RE: Fleas
- Thread starter firefighterjake
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Jake,
Did you notice? Those here with names starting with "woods" want you to get rid of something other than just the fleas
Did you notice? Those here with names starting with "woods" want you to get rid of something other than just the fleas
No fleas here for about 8 years. Frontline used except when the ground is frozen. We hava a cat and two dogs. I don't allow them around other animals.
We once had them. Like being in hell. bombed over and over, then Frontline, they were gone and stayed away. I always go over the pets before I retrun home from the vet. Run a fine tooth comb all over them. It is more kind to leave the pet home than it is to take them were they can get paracites.
We once had them. Like being in hell. bombed over and over, then Frontline, they were gone and stayed away. I always go over the pets before I retrun home from the vet. Run a fine tooth comb all over them. It is more kind to leave the pet home than it is to take them were they can get paracites.
And just when I thought we were gaining traction . . . wham . . . they're back with a vengeance.
I've finally decided to take some of your suggestions and wage an all out war on them . . . and like Brother Bart the place may end up on a Superfund site . . . IF I can find the good stuff. Turns out I'm not the only one having major issues . . . all the Tractor Supplies in the area have been cleaned out of the Enforcer insect growth inhibitor spray . . . I'm now waiting for the order to come in to pick up my instruments of death.
In the mean time my wife is getting very tired of vacuuming and doing laundry . . . I did pick up some 20 Mule Borax to sprinkle on the carpeting . . . and some Zodiac bug bombs that were pricey but it seems as though they may have some insect growth inhibitor in them since it claims to keep the buggers at bay for 7 months. I also hope to buy some more chemicals . .. which is a bit strange to say since I am not a big fan of pesticides, herbicides . . . pretty much any -icides.
I did have a question for folks though . . . can fleas develop a tolerance to Frontline? My cats still have eggs and fleas that are on them . . . but I'm not sure if the eggs were laid before and are dead . . . or if the fleas are jumping on to the cats and then dying.
I've finally decided to take some of your suggestions and wage an all out war on them . . . and like Brother Bart the place may end up on a Superfund site . . . IF I can find the good stuff. Turns out I'm not the only one having major issues . . . all the Tractor Supplies in the area have been cleaned out of the Enforcer insect growth inhibitor spray . . . I'm now waiting for the order to come in to pick up my instruments of death.
In the mean time my wife is getting very tired of vacuuming and doing laundry . . . I did pick up some 20 Mule Borax to sprinkle on the carpeting . . . and some Zodiac bug bombs that were pricey but it seems as though they may have some insect growth inhibitor in them since it claims to keep the buggers at bay for 7 months. I also hope to buy some more chemicals . .. which is a bit strange to say since I am not a big fan of pesticides, herbicides . . . pretty much any -icides.
I did have a question for folks though . . . can fleas develop a tolerance to Frontline? My cats still have eggs and fleas that are on them . . . but I'm not sure if the eggs were laid before and are dead . . . or if the fleas are jumping on to the cats and then dying.
Check with a local farm/feed store for chemicals...they tend to carry the good stuff. I had them BAD last summer and it took a while to get them all killed. Here's what I did:
First, wash the critters (dog). Fleas can't survive a good soaking, so a bath will usually kill the adults. After a couple days, (give the oils a chance to replenish on their skin) dope them up with some Frontline.
I bombed the house with some heavy duty foggers...can't remember the brand but I got them at the feed store. Make sure the bomb contains an IGR. The IGR prevents adults from reproducing. After 30 days, bomb again...this is very important. Even if you think you whacked them all, bomb again after. There's a certain stage in the flea lifecycle where they are pretty much impervious to any chemical, so you need to bomb again to whack the ones that hatch after the first bomb.
I mixed up a batch of Carbaryl (active ingredient in Sevin) and sprayed around the house, mostly in places where the dog frequents. If you don't kill them outside, they bring them right back in with them.
First, wash the critters (dog). Fleas can't survive a good soaking, so a bath will usually kill the adults. After a couple days, (give the oils a chance to replenish on their skin) dope them up with some Frontline.
