Fleas

[Julia9054]

When we moved into our current house 9 years ago, the place had been empty for a couple of months. The previous occupants had had a cat. The house was infested with ravenous fleas that had been deprived of their host.
It took approximately £150 of noxious poisons of various sorts and about 6 months to get rid of them completely.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Its about £12.00-£15.00. Didn't you say in another post you had various properties?

This is our house, I rent out another but they don't have pets

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Hmm maybe that one doesn't need a prescription now? Never heard of Advantage

I have, I think I did use it years ago.
I'm pretty sure you are correct, it does not need a prescription.
My vet charges £15 for a prescription - I have two cats, so it would be 30 every 6 months just for the prescription.
I'm looking into it, so far it looks like 6 and half a dozen, they have us cornered
No fleas in my home, had them in a previous flat.
I use Credelio for big Alfie and Moxiclear for wee Rosie.

When we moved into our current house 9 years ago, the place had been empty for a couple of months. The previous occupants had had a cat. The house was infested with ravenous fleas that had been deprived of their host.
It took approximately £150 of noxious poisons of various sorts and about 6 months to get rid of them completely.

Should they not have been dead when you moved in?
No food for 2 months, still alive?
What is the lifespan of a flee??
I'm away to Google it!

 

[lazybloke]

Our cats have been completely free of fleas this summer, never happened before.

Might be because we only have girl cats; they never leave the garden.
The boys used to roam all over the place, and return with ticks, fleas, bunnies....

 

[DCLane]

We've had issues previously but none for a while - it may be because one of the two cats living here has moved, although the local cats do come in if the conservatory and patio doors are open and help themselves to cat food.

Frontline Plus on the cat here, but only about once every 3-4 months, plus Johnsons 4Fleas household spray across the house once a year seems to clear it.

 

[dale1066]

Has anyone else been blighted by them recently? Apparently many households are suffering from infestations as it's been one of the worst years for them.

We've been trying to get rid of them for about 3 months now. Bug bombs, carpet spray, flea collars, flea drops and tablets from the vet for both cat and dog. We are hoovering the sofa every day to get rid of any eggs, but last night I discovered that they are in our duvet! Not loads, the odd one or two have emerged but that is too many. That explains now why the dog is going up to bed clear (after I've killed the usual 2 or 3 on him) and waking up with another 2 or 3 on him. We're going to wash and tumble dry the duvet (it's a duck feather one) at the laundretee tomorrow and see if that gets rid of them, if not then we'll have to get a cheap duvet until all is clear and then think about replacing our duck down one.

You have to drown them. 2 options, first is simple, glass jar with a lit candle in it on a tray of soapy water in a dark room, best a night when asleep, they are attracted to the light and jump but land in the soapy water and drown. Second option which is the best way to get rid is to get a carpet cleaner like a Vax cleaner , take furniture out of house
and clean all the carpet and then the underneath your soft furnishings, this is how I got rid of massive infestation of fleas, hope this helps 😀👍

 

[Kingfisher101]

Advantage you don't need a prescription for.

This is our house, I rent out another but they don't have pets

So cost cant be that much of an issue then if you are a LL. Just buy what's needed and get it sorted ASAP Andy.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Advantage you don't need a prescription for.


So cost cant be that much of an issue then if you are a LL. Just buy what's needed and get it sorted ASAP Andy.

I don't know what you mean. The house I rent out has nothing to do with it, it's my own house that I live in that has fleas! Yes we are spending what needs to be spent on it, that's not the issue. The issue is we get one element under control and the cat just seems to bring more in. I've read it can take up to 3 months to get rid of them. I guess we've just got to keep hovering, spraying, and manually de-fleaing the animals. Hopefully the first cold snap will reduce the problem a bit

 

[Kingfisher101]

I don't know what you mean. The house I rent out has nothing to do with it, it's my own house that I live in that has fleas! Yes we are spending what needs to be spent on it, that's not the issue. The issue is we get one element under control and the cat just seems to bring more in. I've read it can take up to 3 months to get rid of them. I guess we've just got to keep hovering, spraying, and manually de-fleaing the animals. Hopefully the first cold snap will reduce the problem a bit

O.K. You have to keep at it Andy, Hoovering and spraying, washing etc. Its absolutely draining, I've been there totally bitten to death twice.
Get the Bravecto from the vets, this is the best.
Have you washed all your bedding on hot and hoovered the mattresses etc, both sides? the eggs can live for ages in the home if you dont hoover all the time.

 

[CXRAndy]

We like hard flooring throughout our house and previous home. This helps massively with eliminating problems. Monthly treatment of flea, tick for pets. No pets allowed to sleep with any human.

 

[simongt]

Seresto collars are very effective for flea control. Provided you buy the real ones at around £30 each and not the cheapo copies, they work on our lot for about eight months.
Thus it's 'fit & forget' from about March 'til October.
Not good for ginger ninjas or torties as they appear to have some sort of skin irritant effect which maybe linked to the ginger gene, but otherwise we've been using them for several years with good results.

 

[Ridgeway]

Bravecto has been successful for us, that along with systematic cleaning and vacuuming, after which we put the vacuum bag in the freezer.

 

[Gillstay]

I found that wrapping a pillow or cushion and similar objects so they are small enough to go in a microwave for a few seconds worked well.

But was tempted to pop the cat in there ! Fighting the symptoms rather than the cause seemed stupid.

 

[Hover Fly]

We're going to wash and tumble dry the duvet (it's a duck feather one) at the laundretee tomorrow and see if that gets rid of them, if not then we'll have to get a cheap duvet until all is clear and then think about replacing our duck down one.

If you can, freeze them, flea eggs won’t survive a fortnight at minus temperatures. Don’t forget your shoes, clothes, cushions, tablecloths, etc. Flea eggs are surprisingly persistent and can be anywhere a cat or other animal has sat or lain.

 

[lazybloke]

If you can, freeze them, flea eggs won’t survive a fortnight at minus temperatures. Don’t forget your shoes, clothes, cushions, tablecloths, etc. Flea eggs are surprisingly persistent and can be anywhere a cat or other animal has sat or lain.

No room. Best way I could free up some space in one of my freezers would be to throw away the ox heart.
My wife bought it for our daughter to take into a disection class at school. They were expecting a sheep heart, so it would have made quite the impact!
For whatever reason, it never happened, so into the freezer it went until such time that we could have a fun day of disection in the kitchen!
Yes, we're a bunch of weirdos.