We are in a drought this year where I live. It is already proving to be a bad year for fleas even though it is only May and we've yet to hit the warmer summer months.
My sister is really having a problem with her dog and cat. Her cat never had fleas before. She is 17 years old. Yet, she's had them twice this year. She is an indoor cat. The dog has had them off and on since February despite using Advantage regularly. It used to work in the past, but for them, it seems the fleas are immune. They have spread nematodes in the backyard, which worked great for us, but doesn't seem to have worked for them. They also spread flea powder in the carpeting, to no avail.
I was wondering if there is a way to figure out where the fleas might be coming from? Well, except for the obvious, which is sitting around the house or yard until they jump on you. It's clear that somewhere on their property--indoors or outdoors--is infested with them. I was hoping someone had found some nifty way to root out where they live.
I wish I had some tips to share - that sounds absolutely awful! If the cat is an indoor cat, that leaves only two options. Either the source of the fleas is somewhere in the house, or the dog is bringing them inside and sharing. (How kind of the dog!)
My course of action would be to treat everything as if it were flea infested. I would start by cleaning EVERYTHING indoors. Shampoo the carpets and rugs, mop the floors, clean the upholstery, wash all the linens. I would also go ahead and dust and clean everything. I know that fleas aren't likely to live on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf, but I think it would give me peace of mind to know that I had cleaned it anyway. Next up would be to treat everything outdoors. I know that sounds like a total pain, but I can't think of another way to do it! As far as I know, no one has invented a flea detector. That might be a million dollar idea for your sister, though!
Finding the root of where fleas are coming from can be a very difficult task. There are a few tricks you can do, if you feel you have an infestation. When I was a child, I had a cat, and when my mother thought she had fleas, she would always place a shallow bowl of water on the floor with a light above it. The fleas are attracted to the light, jump into the bowl, and drown. You can also use salt on your carpets, which dehydrates, and dries out the fleas. To use salt, obtain some highly refined household salt or sea salt. Make sure it is as finely ground as possible, almost to a powder consistency. Sprinkle it lightly but evenly over your carpet. Brush or rake it in. Leave this in your carpet for 12 to 48 hours, then vacuum thoroughly. For the animal, you can use apple cider vinegar. Pour 8 ounces of the apple cider vinegar into the spray bottle. Pour slowly so the vinegar does not spill. Add 4 ounces of warm water to the cider vinegar, followed by ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. baking soda. Close bottle lid and shake slowly. Don’t shake vigorously because you will cause the bottle to expand and possibly explode. Brush your pet well first with a brush and then with the flea comb to remove as many fleas manually. Spray your pet with cider vinegar mixture, starting around the tail area and working your way toward the front of your pet. I would recommend doing this in a well ventilated area, as the smell is quite unpleasant.
Just like others have mentioned, it is difficult to find where fleas originated first before your cat and dog got them. But you can try and see where they hide within your home and determine how to get rid of them from there. Another member of this forum explained to me, that if you placed an pie crust pan filled with water and some dawn soap on the ground and put a lamp around that pie crust pan overnight, you'll see how many fleas are within a certain areas. Fleas love light and heat. The lamp provides for that and the water reflects the light, making it brighter than the rest of the room. So they jump in and drown. It's not only a great way to find out where most of your fleas are hiding, but a great way to eliminate some of your flea swarms, too!
Hopefully this helps. Good luck to your sister and her pets!
I had 3 cats once who had a really bad flea problem in an apartment I was living in. Before I knew for sure that there were fleas, I was suspicious because of a couple of bites and a brief glimpse of a bug. My mom told me to take white socks and run them over the cats, the carpet, etc because it would make the fleas more visible. Now I can't remember if the fleas were supposed to be attracted to it or if you'd just see them easier because of the white background. Either way, I saw tons when I did that when I couldn't find them before!
Best tip I have is to just run a small vacuum over carpets and suspect corners and edges. The vacuum inside the well...vacuum instantly kills them. Flea infestations are horrible, we have had several and had to resort to an exterminator. Good luck!
I have heard from my Brother who lives in England, that to rid their house of flees that they will sprinkle plain old table salt all over their carpets and let it sit for a couple days. Then vacum it up. After he told me that, I searched it on the net, and yes, the salt is suppose to dry up any flee larve that is in the carpet. Hope this helps.
On a dog, fleas tend to hide at the base of the tail, neck, and "arm pits".
On a cat, those same places, but also cheeks, and forehead.
Around the house, carpet, couch, and bedding.
Use a flea comb on your pets, Adams Flea spray is awesome, also blue DAWN(no store brand) is great for killing fleas, wash pet in it.
Around the house, flea spray, flea powder on the carpet after vacuuming, and at night, place a large bowl in the middle of the living room with a small or medium container in center to peace a lamp on with soapy water in the bowl. Turn lamp on, turn off all other lights, fleas will be drawn to it the light, and get stuck in soapy water and die.
We haven't had a problem with fleas until just recently, and I think that with the summer weather, more fleas have come into the yard outside. I try to vacuum every day, and I also have been putting diatomaceous earth powder on the floor in the carpets, and some on their bedding. It is not harmful to dogs at all, but it has very tiny fossils which cut up the flea (or any other bug) and they die.
I ordered a container of it from Amazon, and then took a little plastic container and poked holes in the lid to make a shaker. That way, I can just go around and make a dusting on everything, and not get clumps here and there.
I also read that you can catch fleas with a plastic soda bottle and sugar water with yeast in it. I cut the top half of the bottle , added some warm water and a little yeast, and then put the top into the bottle and taped it together.
I put a paper towel around the bottle for the fleas to climb up, and taped that on as well. The fleas climb up the paper towel, go down inside the bottle neck, fall into the water and can't get back out. The smell from the fermenting sugar water attracts the bugs into the bottle.
It is easy to make, doesn't take up much room, and works really well. I am going to make another one or two and put in other areas of the house.
I am lucky not to have a huge flea problem with my dog and my daughter's dog. The first thing we do is keep them bathed with Dawn dish soap. It seems to kill fleas on contact. I have used the dish of soapy water and the lamp at night. It works well to attract the little monsters and drown them. I know they like to hide in crevaces, so vacumning around the edges of the room and between the cushions on couches and chairs helps a lot. I have sprinkled my yard with bug killer and that made a difference too. It is just an ongoing battle and it is year around in the south.
