Flea circus follow-up

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janelle and Nomad

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I live in South Florida and have ten indoor only cats. I recently used Adam's room spray. Since I can't spray the whole house at a time I usually do one room at a time. I had the crawl space underneath my house and the outside lawn treated by a professional company. It got rid of the roaches, ants and spiders....but the fleas are still here. In the past I used Adam's and spot on montly topical treatment. If all else failed, I would use advantage. This time even that didn't do the trick. I saw dead fleas and larvae, but after only three days they started reappearing on my cats. For my other cats it is more of a nuisance, but Nomad is getting hot spots from FAD again.

I have not tried frontline topical yet. Have any of you in the warmer climates had luck with frontline or another product? I really think the fleas and other insects here in Florida have built up a resistance to pesticides. Please give me some suggestions before the fleas carry me away! LOL :-)

UPDATE:On the way home I picked up twelve doses of frontline plus. I know I could have gotten it cheaper over the internet but I didn't want to wait.I think what I thought was fleas might be ticks? Have you ever goggled fleas or ticks? There are literally dozens of species of these lousy things.I'm glad I didn't wait because when I got home Nomad was rubbing his head against the door casing and now has a raw nasty hot spot on the top of his head.It doesn't seem to bother him but it freaked me out.Nomad tends to have skin lesions from FAD that heal slowly. Hopefully this won't mean any more expensive vet trips.

Can anyone recommend a topical for hot spots? I have a cortisome spray the vet gave me but I hate to use it because it might raise his BG.In the past I gave him small doses of Benadryl orally. This decreased the itching and inflamation but also made him very drowsy.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

Hi.

I live just up the road from you (Space Coast area). I use the Frontline Plus. We are in a somewhat rural area and ticks can also be a problem with the dog. I have found that it works well.

I realize that with ten indoor cats it is going to be a challenge, to say the least, but if possible, can they be removed for a day and you bomb the house with a couple of foggers? I have had to do that when we lived in Kentucky. Worst time I ever had trying to contol fleas.

Anyway, regardless, run the vacuum every day for at least a month, emptying it each time or changing the bag. Some people put flea collars in the vacuum bag. I've never tried that.

You may also want to discuss a pill, Capstar I think it's called, with your vet. It is a flea medication given orally. Might be something to use on Nomad for his allergy.

Good luck!

Lisa and Spooky (GA)
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

Under and even in the house, you might use food grade diatomaceous earth (the exoskeleton of diatoms); it tends to discourage or kill insects and other creepy crawlies, without hurting larger mammals. It has been used in the management of feral cat colonies to treat the food and water, providing a safe dewormer for the feral cats. Don't put it where you do want insects and earthworms (gardens, for example).

Flowers in the mum family (ex marigolds) naturally contain pyrethrins, which tend to be a deterrent to insects, though some folks are allergic to them.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

I'm in Jacksonville. Treat the cats with either Frontline or Advantage. One thing I used that helped when I had a flea infestation was to mix 1/2 baking soda and 1/2 salt and sprinkle it on all of the carpets. Leave it in them for a few days before vacuuming. I had to do a couple treatments, but it got rid of all of the fleas.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

i live in a really temperate place and got fleas all year round. tried everything for carpets/upholstery/every crack on the floor but nothing worked til i started using advantage on my cats. kitties get EVERYWHERE and if they're treated your house becomes treated too. unfortunately i have to give it to all my cats once a month without let up. but it's well worth it. i get a good deal on 6packs of advantage via amazon.com. actually i buy the dog kind (same ingredients but more fluid so one tube goes to 2 or 3 cats) to save money. highly recommend it.

i'm leery of frontline because it has killed a few small dogs. but others here recommend it highly, too, and it's also good against ticks.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

Thankfully I have no carpeting. I have an older house with hard wood floors and I guess the fleas and eggs can get in the cracks. I am going to treat the vacuum bag because even if I vacuum them up, they will hatch inside the vacuum. I hadn't thought of that. In the past advantage worked good. This time it reduced but did not eliminate the fleas. I really think the fleas in. my house have built up am immunity to advantage. I guess I will try frontline since that has different ingredients.

