dog still has them. My mom began giving her baths with Dawn dish soap. Fleas were still there. My mom began treating her with flea shampoo. Still there after first time. Second time, my mom also had the living room carpet cleaned by a professional. Everything was washed. Still fleas! She took her back to the groomer for a flea dip yesterday. They washed everything, sprayed stuff on the carpet, vacuumed really well, sprayed Lysol on all unwashable soft surfaces. Today, there were 2 live fleas on her! She is a Shih Tzu/ Pomeranian mix. They cut her hair down to 1/4 an inch yesterday (it was maybe 3/4 before). She has more 'hair' than fur. It is thin, too. You can see her skin in most places since her hair is so short. I am 95% sure my cat does not have them. The cat and dog don't interact at all. They do both sleep on the spare bed from time to time. In the last week, my cat decided to sleep in my parents' bed for the first time tired. However, she only scratches one place and I may see her scratch once in a 6-8 hour span of time. This is not unusual. My cat is long haired, but I try to look at her skin and I haven't seen anything. We're thinking she was treated with Frontline soon enough. Plus, I sleep downstairs and the dog never even goes into the family room downstairs. So I think that separation helped as well. Anyway, tip/tricks to getting rid of them once and for all? I worry that my cat is going to get them and then we'll be in a LOT of trouble since she finds weird places to sleep, and hangs out under beds.
I live in flea paradise since it rarely gets cold enough to kill the fleas. We switched to Trifexis for heart worm/flea treatment and that got rid of every single flea! Our dog has been on that treatment for 3 years and we haven't seen one flea in the house or on the dog.
I think Frontline needs be used once a month. Is Trifexis the med you give the dog/cat internally? I hear it is very good. When our house was invaded, we vacuumed every day. Be sure to empty the vacuum each time. Bathing the dogs helps get rid of fleas. You have to keep working on getting rid of them.
I once rented a house - from friends! - that was infested with fleas. It was horrible. Frontline once a month for both animals. House: keep the animals out of the house or in a room for several hours. Get a box of Borax and a push broom. Sprinkle Borax into every carpet and work it in with the broom. Move ALL furniture so you can cover every inch of carpet. Do the same to every piece of furniture with cloth and the mattresses. Let sit for a few hours, then vacuum it up and throw away the bag. The Borax kills them dead, and will keep on killing for several months. Get the yard treated. If you don't take care of the outside, it will never matter what you do on the inside.
After you vacuum, clean out the vacuum dust collector thingie or throw out the bag. My vet recommended Revolution instead of Frontline. Comb out the blackish red flea droppings. The newly hatched eggs are either in there or feed off it. Frontline may have worked for your cat but not the dog.
I tried Borax and it broke my expensive vacuum cleaner. I can't afford Frontline any more so I get whatever I see that is around $10 and treat both the dog (Pomeranian) and the cat (long-haired). When they get fleas, I call the carpet guy and have him put some flea ingredient into the cleaning solution. That was the thing that finally got rid of them.
You've gotten good advice. I haven't personally dealt with them inside(no pets now), but we had a rental house we had to have treated twice to be sure they were gone. The pest control guy said to wear white socks inside-fleas are attracted and you can see if you still have them!! He also did the yard, he said even if your pets don't go out, people can bring them in!! Good luck-it is so hard to deal with insects...as someone said, they love Florida!!
Yipes! Upsadaisy, how did Borax kill your vacuum? I use it about once every other year. Frontline TWICE a month, even on tiny kitty, and vacuum like crazy, dumping bag EACH and EVERY time. (check 99 cent type stores for cheap bags) Diatanaceous earth (spelling?) the edible kind (there are two) should be spread outside so eggs don't ride in on shoes or pets. Good luck. I hate fleas, but they seem to not hold that against me and move in every year or so. Ugh. They especially LOVE my yard.
I think the Borax seized up the engine. My current vacuum doesn't use a bag - it's a Shark. I haven't had an infestation in a long while, thank goodness.
I have used borax detergent on the carpet and the furniture. It seems to work well. Also being very diligent about the flea medicine. Foamy bath shampoo for your pets helps because fleas get caught in the shampoo foam and die. You need to leave the shampoo on for about five minutes and keep rubbing it to catch the fleas. Combing for fleas and dunking the fleas in water with soap kills them too.
I have heard wonders about diatomaceous earth. You can get food grade and sprinkle it all over the carpets, on your pets, and even feed it to them! Evidently it's the best and most pet-healthy way to kill all bugs with exoskeletons- fleas, cockroaches, ticks, etc. But since I can't get it here in CR, I feed my dog one clove of garlic every other week. On her off garlic week I give her a bath. She's flea free, and we take her to the dog park all the time where I know there's tons of fleas. I know garlic isn't good for dogs, but can Frontline really be any better? I feel it's the lesser of two evils and it WORKS. Frontline stopped working with my dog after a few months.
