Fleas!!!!!! Help me!!!!!

[AdoreMyDogs]

This probably should be in Dog Health, but I never go there, so I'm posting it here for more viewing.

I have a problem and I'm at my wits end! I just can NOT get rid of these blasted fleas. We've had the yard professionally sprayed 6 times this season so far, plus we've treated it ourselves with 7 dust and other insecticides for fleas....we've flea fogged the house, even though we have hardwood floors. The pets, all 4 of them, have been on flea preventative (we've tried Frontline, Bio Spot, Sergents) AND I flea bathe them at least twice a week. I can't get rid of these blasted fleas and Boone has a flea allergy, so his coat is in horrid condition. He's actually lost the majority of his coat and he even has near-bald spots on his back above his tail. He's been to the vet for antibiotics and steroids once already this season and we have a feeling it's just not ever going to end. He has another hot spot forming. I'm keeping him on Benadryl now to help with the allergy and it's helping a bit.

Since I quit working to be home with my baby, our money is so tight. We have truly tried everything to rid the animals of fleas and nothing, and I mean nothing is working. We are spending money that is set aside for food on flea treatment/prevention stuff. We had to go a week with eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we spent so much money on flea treatment that we didn't have enough left to go grocery shopping. I flea bathe them and just one hour later they're infested again. Being that we're spending so much money, this is heart-breaking for us. The shampoos we've used (I've tried about 6 different brands) are for fleas, flea larve AND flea eggs. Just last week I was nursing Quinn when a flea jumped into her hair, luckly I was able to get the nasty thing out before it bit my baby, but I've also picked a flea out of her crib that I know bit her because she has a flea bite on her ankle. I know this sounds terrible, but I have considered re-homing the cats to cut down on the expense of inefective flea control.

Does anyone have any other ideas to get rid of fleas, becides burning down my house and moving to Antartica? I'm seriously so tired of the fleas. I NEVER EVER had a problem with fleas when I lived in Michigan. I think because the ground freezes it kills them off. I have never heard of Frontline and Bio Spot being completely ineffective. I never, ever see a dead flea on them until I bathe them in flea shampoo.

We are getting the yard sprayed again this Thursday, this will be the 7th time this season alone, and I'm going to buy another gallon of flea shampoo...but flea fogging the house is so hard since I have the baby and I have to cover everything of hers as to avoid exposing her to the chemicals, and spending several hours outside the house to let the fog clear.

And let me tell you, bathing cats is no picnic, and I limit their baths to once a week. Mindy screams like I'm skinning her alive and Minion is OK but as soon as I take a hand off him he immediately tries to jump out of the sink. It's just a miserable problem and I try SOOOO hard to fix it with zero results

We just bought this product called Capstar, which is supposed to wipe out fleas for 24 hours...but nothing else has worked, I doubt this stuff will work, but we're trying it anyway because we're desperate. We ordered it so we're still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

In all the years of owning cats and dogs, I think I can count on one hand the amount of fleas I've ever seen on my animals, and it's usually from a run at the dog park, and it has resolved immediately with just one dose of topical flea treatment. I never even had to use flea treatment on a regular basis when I lived in Michigan. I swear the fleas here in TX are resistant to pesticides......HELP!!!!!

[shais_mom]

Try
http://www.fleabuster.com/
also
and I have also used
the laundry detergent BORAX
just google borax for fleas

[AdoreMyDogs]

Try
http://www.fleabuster.com/
also
and I have also used
the laundry detergent BORAX
just google borax for fleas

Hmmm, I wonder if I could use Borax on my furniture? It says it's for carpet, but we don't have carpet. That might be cheaper then the Bio Spot foggers and furniture sprays I've been using...and it sounds like it's safer, too. I just can't stand using such harsh pesticides in my house, especially with a baby

Thanks, Staci (or Stacy...I forgot how you spelled your name )

If anyone else has any more ideas that are affordable please chime in

[shais_mom]

Hmmm, I wonder if I could use Borax on my furniture? It says it's for carpet, but we don't have carpet. That might be cheaper then the Bio Spot foggers and furniture sprays I've been using...and it sounds like it's safer, too. I just can't stand using such harsh pesticides in my house, especially with a baby

Thanks, Staci (or Stacy...I forgot how you spelled your name )

If anyone else has any more ideas that are affordable please chime in

yea - you might have to block off room by room so the animals and Quinn aren't in there. I would think you'd be able to use it similiarly like the carpet - just on the furniture.

Good luck,
Staci

[AdoreMyDogs]

Good luck,
Staci

Thanks Staci Whoo hoo, I thought that's how it was spelled I'll go out and buy a box of Borax laundry soap. I'm sure that'll be good to wash my bathroom and bedroom rugs in, too. That might help hopefully, and it's not outragously expensive

[crow_noir]

OK, one of the problems i seen is that you said that you have the pets on flea insecticides such as Frontline AND you are bathing them?! The Frontline can NOT work if you are bathing them too!!! And are you making sure that you are getting Frontline Plus? I heard that regular Frontline doesn't work worth diddly. (I never even knew there was Frontline and Frontline Plus until we got into a conversation about it at the dog park.)

