Pet Lovers

[Lovemyboots]

Just got back from the vet. We decided on something called "Vectra 3D." Never heard of it but he said around here they are having good sucess with it. He just said it wasn't as good on ticks. Right now we are not dealing with ticks just fleas. So anyway going to give baths & treat them!  Sure hope it works!

[RedTop]

We had a flea infestation in our carpet in the late 90's.  A local vet told me that flea eggs need moisture to hatch, so I had to remove the moisture.  Per his instructions, I bought several 5 lb bags of table salt and tossed it liberally on the carpet that was infested.  I let the salt sit in the carpet for 24 hours to draw out moisture, then vacuumed thoroughly.  When done, I immediately removed the vacuum bag, took it outside, and set it on fire.  I repeated this treatment for nearly 10 days, and never saw another flea.  

[Lovemyboots]

Well for anyone who might be interested.  Vectra 3D doesn't work!  Now I have to wait 3 more weeks & guess I will try Nextgard then!  My older dog is having the worse time. She is constantly covered!  I use the flea comb on her several times a day & still she is black with them. They are now eating on me!  Have tried everything now I guess but flea bomb in the house. Oh & "bug b gone" from Lowes for the yard....nope that don't work either!  I'm not sure there is anything out there that will work!!

[ID2]

Years ago when I had an outdoor cat he had fleas. The only way I got rid of them once and for all is when my cat was at the vet getting dipped I had a pest control company out bombing my house. We never had a problem again.

[patheticcosmetics]

Lovemyboots:  I've done hours of online research regarding fleas because one of my female cats has flea dermatitis allergy which is horrible & debilitating to the animal.

Since we're not allowed to post links, my suggestion is that you go online looking for natural products to kill fleas. There is a company that I  have bought from that has a product you directly put on your pet & another that you put in/out of your house. Non toxic to pets & people. 

Dogs are different than cats [regarding essential oils], so look for dog specific products.

You said you've used DE. I do also. It takes time to work because it has to cut through the exoskeleton & it's the adult flea it kills. I have to be very careful using DE because I have asthma & you have to be careful applying it to your pet as well.

Fleas are interesting lol. The eggs & especially the pupae are hard to kill. Cold only makes them go dormant & the pupae can "live" for years. It's the heat that hatches them, so don't steam clean any carpets or furniture. Washing pet bedding in hot soapy water will get rid of  fleas. Flea bombs are a complete waste of money, time consuming & they are very toxic to pets & people. They only kill the adult fleas so any eggs or pupae that are hidden in cracks, crevices will hatch later. My girlfriend learned this expensive lesson after the fact [& before talking to me]. She spent a lot of money, then did some research. Soon after the bombing, she had fleas hatching. 

 So for now, vaccuum often & everywhere especially where your pets eat, sleep & hang out. Wash what you can. Keep using the flea combs [I know it's time intensive], which also get the eggs, & keep rinsing  the comb in soapy water after each run through. Put down DE wherever your dogs eat, sleep, & hang out including outside. Rub your dogs down with DE & make sure you put it on their heads cause fleas  travel there trying to escape. Try adding brewer's yeast to your dogs' food. Just get online. There are plenty of informative sites about fleas & the treatment for them.

A lot of products are becoming useless because fleas are becoming more tolerant. So the products get stronger & also more toxic, & it becomes a viscious circle.

I hope you find a solution that works & is safe for you & your dogs.  

Good luck Lovemyboots.

Path

[patheticcosmetics]

Just an addendum. The DE is food grade, not the DE for pool use. I put DE in my cat's food & I take it as well.

I agree with your DH not wanting to bomb. Bombing is so very, very toxic. It's poison. Wherever that smoke lands you are going to have to clean it, throughly. You can't have anything on your kitchen counter, stove, etc.

Treat your pet & keep them undesirable to fleas. Then treat your house.

[Hooty]

We  had a flea infestation in our yard several years ago, and our poor bulldog's Advantage was not doing the trick.  We had the area of our yard treated by pest control and it took several sprayings but it finally worked.  Also, besides the topical, we used Capstar which is the most wonderful pill for a flea infestion on a dog or cat, they kill almost immediately!

