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Anti-flea protection, and evicting the little bastards

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by terrier, Aug 21, 2011.

  1. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    As a parent of three cats and a dog, fleas have put a big dent in my psyche and finances over the past week.
    They put more than a dent in my oldest cat (almost 15). They almost killed him - he needed a blood transfusion after coming down with anemia thanks to the f-ing fleas. He's his feisty self again, but probably can't survive another onslaught like this. One of the vet techs was saying this is the worst flea season she's seen in 30 years.
    I've gotten one of my other two cats in - she had some redness on her belly from fighting them off, and probably needs iron supplements, since the vet suspects her red blood cell count's a little low. The other cat's a tiger, not white like the others and probably not as inviting a target, but I wonder about him, too.
    My poor dog (nearly year-old Maltese/Shih Tzu mix) got a flea bath from Mrs. T. last night and another while getting his hair cut today, but they probably left him unprotected - just picked some live ones off him.
    I'm not convinced there's useful flea protection out there - neither Frontline nor K9 Advantix seem to have worked for the pup. His groomer called Frontline useless today - no shit. Sherlock.
    We already chucked practically all the rugs in the house and sprayed the cushions, but we need to make better progress evicting these fuckers. Any safe, minimally disruptive solutions out there?
     
  2. KYSportsWriter

    KYSportsWriter Well-Known Member

    Bug bomb your place. Just make sure all living things are out before you set them off. It takes a while for the place to clear, but a former roommate of mine did that once and we never had an issue with fleas again.
     
  3. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    Frontline works just fine on my dogs. And this year, there's been practically zero fleas on either of them. The vet tried to push a new brand on me last year that didn't do anything, so I switched back to Frontline and never had problems again. (But both are shorthair dogs, so the stuff doesn't have to soak through their hair to get to the skin; maybe that makes a difference).

    The one thing about Frontline is that it doesn't prevent fleas from hitting your animals all that well. But once they get on the pet and soak in some medicine, they're toast.

    If your house is terribly infested, fleas are going to get on your pets regardless of what you put on them because the med doesn't hit the fleas until they get on the animal. Hartz Ultra Guard will take care of the little bastards that are in the carpets and furniture fairly well ... but the tradeoff is that it smells very strongly of motor oil.
     
  4. bydesign77

    bydesign77 Active Member

    There some sort of pill you can buy from your vet that is like an H-bomb on the ones already on your pet. We did it this summer and it worked.
     
  5. Diatomaceous earth works wonders for fleas. I believe you can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. It is a powder you put down on carpets, furniture, etc. and then vacuum it after a few hours.
     
  6. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    I got a new cat from the shelter earlier this summer, and he came with fleas. I probably overkilled them, but you know, I think they're finally gone. At least, neither of us are getting bit anymore.

    I did a combination of several things. First of all, I got a medication called "Revolution" from my vet. It's a newer anti-flea/heartworm/ear mite/intestinal worm medicine for cats (and dogs, but my vet didn't like it as much for dogs because the heartworm meds aren't as effective as the chewies and you can't take the heartworm thing out of it). While I did that, I did spray treatment for the carpets and furniture where I locked me and Mr. Cat in a different room for a couple hours while it was still toxic.

    About a week after I put the Revolution on (and you can do this as soon as 48 hours after you put the medicine on), I took the cat to a nearby groomer for a flea bath. This not only got the remaining fleas off of him as an insurance policy, it also got him and me out of the house for three hours so I could bug bomb. I came back after two hours to air out the place then picked him up about three hours after I dropped him off. I haven't had any problems since. The groomer recommended rebombing two weeks after the original time, but I didn't do that and have been okay.

    The thing with fleas is that everything you buy needs to have two types of prevention - killing adult fleas and a life-cycle disruptor. Regular Frontline doesn't have that, but Frontline Plus does (and beware stuff you get offline - a lot of it is counterfit). Also check for that on the topical products for your carpet and furniture. If you have a yard where the pets go, you also need to treat the yard, but I can't speak much to that. If you don't treat the yard, they will just pick up more every time they go outside even if they die in a day or so.

    The Revolution goes on every month and cost about $70 a six month pack, which wasn't terrible. Bug bombs were $15 for three, which was enough for my one-bedroom apartment, the spray was like $6 and the flea bath I think was $35. Ideally everything but the Revolution is a one-time cost.

    Good luck with killing the little monsters. Fleas suck.
     
  7. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    I should've asked the groomer if the people she talked to bought Frontline at pet stores. According to my vet, they don't sell directly to pet stores. She also said Revolution requires a prescription (which I should be able to get as soon as I get my third cat in - hasn't been for a while).
    Diatomaceous earth sounds too good to be true. Do foggers require that you shut gas hear off completely, or just keep them a certain distance from the thermostat?
    Pup still itches a little more than I'd like, but seems okay. My two cats who've been to the vet seem all right (old one has returned to its old annoying habits and younger one is still leaping the gate to hang out in the kitchen with the dog). The other kitty went missing for five days in the bowels of our basement last week (he's always trying to get out, and we thought he had left), and I'm keeping him quarantined from the others until I get him some flea treatment.
     
  8. Sams has a flea treatment - for dogs - that is half the price of Frontline and works just as well - so I am told.
    They no longer carry the cat treatment - something about a dispute with Frontline, according to Sams employee.
     
  9. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Bug bomb your house. Once they're on a pet, they can get everywhere.

    I moved into an apartment when I was in college that was flea-infested from the previous owner. I was on the can one night and felt minor pain around my ankle. I look down and several fleas were having a feast. They were literally jumping on to me.

    I went Hiroshima on my house with the bug bomb(s) and never was bothered again.
     
  10. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    I get mine at a Petsmart in Joplin. Our vet used to sell it but stopped in favor of Advantage, Advantix and the stuff I mentioned earlier that didn't work. I was also told a while back Tractor Supply Company sells it, too. (TSC also sells generic versions of all of them that work for about 25 minutes or so).
     
  11. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    Yeah, technically they don't sell any of the prescription flea meds to pet stores, but mine sure had them. I tried Frontline Plus (actually, it was a generic called Fibroguard or something) I bought at Petsmart first but it didn't work for me. The Revolution seems to have worked though. Even if the stuff doesn't work, you have to put

    And yeah, you have to turn off anything with a pilot light to use a bug bomb. It also recommended turning off anything that cycles on at off (like a fridge). I turned off my air, or at least turned the fan off, but I left the fridge on, and the house didn't blow up.
     
  12. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I used Frontline on my dogs and haven't seen any fleas.

    I've got my hands full with spiders and ants, though.
     
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