I bombed the house with some heavy duty foggers...can't remember the brand but I got them at the feed store. Make sure the bomb contains an IGR. The IGR prevents adults from reproducing. After 30 days, bomb again...this is very important. Even if you think you whacked them all, bomb again after. There's a certain stage in the flea lifecycle where they are pretty much impervious to any chemical, so you need to bomb again to whack the ones that hatch after the first bomb.
I mixed up a batch of Carbaryl (active ingredient in Sevin) and sprayed around the house, mostly in places where the dog frequents. If you don't kill them outside, they bring them right back in with them.
I feel your pain... or rather, itch!
I am not sure if fleas have developed an immunity to Frontline. Supposedly some types of fleas have developed an immunity to the original Advantage formula, so they changed it to Advantage II. I also thought that Frontline was not working on my cat when the fleas hit us hard earlier this year, and that was when the vet said to use it every 3 weeks during that period of time. It become more lethal that way. My cat was not itching, and the second benefit to Frontline and Advantage (I use both, 6 months of one and then 6 months of the other) is that they control flea allergies in your pets. I asked the vet if they had something like that for humans, and he laughed.
Add some Borax to every load of laundry, and that will kill any fleas in your clothes. Clothes are flea magnets. Vacuume, wash, bomb, spray inside and out, spot treat the cats, and brush your cats. I use a fine metal brush desigend for small dogs and he loves it. It also gets the shedding fur out of his coat. At my ex's place we raised dogs (typically had 12-20 at any given time) and 100 head of sheep, and we had 4 cats. We had to go through the flea cycle there about every 4 months. We had no carpets and only tile and wood floors. She and I are both allergic to fleas... we got used to the cycles. We got it down to one day of spraying, bombing, laundry and spot treatments on the house pets. I only have to do the cycle once or twice a year here in spring. I am pulling up more carpeting and laying down more tile and hardwood flooring. I ripped up the old carpets and (the worse) padding under it and put down hardwood flooring in the living room and the master bedroom last winter, and that helped. There are only 2 bedrooms left with carpets, and they will go this winter.
Stay the course, do not give up, never surrender!
I am not sure if fleas have developed an immunity to Frontline. Supposedly some types of fleas have developed an immunity to the original Advantage formula, so they changed it to Advantage II. I also thought that Frontline was not working on my cat when the fleas hit us hard earlier this year, and that was when the vet said to use it every 3 weeks during that period of time. It become more lethal that way. My cat was not itching, and the second benefit to Frontline and Advantage (I use both, 6 months of one and then 6 months of the other) is that they control flea allergies in your pets. I asked the vet if they had something like that for humans, and he laughed.
Add some Borax to every load of laundry, and that will kill any fleas in your clothes. Clothes are flea magnets. Vacuume, wash, bomb, spray inside and out, spot treat the cats, and brush your cats. I use a fine metal brush desigend for small dogs and he loves it. It also gets the shedding fur out of his coat. At my ex's place we raised dogs (typically had 12-20 at any given time) and 100 head of sheep, and we had 4 cats. We had to go through the flea cycle there about every 4 months. We had no carpets and only tile and wood floors. She and I are both allergic to fleas... we got used to the cycles. We got it down to one day of spraying, bombing, laundry and spot treatments on the house pets. I only have to do the cycle once or twice a year here in spring. I am pulling up more carpeting and laying down more tile and hardwood flooring. I ripped up the old carpets and (the worse) padding under it and put down hardwood flooring in the living room and the master bedroom last winter, and that helped. There are only 2 bedrooms left with carpets, and they will go this winter.
Stay the course, do not give up, never surrender!
Timely thread for us as we now are doing our battle as a result of 2 stray kittens the Mrs. took in. The kittens stay in the barn but the dogs go out there to snoop around and I think that's how they got the fleas. I have been using Advantix on the dogs mainly with ticks in mind and had thought it would help with fleas but we found several on each dog. The kittens had been scratching a lot so along with some IGR spray I picked up at the vet's I also got some Advantage for the cats. I am amazed that the day after the application to the kittens they have stopped scratching/biting completely. Maybe it's time to switch to Advantage for the dogs too?
Salt will work as well, sprinkled over the carpets. Also place a deep bowl of water under a nightlight/wall outlet. They'll spring to a drowning death, its also a good way to monitor for a continued infestation.