Some times you need a professional to do a job, a flea infestation is not worth saving money IMHO!!!

[doxie1]

You have gotten some good advice and it sounds like you are trying many things. I have had the greatest success with the multi attack. I treat the animal, the house and the outside. I need to look and see if I can find what I had posted before.

I bathe the dog by doing the ring of soap around the neck prior to wetting or washing the dog. This keeps the fleas from running to hide near the eyes or in the ears.

I also prepare a spray for the dog by:

squeezing two lemons, 10t apple cider vinegar, 10 crumpled mint leaves and a aprig of rosemarry leaves. Add some warm water and let sit overnight. Spray on the dog. Best to do outside because they will jump off. I have even sprayed this on myself when I am going in a flea type area.

Know Fleas and where they live. You do not have to treat your entire yard. I plant to repel fleas and ticks and others.

Rosemary (herb plant)

chamomile

lavender ( ticks too)

lemon grass

 sage ( ticks too)

mint  ( invasive so plant with care)

thyme ( plant in shady area )

basil

All of these repel fleas so if you plant them they continue to work to keep the numbers down. They do not kill fleas.

The diatomoceous earth (de)  or borax can be put in sunny areas to kill adult fleas. It takes some time for this to happen but it is effective.

In the house

Vaccuum and throw out bags daily at minimum

Cedar chips that are fresh help

Put some banana peels down on a paper plate and leave them out. You may get some fruit flies but they will go once you get rid of the peels. Fleas are attracted to eat the peels and it kills them. Some people leave them out until they turn black and some until they can not stand the fruit flies.

You also get to make banana bread or freeze bananas dipped in chocolate.

We have a tree that we put the leaves down in the door way and it keeps the fleas out. I do not know what kind of tree it is. We call it a flea tree. It works well on the plantation houses with high ceilings.

You can rub lavender, basil, rosemary on your pet before taking them out and it will help repel them.

I need to look for the stuff I posted before.

You can get rid of them but once you have them it is tough to get them back under control. When you do you still have to treat. We have people with no pets that have flea problems so they are willing to use people as their hosts.

doxie

[Lovemyboots]

Wow doxie that is some good information!  But scary too!  I hate to think how long it might take to kill them off!

[doxie1]

lovemyboots

It was posted by others but I think that if you have a flea problem then you need to treat the animal(s) , house and the yard. If you call a professional they can go crazy with expensive options that you may not need all of them. You may have to have a professional spray in your house more than once.

Some things kill adult fleas and nymphs and some just adult. The flea treatement we give our pets kills the ones that bite them. As the eggs hatch you have to continue treatment. The vaccuuming works well but has to be done daily and the bag emptied and removed from the house.  Fleas need a host to feed so they are going to try to get an animal or person so treating the animal also helps but is not 100%. In you yard fleas like sunny areas where animals go.

I do not think of it as being so long to treat as much as consistent. After you get rid of them you may want to do some of the preventative things to make your house not as flea friendly.

We go to open a place at the beach in the spring and we  used to have a problem with sand fleas. They would go in the house without any dogs and they would attack people when they entered. The ceilings were too high for bombing so we go and suit up in tyvec white suits and take the flee tree branches, rosemary and whatever else is blooming and put some on the floor in each room. We start at the top floor and work our way down with the doorways being the last. Our suits were covered with fleas. We waited 3-4 hours and went back in with suits on again. No fleas were on oour suits when we came out this time. The plants did not kill the fleas but hte fleas packed up their stuff and left. Now we keep some of the branches in the doorways and no fleas come in. Now if someone brought them in on an animal we would have to treat again. Some people use other plants that we avoid dure to toxicity to animals.  We also did planting of some of the plants I told you about around the foundation of the house. This works without me having to do anything.

I have a friend that has used the banana peels and been impressed. She did have to do it for a week or two straight to take care of the hatching eggs.

Oh and the borax around the house keeps roaches at bay as well.

You need to realize you may be making a dent in your population but not realizing it yet due to eggs hatching.

I do not like fleas!

doxie