On an itchy note!

Is it me, or is this year the worst year ever for fleas? I live in a first floor flat, Sidney (the grey moggie that deigns to share my home), has lived with me as an indoor cat for 6 years and both he and I are being bitten to pieces, for the first time ever. The cat who owned me before him NEVER had fleas once she became an indoor puss and we brought her indoors when she was about 8 or 10 and she lived on for at least another 7. What is going on?

hmmmm........i don't see how sidney can have fleas if he never goes out?

Well, Sidney doesn't go out, but the place I work had an infestation, and although I am not in there all the time, I wonder if some of the little blighters hitched a ride on me?

Has been a bad year for the blinking flea population. Had to go to the vets to get "Advantage" for Domino (cat) yet Frontline worked very well on Barney (dog)!

mediastar said:

Well, Sidney doesn't go out, but the place I work had an infestation, and although I am not in there all the time, I wonder if some of the little blighters hitched a ride on me?

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ah, you must have done. actually now you say that, it happened in the tea room at my work once when somebody transferred a cat flea in there. in that case you probably need to treat the house as well as sidney.

Lilo Lil said:

Has been a bad year for the blinking flea population. Had to go to the vets to get "Advantage" for Domino (cat) yet Frontline worked very well on Barney (dog)!

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i don't know about dogs but i think it's been widely accepted for a few years that frontline has stopped working on cats. the only thing i've found that works on louis is program injection. a pain cos it means a trip to the vet but the spot-ons only work for a few days. i still have to frontline him though cos he's a tick magnet and it does work well for ticks.

The little beggars don't live on humans but definitely hitch rides on us. I haven't had an animal for about three years now but found a flea on my bed. Can you imagine my horror when I went to brush away a little black fleck and it started to jump about and it didn't occur tom me that it was an animal flea. Turned out not to have come unaccompanied and originated on a dog. If one had bitten me on the leg (wounds don't heal there) I'd have been in serious trouble. Of all vehicles it came on my carer. Can you flippin' believe it? She only lives a few houses down the road from me, so easy done, but worrying given that she cares for other folk, some of whom are completely bed-ridden. One of life's little ironies. xxxxxxxxxx

i moved into a house years ago that had been unoccupied for 18 months. it was a new house and had only been lived in for a year. as soon as we moved in, we were being eaten alive, then one day my (ex) husband found a flea on his chest and we both shot of the sofa and ran round screaming. we had to get pest control people in and they told us the eggs can live in the carpet for many years and the vibration of people walking about wakes them up and makes them hatch. we never did solve the mystery of how they got there because the previous owners didn't have any pets.

It is so upsetting, not that I think Sidney and I are dirty, but we are scratching up a storm and I've never had fleas since having indoor rather than indoor/outdoor cats! I am thinking of getting some diatomaceous eath to try to kill the little blighters in a less poisonous (to us and the environment) manner!

janie said:

i don't know about dogs but i think it's been widely accepted for a few years that frontline has stopped working on cats. the only thing i've found that works on louis is program injection. a pain cos it means a trip to the vet but the spot-ons only work for a few days. i still have to frontline him though cos he's a tick magnet and it does work well for ticks.

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I hadn't heard (probably because I never expected to have fleas on an indoor cat) that Frontline had stopped working on cat fleas, as that's what I bought, under their own label, from Petsathome. ARGH! Now what do I do?

there are 2 types of frontline mediastar. the basic one only kills fleas that are jumping around. the 'plus' one deals with the ones about to hatch as well. i personally think you need to spray the room with a good spray from the vet. i think the one i have is called acclaim - you don't have to go round the corners etc, you just spray into the room and close the door for 15 mins. it's quite spendy though.

you can get the bob martin type stuff from supermarkets but i've never used it so don't know if it's any good. the good thing about fleas is they are actually quite easy to kill with the right stuff. frequent hoovering helps too. as you've got the frontline, i'd persevere with it if i were you and see how it goes - it does work briefly, just nowhere near the month it's supposed to be effective for.

I think I heard somewhere that if you use a steam mop on your carpets and hard floors that kills the fleas

I have a little steamer, I have been so unwell with a cold the past two weeks that I really have not been able to face ANY housework at all. I even started to run out of breakfast bowls! I will use it and report back! I am definitely starting to feel better and got all the washing up down over two nights. So tomorrow it is out with the steam mop!

awwwww...i'm sure being bitten doesn't help either. hope you feel better soon (((hugs)))

mediastar said:

I have a little steamer, I have been so unwell with a cold the past two weeks that I really have not been able to face ANY housework at all. I even started to run out of breakfast bowls! I will use it and report back! I am definitely starting to feel better and got all the washing up down over two nights. So tomorrow it is out with the steam mop!

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It's worth a go, if it works you should see a quick result and it's a chemical free option so it's environmentally friendly but you might have to do it a few times over the next few weeks so you catch the new one's as they hatch

This year has been a flippin' nightmare for all of us who are prone to being stung or bitten - the mild, wet weather has seen the number of nasty insects rocket. I'm a Mozzie-Magnet and I have to avoid the garden at dusk or risk becoming a walking meal.

Anyway, can I pass on two pieces of advice, speaking as someone who has taken in various animal waifs and strays over the years, along with their accompanying 'friends'?!

Firstly, vacuum thoroughly, including down the back of sofas, chairs, etc, under beds, and under radiators, where eggs are laid. Chuck the hoover bag afterwards. Repeat the process as often as you can for 2 - 3 weeks to break the egg-laying cycle. It really does work.

Secondly, 20 minutes in a hot tumble dryer is death to flea eggs. My dog and cat get their blankets washed and tumble dried at least weekly, and, touch wood, they've been flea free all year.

Sorry to hear you've been feeling rotten, mediastar. Hope you're much better now.

I have a tiny kitchen so no room for a tumbler, but I have borrowed a dri-buddy, so my bedding is going in there as soon as it is washed, I will steam my mattress and pillows tonight as soon as I've stripped the bed. I must admit this cold has been pretty awful, but I haven't had one for a year, I was convinced that taking Kaloba over the last few colds I had caught had boosted my resistance, and I don't seem to be suffering such severe after effects this time, as I bought Kaloba within one day of the start of the symptoms!

eek! make sure it's dry! *worry*

OMG, I am so fed up with those little blighters. As Sidney is an indoor cat, I really don't want to go any more toxic than Frontline, but after pulling three of the B@$t@rD$ off me this morning, I am at my wits' end. I will have to get the vacuum out again tonight, try not to get home too late, don't want to disturb the neighbours!

If you don't want to wage chemical warfare [don't blame you] have you tried combing Sidney? You can buy flea combs from chemists or pet shops.

Stand Sid on a sheet of newspaper or mat made of kitchen towel, and keep a bowl of water with a squirt of washing up liquid nearby. [The washing up liquid reduces surface tension so that the fleas sink.]

Comb his fur through, and the adults will either be caught in the comb's teeth or will fall on to the paper. Drown the b@s@a@d$.
If you want to immobilise the fleas before they hit the water, I read that squirting them with hairspray freezes their legs so they can't ping away. I can't say I've tried the hairspray trick, but death by Elnett seems, well, feasible.

You can also stick 'em to Sellotape and squish them. Hard.

Chuck or burn the paper afterwards in case there are eggs on it.

Good luck!