Wife is taking the dogs swimming in the creek...I hope any remaining on my puppies meet a watery death!
You'll likely see them gathering on their noses - running for high ground. For puppies that aren't old enough for the chemical flea baths(they can affect development) use dawn dish soap. Then follow it with Skin-so-soft, it'll remoisturize and keep moisquitos off them as well. When the pups are too young for the topical (revolution,advantage multi, etc) your vet will probably apply it in a specific controlled dose for the size of the pup. Mine charged ~28/month for applications to our new stray. Until he finishes growing and I can buy it in bulk for his body weight, I'll part with money over my blood to fleas.
Sprinter
Minister of Fire
Sprinter
Minister of Fire
This is pretty good advice for many health-related reasons. I happen to prefer carpet over hardwood floors, but carpet does harbor all kinds of bad stuff. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, change the bag, then vacuum some more. Then vacuum the furniture.
How to alienate half the population in three words
Its not that i dislike cats but the facts are facts, cats carry fleas and when you let one it brings back 1 millon more...
Sprinter
Minister of Fire
Okay, but the only time cats are going to have a flee problem is if they are outdoors, and outdoor cats are a bad idea all around (IMHO). Or, if the house is already infested. Then, of course, cats will pick them up, along with you, the wife, the kids, the dog, pet skunk and whatever other warm blooded creatures you may have. We usually have both cats and dogs (not in large quantities), and whenever we have had a flee problem in the past, the cat is the least of the problem. Having said all that, I used to let my cats out all the time and they did pick up flees. But for the past 15 or more years, our cats have been strictly indoors, the dog gets Advantage, and we haven't had a flee problem for at least that long. Geez, I hope I didn't jinx us...
we also switched from fabric to leather furniture. It's much easier to keep every thing clean and fresh now.
Trust me, here in TX we don't get the hard freezes so if you develop a problem down here, it gets outa control fast. Before we moved to our new house---which btw I did pull out all of the carpet, we had a bad flea problem....came out of nowhere. As I said before the growth inhibitor is the key....the pesticides just offer fast knock down of the adults. the IGR prevents the larvae and eggs from developing into adults who bite. the pesticides will not touch the eggs or larvae. as for the spot treatments, they are very effective, but slower acting as many are fipronil which is same as termidor----great stuff but not as fast. treat the animals with advantage, frontline, or advantix, and get demon wp, and an insect growth inhibitor and you will have fast results----from experience, the fleas were jumping on my ankles and about 3 or 4 days later after the demon and IGR (growth regulator) they were gone. BTW you only need a very light application (fine mist) over carpets. bottom line is that ANY effective flea product for your house/carpets will contain an insect growth regulator and the trade name is Nylar.
Follow up . . . the flea problem is under control . . . and has been for a few weeks now.
The solution was pretty simple . . . and it was a case of a time when I should have listened to my wife.
Our vet suggested Frontline and we had dosed our cats with hardly any positive effects . . . and the vet said to simply do it again and so I did . . . with the same results . . . not much changed despite the Frontline and frequent vacuuming and laundry.
I finally broke down and bought some Advantage II at a pet store . . . and within hours fleas were dropping off the cats . . . and in days there was a notable decrease in the buggers.
It has been nearly three weeks since then and in a few days the cats will be getting another dose . . . and once again it will be Advantage II.
The solution was pretty simple . . . and it was a case of a time when I should have listened to my wife.
Our vet suggested Frontline and we had dosed our cats with hardly any positive effects . . . and the vet said to simply do it again and so I did . . . with the same results . . . not much changed despite the Frontline and frequent vacuuming and laundry.
I finally broke down and bought some Advantage II at a pet store . . . and within hours fleas were dropping off the cats . . . and in days there was a notable decrease in the buggers.
It has been nearly three weeks since then and in a few days the cats will be getting another dose . . . and once again it will be Advantage II.
Yah, rotating the spot flea control treatment seems to help. You need to keep up the pressure on those little blood suckers, or else... well, you know.
There are cheaper places to get this stuff online as well. PM me if interested.
There are cheaper places to get this stuff online as well. PM me if interested.
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