Second, did you try using a cut up flea collar IN your vacuum and vacuum ALL the rooms twice a day? (Once in the morning and once at night.)

At night use a nightlight near the floor and have a large wide pan with about an inch of soapy water. (Somehow keep the pets away from this.)

As for Boone an injection of cortisone will help more than the steroids and antibiotics will. (and remember... one flea bite stays in their system for about a month.)

And rather than spraying the yard I'd suggest using diatomaceous earth. If you have a front lawn and a back lawn only do one at a time and let the dogs only on the part that you didn't do for about a week. Spray down with water the part you did after a week and then do the other part.

And if you ask me flea shampoos are a waste of money.

Feeding my dog a bit of garlic powder every day seemed to help. I wonder if rubbing garlic powder into your pets' fur would help?

I also found this link with useful advice. I've heard before that Neem oil works great. http://www.natural-pet-care.com/natu...dies-for-dogs/

This probably should be in Dog Health, but I never go there, so I'm posting it here for more viewing.

I have a problem and I'm at my wits end! I just can NOT get rid of these blasted fleas. We've had the yard professionally sprayed 6 times this season so far, plus we've treated it ourselves with 7 dust and other insecticides for fleas....we've flea fogged the house, even though we have hardwood floors. The pets, all 4 of them, have been on flea preventative (we've tried Frontline, Bio Spot, Sergents) AND I flea bathe them at least twice a week. I can't get rid of these blasted fleas and Boone has a flea allergy, so his coat is in horrid condition. He's actually lost the majority of his coat and he even has near-bald spots on his back above his tail. He's been to the vet for antibiotics and steroids once already this season and we have a feeling it's just not ever going to end. He has another hot spot forming. I'm keeping him on Benadryl now to help with the allergy and it's helping a bit.

Since I quit working to be home with my baby, our money is so tight. We have truly tried everything to rid the animals of fleas and nothing, and I mean nothing is working. We are spending money that is set aside for food on flea treatment/prevention stuff. We had to go a week with eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we spent so much money on flea treatment that we didn't have enough left to go grocery shopping. I flea bathe them and just one hour later they're infested again. Being that we're spending so much money, this is heart-breaking for us. The shampoos we've used (I've tried about 6 different brands) are for fleas, flea larve AND flea eggs. Just last week I was nursing Quinn when a flea jumped into her hair, luckly I was able to get the nasty thing out before it bit my baby, but I've also picked a flea out of her crib that I know bit her because she has a flea bite on her ankle. I know this sounds terrible, but I have considered re-homing the cats to cut down on the expense of inefective flea control.

Does anyone have any other ideas to get rid of fleas, becides burning down my house and moving to Antartica? I'm seriously so tired of the fleas. I NEVER EVER had a problem with fleas when I lived in Michigan. I think because the ground freezes it kills them off. I have never heard of Frontline and Bio Spot being completely ineffective. I never, ever see a dead flea on them until I bathe them in flea shampoo.

We are getting the yard sprayed again this Thursday, this will be the 7th time this season alone, and I'm going to buy another gallon of flea shampoo...but flea fogging the house is so hard since I have the baby and I have to cover everything of hers as to avoid exposing her to the chemicals, and spending several hours outside the house to let the fog clear.

And let me tell you, bathing cats is no picnic, and I limit their baths to once a week. Mindy screams like I'm skinning her alive and Minion is OK but as soon as I take a hand off him he immediately tries to jump out of the sink. It's just a miserable problem and I try SOOOO hard to fix it with zero results

We just bought this product called Capstar, which is supposed to wipe out fleas for 24 hours...but nothing else has worked, I doubt this stuff will work, but we're trying it anyway because we're desperate. We ordered it so we're still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

In all the years of owning cats and dogs, I think I can count on one hand the amount of fleas I've ever seen on my animals, and it's usually from a run at the dog park, and it has resolved immediately with just one dose of topical flea treatment. I never even had to use flea treatment on a regular basis when I lived in Michigan. I swear the fleas here in TX are resistant to pesticides......HELP!!!!!

[wolf_Q]

We don't have a flea problem in Utah. I will officially never live in Texas. All I can say is good luck, I don't know much about dealing with fleas.

[Kfamr]

Try Zodiac products.

I use their flea shampoo on occasion as well as Frontline PLUS (regular Frontline does not work for us.) I only bathe them with Zodiac on occasion. Between those baths they get baths with Tropiclean Neem.

Honestly, the only way we are able to keep fleas at bay are bathes weekly - every 2 weeks, vacuuming daily, spraying the yard often, and making sure to put monthly Frontline PLUS on them.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Try getting hold of a few of these and dot them around the place - particularly little one's bedroom


http://www.lamp-post.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CH20139

found a couple on good old ebay too

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...rap&category0=

[anna_66]

Oh how terrible this problem must be for you, especially since you have a baby

Last year (the first time in 14 years) we ended up getting fleas and like you we tried everything. I finally got the Frontline Plus and that worked but it still took at least a couple weeks.

