fleas (NicoleS)

Thanks for all your help, everyone!

I found out a dog we dog sat about 4-5 weeks ago, had had a flea issue a few weeks before she came.  I wonder if a lone couple tagged along for the ride?  Grrrrr.

Called the vet -- they were useless, in all honesty.  They essentially told me to go to the pet store and use whatever they have.  And vacuum a lot.  Even when I asked about buying prodcuts from them, I didn't get a great response.  And to think, I liked my vet's office!

I looked at Petco's selection, and everything they had to treat the house that wasn't a fogger, either was boric acid (which I tried borax already), diatomaceous earth or a chemical.  Sam's had a bunch of flea baths and been sprayed with deflea spray but obviously without treating the environment, it's not much help.

Capstar and DE came today.... DH will treat everything with DE tonight (although I have an N95 mask and gloves, I prefer not to be around the powder at the moment), gave the pup capstar to get the fleas off him for now, and I ordered program which should come in a day or two for some long-term help.

I'm re washing everything else as well.

Wish us luck.  If this doesn't work, I'll have a meltdown.  Hormones and all that don't mix with itchy bugs well.

NicoleS

I have frontline spray but with the nearly daily baths figured it wasn't worth putting on at this point. 

They gave her a flea bath and then will treat with Frontline in 2 days - that's their protocol.  Freakin' fleas and ticks this year - they are BAD!!  I haven't heard so much about fleas since I lived in FL - where they are basically everywhere on every animal.  Hope he feels better soon - once they start scratching themselves it becomes almost psychological... you may find yourself scratching, too! lol

If you're getting vacuum canisters full of fleas, then you are infested and it might be time to bomb the house.   (whoops, just read your concerns about chemicals... but sometimes you have to take that risk.  Do it when you can be gone for the house for 10-12 hours if you have to.)  Good luck!

I only see a few in the vacuum.... you should see me sitting on the floor sifting vacuum remains with a fork.  Ugh.  There will always be more than I can see, but I'm hopeful for now it's not ridiculously bad?  You're right, I might just need to bomb everything but I'm really, really hoping to avoid that.  DH will be out of town for 8 days including both weekends so there won't be much opportunity to do that for a while, since the only time I can be gone that long is a weekend.

I do have frontline spray but was hoping the internal ones will be OK just to avoid more chemicals that can get on me....

ugh.ugh.ugh

 Ugh, what a pain!  If I lived closer I'd seriously come over, kick you out of the house for the day, and blast those effers!

Thanks Lies! :)

 Erica, I have capstar too, won't that kill what we have for now?  i know it doesn't last long but then I have frontline spray and the program should come in the next day or two.... so I can give capstar every few days or more if I need to, and according to novartis you can use capstar, program and even topicals.  I'd just rather avoid sprays/topicals just for my own chemical exposure if I can.

Diatomaceous Earth is the devil.  I think I'd rather have fleas than ever do this again.  Or replace all my carpet.

 Nicole I have no advice I am just so sorry you are having to go through all this - Like Lies I'd love to say go stay at my place while I sort yours out!

I'd love to take a vacation and let someone else figure it out!

I'm sure we breathed in way more DE than you are supposed to... really makes me wonder if it's any better at all than chemicals.  It's like spreading the finest powder you can imagine absolutely everywhere all over your house.  It even goes straight thru your furnace filter and is miserable to vacuum.  Here I am trying to be safe about it, but in all honesty, who knows what this stuff does to your lungs.  At least all the fleas want is a nibble of your blood!

You can actually take it internally (as in orally) - so it shouldn't be a problem.  It is a dessicant -- so it will dry everything out.  Mine isn't that fine a powder.  More like sand.

I wish this was like sand.  Callie, is yours food grade?  Apparently the pool grade stuff is coarser, although not as safe since it has such a high silica content or something like that.  I will never, ever use this stuff again.  I dont' care what sort of creatures want to cohabitate with us, this stuff is the devil.  We ordered it online, where did you gets your from?  There are flea products sold at pet stores that contain DE, I wonder if they have a better texture. 

 Flour is also quite edible but not safe for breathing into your lungs. Water is OK for stomach but not lungs.  Being able to eat it doesn't necessarily confer safety for breathing in all cases, which is where my concern comes in (this of course comes from being a scientist I suppose).

Erica, I was disappointed in the response I got from the vet's office.  I specifically asked about getting products from them ad they kept sending me to whatever I could get from petco.  Which explains why I couldn't find comfortis readily available anywhere though, even online it wasn't terribly prevalent. 

Anyway, I haven't seen a flea or evidence of a flea in 2 days now.  Fingers crossed and will keep on vacuuming just in case we missed some larvae or something.  Should ask in today's chat about which parts of the dyson are washable (other than filter) since we did already kill one vacuum and would prefer not to kill the second.

 You can also salt and baking soda a carpet, just cannot do that if the humidity or moisture count is high, so if it is raining forget it. You do not need soggy carpets!

To be honest, I just went through this. We treated all the pets, including the rabbit. And I used arm and hammer carpet fresh, mixed in some salt and did all over the floors, even the non carpet area's. I made sure to get in, around and under all the furniture, and was heavy handed in the rabbit and dog crate area.

To save wear and tear on your vacuum, just sitting it outside in the hot sun for a couple of hours should drive them off. All I did was stick my canister outside and let the sun do it's job. I did this every other day for a week, now I am down to just regular vacuuming daily and doing the arm and hammer once a week.

Good luck.

Yes - mine is food grade.  Um ... I can't figure out why you'd want to put a dessicant in a pool??  (i.e., it's got to be a pretty different stuff).  I've NEVER heard anyone talk about DE like you're saying.  Somehow I think you got the wrong stuff.

No, I didn't get mine online -- I got it at a pet good store (i.e., they sell pet products, supplies, home made treats, etc.) and all I've heard from anyone who uses it (and my holistic vet) is "Be SURE it's food grade".

Honestly that just doesn't sound AT ALL like what I've used and I've rubbed it into their coat a number of times.  I haven't had to use it on carpet because I have wood floors