Late arriving to the Flea slide
I have cats, not dogs, and we have a horrible flea problem. It seems they have a years old, multi-generational colony inside the house. Outside, not so much, as we have three cats that live exclusively on the screened-in patio and I seldom find a flea on them. But inside is another story, the cats that live inside never go outside and the fleas have their own well-established domain. I don’t know what more I can do. I don’t like to put chemicals on the cats. So I comb, vacuum, and put out pans of water under lights, which drown a lot of fleas.
But it’s a never ending battle, vacuuming doesn’t do zip (I never find fleas when I’m emptying out the canister), and some cats run the other direction when they see the comb in my hand, though I prevail. We have no carpeting, so I think they hang out and breed under the large immovable pieces of furniture, of which there’s unfortunately a lot. I’ve tried diatomaceous earth, and even feed it to the cats in hopes they won’t get infested with tapeworms, but applying it externally just creates a lot of dust and doesn’t really do much. I’m at my wit’s end.
Last evening, coincidentally, a neighbor I hadn’t talked with in eons (cat lady, too) stopped by, and we were discussing the flea situation. She claimed that she had had a vet apply one of the topical medications to one of her cats, and that the fleas on all her others, and the dog, too, disappeared as well. She couldn’t remember what brand. That is something I would maybe consider if I only had to apply it to one (or 2) of the more robust younger cats, if it could have a wider effect. But I am skittish about giving it to my older more delicate cats, as I’ve read about possible side effects and etc.
Sorry for the long windedness, but it’s a pet peeve (pun intended).
Have you ever considered a flea insecticide bomb?
You would need to remove humans and cats from the house for a couple of hours, but they are very effective.
I buy flea traps that have a sticky pad under a night light. It catches tons of them if they are around. I also use food grade diatomaceous earth under the furniture. I think you can apply it directly to a cat like flea powder but make sure it’s food grade. It’s not a poison. The little sharp pieces cut into the flea exoskeleton and kill it. We have never had them like we did last summer. So far the Seresto collars (the real ones) work great on my house dogs and haven’t caused any reaction. I need to get out in their yard and powder it too because now is when they should start emerging.
Have you tried sodium borate ?
Sold in buckets at a tack shop. Dust is on your carpet, then broom it in. Like DE, it’s a desiccant.
FEA SLIDE:
We came home from a vacation trip when I was a kid. Parents opened the door, went in and came right back out—I mean immediately. I asked what’s going on? One word reply: FLEAS.
We had small indoor dogs, who went on the trip with us. House and furniture full of fleas. So my parents set off a flea bombs and we all stayed at a motel for the night.
Worked great. Sometimes IIRC, you have to set them off again in case of Babies, but we got all ours on the first round-guess we weren’t gone long enough for the procreation of future infestations.