[birmilska1]

Hi everyone

Hoping you can help. I currently have three cats, four tomorrow grin they are of course all indoor cats. I wash them with flea shampoo, always brush and comb them and still am finding fleas on them. I have given them capstar, and all the other flea preventatives. I cannot understand where they are coming from. I only have carpet in the living room and floorboards throughout the rest of the house. I vaccum every day, so not sure what else I can do. Help please, Danielle

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[Doreen]

It sounds like you need to flea bomb the place, there might be eggs in the carpet. Can you isolate the babies in another uncarpeted area of the house and do the living room? Then Capstar to kill off the fleas, plus Revolution or Advantage. My vet advises me to not use the same spot-on flea prevention all the time as he believes fleas can build up a resistance to it, so I swop between Revolution and Advantage every few months. The flea bombs come from the supermarkets or hardware stores, I think Mortein or Baygon make them, but you should be able to find one, just read the instructions. Good luck, hopefully once you have gotten rid of them, they will be easier to keep away long term.

[Kimli]

Yep, flea bomb for you my friend. Blow those fleas away.
I've done this before, it was a task but worth it. Take your cats out for the required hours in their carrier, when it is time to reenter the house. OPen all windows leaving cats with someone outside. Then take each cat one at a time and bath it before it is free to walk around. Wash all bedding etc etc. Even toss it in the dryer so the heat kills anything even remotely left alive.
Then you will be flea free, otherwise it is a drive-you-insane cycle.

[burmeselover]

Are you using Advantage, Frontline, Revolution or Advocate currently? If not, then you need to start. Capstar kills adult fleas briefly after each dose. Shampoos only kill fleas on the pet briefly then more jump on. Flea collars, powders, supermarket spot-ons (which only sterilise the flea eggs that they lay - they don't kill adult fleas) are inneffective and a waste of money.
For every flea killed by Capstar, there are another 95 flea eggs, larvae and pupae in the environment.

If you are currently using one of the spot-on products I listed above and Capstar and you are still seeing lots of fleas, then flea bombing is a good idea.

It would help for you to explain exactly what you are doing right now to treat the flea problem, how you apply the products and when.

[birmilska1]

Hi Doreen

I am going to get the carpet cleaned as the vet told me that should kill any eggs if they are present in the carpet. I will put them in the three tiered cage I have and move them to the enclosed deck and will definitely do a bomb.

I do infact change brands as I was told the same thing about the fleas getting used to the same brand. Fingers crossed after all this I will get the result I am after. Just so frustrating.

[charleycat]

We recently fleabombed this house - found the "bombs" at Bunnings but couldn't find them anywhere else. Have seen a couple of fleas reappear, but the directions on the can said to also spray for fleas until they were all gone. I thought the bombs would eliminate them all. Noticed they contain permethrin and all plants/animals had to be removed first. Stay out of the house for two hours, then open doors and windows for a further 30 minutes before moving everything back in. We used six for this house! I don't think carpet cleaning will get rid of the fleas, but if you do then bomb after the cleaning...

ETA: Think our last house had some fleas when we moved in, but I used Advantage on Charley and within a very short time there were no fleas to be seen anywhere...

This post has been edited by charleycat: 03 April 2008 - 12:29 PM

[Doreen]

Ah, I just noticed you are on the Central Coast, very sandy soil, just right for fleas. My brother used to live up there, he previously had a carpeted house, and eventually tore all the carpet out and used tiles throughout the place. Fleas were in plague proportions, especially in summer because of the sand. He used the Flea Bombs, and regularly used Revolution and Advantage, and managed to get them under control. He now lives in Sydney, and only used the spot on treatment for two months, then hasn't noticed any fleas (his two are strictly indoors only) and they are fine now. But I know when he was up on the Central Coast he had to keep up the spot on treatments all year round. Good luck!

[birmilska1]

Thanks everyone will try all of your suggestions this weekend and over the next few weeks, will you keep you posted. Daniellexx

[fluffybundles]

Raid have a spray on flea killer. Years and years ago when we had a big problem we vacuumed and sprayed the carpet. They were dead within a few days. Plus we found that it continued working. Even cockroaches roaming across the carpet 9 months later died.