Good luck. I hope you find something that works asap!

[mruffruff]

A couple of years ago my daughter had the same problem. She found the fleas in her daughters bed. They both had bites.

She had her house professionally treated a couple of time, but it didn't help. Finally, she put Revolution on her cat and dogs. It took some time, but the fleas finally disappeared.

Borax is inexpensive. So is Diatomaceous Earth. Both work pretty well.

[ParNone]

I live in Texas and have no fleas. I don't fog the house. I don't bathe the dogs in flea shampoo, in fact Oz and Gull only get bathed about once every 6 mos and Murph every 3 mos. No flea collars or flea spray/powder on them. I'm a bit paranoid about chemicals in the backyard with the dogs, so in the 7 yrs I've been here at this house, I think I've only poisoned the yard 3 times, just to keep the ants at bay.

3/4th of the house is either ceramic tile or hardwood floor, which I think helps, but I really think the biggest factor is that they take Sentinel for Heartworm, which also has a flea preventive and the fleas never get a chance to get going. The vet keeps askin' me if I want Frontline or Capstar, but so far *knock wood*, I've not needed anything extra.

Par...

[Catlady711]

I have worked as a vet assistant for over 6 years, so I have narrowed my flea tirade down to my standard 'flea speech'.


Start of 'flea speech'

By the time a person notices fleas jumping on them in their houses or biting the family you already have a very, very bad flea problem. To prevent that keep a careful eye on your pet looking for fleas. Fleas can either be identified by actually seeing the adult flea, or by seeing little black specks the size of a pin head close to the skin (those are flea droppings, yuck). A cheap flea comb from any pet store will help with this especially if your pet has dark or long hair. On cats fleas are more typically found around the head/neck area. On dogs they are usually found along the spine near the tail, or on the belly.

A single female flea lays about 2,000 eggs in her lifetime! Out of the flea population ONLY 5% is visable as adult fleas. So for every five fleas you see, there are 95% more microscopic immature flea larva/eggs that you can't see. Immature fleas can live inside carpets, pet bedding, etc for up to 2 YEARS before hatching. Fleas can even manage to reproduce in homes with only hardwood flooring in cracks and crevices.

Frontline PLUS is a liquid you put on the back of your cats neck on the skin. It soaks in and attatches to the oils in your cat and circulates over the whole body. Within 24 hours it goes to work. It is important not to bathe your pet for 2 days before and 2 days after using Frontline PLUS, as bathing washes the oil out of their skin and make it hard for the product to circulate properly. However after that 2 day period if you want to bathe your pet, go ahead, it's in your pets skin and is waterproof.

Frontline PLUS works at fleas 2 ways...

1. Fleas are killed upon contact with a pet with Frontline PLUS. Fleas do NOT have to bite the pet for it to kill the flea. It kills the flea before it's had a blood meal (which is required for reproduction).

2. It also contains a 'growth regulator' that as your pet sheds hair/dandruf, it carries the PLUS part of the ingredients down into your carpets, pet bedding etc. This messes up the life cycle of the larva so they never hatch into adult fleas. This part of the process takes patience, however it is the most important part.

Regular and long term use (1-2 years without missing a month), will eliminate the need for messy/expensive flea bombs, sprays, powders, dips, collars etc. It is important not to stop using Fronline PLUS once the flea problem seems to be slowing down or gone, those flea larva may still be lurking in your house for up to a year yet!

Frontline PLUS is somewhat expensive, until you realize how much money has been spent on all the other things that don't work, not to mention the dangerous chemicals, it is def. more cost saving to use Frontline PLUS. The main ingredient of Frontline PLUS (fipronil) has been used in fruit orchards in the US since the 1980's and ONLY affects the system of an insect, not mammals, so it's a safe product.

Many OTC flea products contain more risky ingredients like pyretherins/phenothrins which are not only unsafe, (EPA about Hartz flea and tick drops) but also don't work well. Most OTC flea products only kill the existing adult fleas on your pet at that moment. So you can bathe away in a chemical laden bath and the moment you set your pet back on the floor...whamo, you've got fleas again. Also since the pyretherins have been used for so many years many fleas have become immune to the effects of them resulting in poor perfomance of the product.

End of standard 'flea speech'. LOL

As my standard disclaimer goes.....
I do not work for Merial (maker of Frontline) I do not recieve any compensation for recommending this product, and I only personally recommend products I trust to be safe and are effective.

[shais_mom]

Another alternative that I have tried Leslie, is take lemons and cut them up
put them in a glass jar and pour boiling water over them - let that sit over nite and then pour the juice into a spray bottle and spray over the dogs coat. Not sure if this works on cats. I also take a bit of lemon mix a solution of DAWN dish detergent and give the kritters a bath. I use maybe a tsp of lemon for the cats - just a small amt - and a Larger amount on Keegan.
and also if you are using a flea comb
dip it into a hot soapy dish (dawn detergent again) it kills them

[*LabLoverKEB*]

I have heard, that Ivory soap kills fleas? Correct me if I am wrong, anyone!

I'm really no help here, but I must say we some new pics of those pups!