Treating the cats is absolutely key here. If they're in your house, they're on the cats (and other pets) and in your yard. Rigorous vacuuming, cleaning, laundry, etc, will help the issue inside the house. However, if you aren't treating the cats and/or your yard, you will continue to be reinfested.

Dawn dishsoap is typically recommended to use to bathe pets when they have fleas; however, water alone will kill fleas so you don't really *need* to use the dishsoap... and there is no residual factor to using ANY flea shampoos or treatments, so all bathing does is rid the pet of all of the fleas/eggs that may currently be on the pet but does nothing to protect them against reinfestation from fleas in the environment.

We tell owners to use a flea preventative product, such as Revolution, for a MINIMUM of three consecutive months on ***EVERY PET IN THE HOUSEHOLD***. This includes ALL cats, ALL dogs, indoor or outdoor, etc. If you are only treating your dogs but not treating your cats, for example, the cats will harbor fleas and you'll have a very hard time getting rid of them.

I know not everyone likes to use 'chemicals' on their pets for fleas, but the vet-only products are SAFE and EFFECTIVE. The stuff you might find OTC at walmart and such can not only be TOXIC, but they just don't work... and should always be avoided!!!