As a last resort I will get everyone out and fog the house. It gets expensive and complicated to board ten cats even for a couple of days. I

I did try the natural route a couple of times. The spray smelled good but didn't do much. Last night when I was typing this a flea even crawled across the moniter screen. I think right now the fleas are laughing at me and having a convention in my house!
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

Wow - I hope you're able to get this under control! I live in the Spacecoast area too, but we've never had an issue with fleas. I haven't even seen one. Do your cats go outside at all? Ours go out on the lanai, but it's completely screened. If you have a lanai, could you maybe put your guys out there while you get the whole house treated? Then you could treat each one of them before bringing them back inside.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

janelle and Nomad said:
...I did try the natural route a couple of times. The spray smelled good but didn't do much....
Click to expand...

I was thinking more as an adjuct to regular flea treatments, to help them work better. Using the diatomaceous earth and mum family plants lets you set up an unfriendly area around the house to discourage them. It wouldn't be a perfect solution by any means, but could help reduce the swarm.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

My cats are indoor only. For the past twenty years I have had multiple cats here in Floirida and this is the worst it has ever been. Maybe it is a new species of flea? (Super flea!) I am ordering some frontline plus and I am going to spray each room again. If that fails I will have to clear out the house and do some of the foggers.

I could try putting the dicotiamious earth in the cracks and spaces by sweeping it in. Someone else suggested Borax but I am afraid it is toxic. With my luck one of my cats will lick up any powder I might put down.

I think these fleas would survive a nuclear bomb. That might make a good sifi movie "Invasion of the Giant Fleas".
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

janelle and Nomad said:
My cats are indoor only.....
Click to expand...

Yes ... but the local outdoor fleas may ride in on people entering the home.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

Thanks for a link to that company. They have a location in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.If the frontline doesn't work I will give them a call. It would be less expensive than trying to board ten cats for two days if I need the house fogged or tented!
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

It's great to hear that you've got them in your area. This happened to my mom probably ten + years ago and it was HORRIBLE. Like I said, she tried a bomb and had the cats "dipped" that's what they did that long ago - but the fleas wouldn't die. The Fleabusters came in and did their thing; it didn't smell and wasn't toxic. She RAVED about them because it honestly worked.

Good luck. I hope you can get this under control.
 
Re: My house is becomming a flea circus

chriscleo said:
i live in a really temperate place and got fleas all year round. tried everything for carpets/upholstery/every crack on the floor but nothing worked til i started using advantage on my cats. kitties get EVERYWHERE and if they're treated your house becomes treated too. unfortunately i have to give it to all my cats once a month without let up. but it's well worth it. i get a good deal on 6packs of advantage via amazon.com. actually i buy the dog kind (same ingredients but more fluid so one tube goes to 2 or 3 cats) to save money. highly recommend it.

i'm leery of frontline because it has killed a few small dogs. but others here recommend it highly, too, and it's also good against ticks.
Click to expand...

Just a quick comment: please always be careful using products designed for dogs on cats. For all I know, Advantage may be fine (according to the Bayer website, the active ingredient in both the cat and dog versions is 9.1% imidacloprid; the 90.9% inactive ingredients aren't specified), but please check with a vet first (which you may have already done). Advantix (dog product which also protects against ticks) and Advantage Multi for dogs should definitely not be used on cats. Advantix contains 44% permethrin, which is toxic to cats, and Advantage Multi for dogs contains 2.5% moxidectin, versus the 1% moxidectin used in Advantage Multi for cats.

Don't mean to sound like I'm on a soap-box, but we occasionally get people calling our shelter about cats having a toxic reaction after a dog product has been used on them so I'm a little paranoid about it :smile:
 
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