Tuesday, November 1, 2016

FLEAS

Are you kidding?

Had the cats to the vet this morning for annual check up.  White kitty has a mild heart murmur that we will keep an eye on.  She is 17.  Orange kitty is fine....except.....they found fleas!

I flipped.   How did my 100% indoor cats get fleas?  Well, here in the south, I guess they run rampant.  Add in that we live in a townhouse, and the neighbor has dogs.  Vet said they could have come through the wall or hopped on us outside and hitched a ride in.  Anyway you slice it....we have a very mild flea issue.

Vet said we need to wash everything in hot water.....several times.  A few times a week to start...then weekly.  Furniture needs daily vacuuming.  The cats are now on flea prevention meds.  May take several months to be sure we are flea free.

Of course the vacuum just broke last week.  Part has been ordered...but not due to come in until next week.  Better than spending $250 on a new vacuum (Bissell Pet Eraser).

My water bill is going to go through the roof.  As I found out...water is expensive here, so there goes that.  And we just got to the point where our electric bill was coming down from the summer high   There goes that.

Any suggestions to make this easier????

14 comments:

  1. We have our house sprayed for bugs quarterly and if there is a flea problem they do a special flea spraying including spraying around the outside of the house, the porch, the deck, the garage etc. Plus we treat the cat once a month, she's indoors too, but still a problem, that's the south. I swear it's the squirrels.

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    1. The vet started both cats on Revolution. He didn't feel we needed to bomb the house or spray. Just said we have to be very diligent for a few months.

      Darn squirrels....lol

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  2. Try a Laundromat for all of your bedding and pillows.

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    1. We may do that. I washed everything yesterday at home. I don't even know where a laundrymat is around here. I know last year when the washer broke, it was pricey to go....but it may be cheaper than the electric and water at home.

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  3. A steam cleaner. Would it be strong enough to kill the fleas and their eggs? I'm thinking over carpeted surfaces and a fabric sofa or just tossing stuff in the dryer like you'd kill bed bugs.

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    1. No idea....but I already told G-man I want to rent one with the attachments for furniture. We only have carpet on the stairs and kids' bedrooms, plus 2 area rugs. The vet told me hot water for washing anything the cats lay on....so I guess steam can't hurt!

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  4. I brought fleas into this house in 1978! And, they are still here, although this year I only had about two dozen bites. In the beginning, I could control them but obviously not perfectly. Several years later, driven mad by bites (100 below my ankle bone on one foot), I resorted to bombs, week after week. I had decided I would rather be killed by insecticide than scratch my legs raw and arms and neck with flea bites.

    Finally, I found a product I still use that absolutely works. Raid Flea Killer plus. It kills fleas on contact,mPLUS it kills hatching eggs. I do not have cats, so you may not want to use this. I would borrow a vacuum or buy a cheap one to vacuum now!

    Putting DE on the carpet will kill them, too. Of course, you need to vacuum that. It won't hurt the cats.

    Do the fleas bite you?

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    1. 1978???? Are you kidding??? Omg.

      No, no flea bites. This is why I am completely shocked. We had zero signs of this. The cats lay all over the sofas, our beds, on us. Of course, now I am itchy all over....all in my head, I know.

      I may look for a cheap vacuum until ours is fixed. I don't want to borrow one and risk carrying fleas back to another home.

      I will have to look at the Raid to see if it is harmful to the cats. Since it seems that our issue is mild, I want to believe we can take care of it over the next few months.

      The vet explained other gross things to me that I will not detail here. I am so skeevied out now. Ugh.

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  5. My daughter's apartment complex got infested with fleas (some tenants have cats). She had so many bites and was trying everything in her apartment to get rid of. Finally I told her to contact the management and they did a complex wide spray and it's cleaned up for now.

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    1. Our house is privately owned and since we can't prove how this happened (just suspect)...it isn't the landlord's problem . If anything, we could risk losing part of our deposit if he had to do anything after we leave. Luckily we aren't leaving soon!

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  6. I second DE it is not dangerous to pets or people you just have to be careful applying it as breathing in the powder is not good for you. We use it for ants and other bugs around our motorhome to keep them out and it works on fleas. It dries them up. I got it on Amazon and an applicator bottle. You can also apply it to furniture etc. Just apply it and let it set for a couple days then vaccine it up. It's a white powder. Shampooer will not work if eggs are in carpets etc. It just makes them hatch faster from the hot water.

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    1. Thanks for the shampoo tip. Ugh.

      So with the DE....how do you walk on the carpet and sit on the furniture if it has to sit for a few days? Won't it get all over us?

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  7. I had a flea infestation a few years back and 2 tips that I can give you:

    Every time you vaccuum, immediately empty it (outside) into a garbage bag, seal it up and get rid of it.

    This is going to sound silly, but it really did help. Fleas are attracted to light - they jump at it. So, in every single room in your house, plug in a nightlight into an outlet near the floor and underneath the nightlight, place a bowl, Rubbermaid container, etc. filled with water with a just a small squirt of dish soap.

    The fleas will jump at the light and fall into the water (the dish soap traps them there so they can't swim).

    It sounds silly , but every little bit counts, and we would sometimes wake up to to 20-25 of those suckers in each bowl!

    Good luck!

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    1. Thanks for the tips! I read about the light and soapy water trick, but glad to hear from someone who has actually tried it.

      I am still gobsmacked that we are dealing with this. Lol

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