Fleas...!

[Meowster]

Hello all...

I have a bit of a problem. My two cats have fleas...

My cats are completely indoors, they've never been outside, so I have no idea where they got them from. Immediately after I discovered one flea on my cat, I sought advice from a petstore. I got flea tablets, tapeworm spot-on stuff (just in case), flea collars and some kind of incredibly hardcore pesticide.

I went home, vacuumed everything in the house, washed everything, gave my cats all the medication and put collars on them... washed all their bedding... followed every bit of advice given online and by the pet store...

a day later there were still active fleas on my cat!

So I repeated the dosage of flea tablets.

Today, there are STILL fleas on my cat!? Despite having had two doses of flea pills, the entire house fumigated, AND a flea collar on for days!

I'm at loss. Has anybody ever had a similar problem? I'm going to take my cat to the vet but the closest I can do that is on Wednesday, as I'm in London for the next two days. I have absolutely no idea how they could have survived my several intense waves of Flea Attack... the fucking... fuckers.

I haven't noticed any sign of fleas about the house (I've heard that in really bad attacks, you can spot 'em around the house...). I haven't had any bites or anything, either...

I know SOME of them died... I found a dead one in her collar...

Anybody got any advice, or know what I could be doing wrong here?

Additionally, the stuff I fumigated my house with has an ingredient which prevents fleas from reaching sexual maturity, apparently this ingredient is active for 12 months. Fleas only live a few weeks, right? So even if some of them somehow survived, maybe their children won't...

[dasjoe]

could be hedgehog fleas.

[radiowaves]

Ah, don't you know that animal fleas don't live on humans??? Exactly what type of doctor did you see? Different thing with louses though. And as far as I know, hedgehog fleas live only on hedgehogs.

And ofcourse you won't find any fleas in your house, because there probably aren't any...

My cat is completely indoor animal also, but she has had fleas couple of times. Even she has completely white fur, they were quite hard to spot. We only aknowledged the flea situation after someone saw some black grind (flea shit) on her neck.
Thing with fleas is, that they usualy stay in the neck area, you should look there. And I won't trust any tablets or such kind of medicine that influences cat. I would use a cream. Best way is to wash her ofcourse, so the fleas gather in some dry spot and can be picked off.

You really don't have any experience with animals, do you, city noof? I hope you won't kill or paralize your cat with those chemicals. And lose the collar.

And fleas can be brought inside just with your boots or whatever... Maybe some eggs dropped off from some tomcat and your boot picked it up.

[scotch]

It takes several days for flea treatments to work. It usually took a few weeks for them to totally disappear for me, although you're going at it pretty hardcore from the sounds of it.

The stuff that targets their reproduction seems pretty effective though, I expect they'll go away eventually.

[Becky]

Flea treatment usually targets flea eggs, not adult fleas.  Those will die away in time.

I would really advise you to NOT redose your cats again.  And lay off the pesticides...those things are seriously toxic towards pets.  Those treatments are not only toxic for fleas, but are harmful towards cats too if you dont follow the instructions.  The on-spot stuff is once a month ONLY.

[Ashen]

I've just been through the same thing with my cats - clean the bedding, hoover everywhere, spray the furniture to kill the eggs, the lot. They scratched for a few days afterwards, but not as furiously and they've settled down now. (I got some bites in those few days, too - animal fleas may not be able to live on humans, but it doesn't stop the fuckers biting if they've got nowhere else to go...)

[Meowster]

Yeah, apparently there has been an increase in fleas this year as the hedgehogs have been dying away, so they're seeking other hosts... yum yum.

Radiowaves: Animal fleas can still bite humans. Cat fleas in particular tend to bite around peoples ankles and feet, so it's one sign that your cat has fleas


I repeated the dosage only of the flea tablets, as recommended by the pet store. Apparently it is safe.

The flea collar I'm only keeping on them until the fleas are under control... this to discourage them from ... well, being on my cat, I guess. I'm not a massive fan of flea collars, but I'd rather have them on my cat then for my cat to experience continual discomfort from fleas.

I have a lot of experience with animals but unfortunately I've never had a cat with fleas before. I guess I have been lucky... bah.

[RickJ]

Just be patient.  I think the pesticide doesn't work on the eggs.  You have to wait until they hatch and then die which may take a couple of weeks.

Be careful. You don't want your kitties to OD on pesticide; My sister-in-law accidently applied the wrong dosage of some kind of medication to her little dog's coat and he consequently died.  My vet has this flea stuff where you just put a drop on the back of their necks and it's supposed to last for a month, maybe you can ask the vet about that.   I don't think there is much point in taking them to the vet because of fleas but I would call them and ask their advice rather than what they said at the pet store.   

Ah, don't you know that animal fleas don't live on humans???

No but they will bite humans if they are hungry enough.  I went out of town for a couple of weeks with my cats once and when we came back home we were met with a mob of hungry fleas.   

[LimpingFish]

I am allergic to animal flea bites! It's true! And they can't get enough! They seek me out and sink their fangs into the most readily available part of my body at the time.

As far as I know, fleas themselves don't live a long time. But if you get stuck in a cycle of eggs=fleas=eggs they can seem indestructible.

Carpets, upholstered furniture, and the like, can be havens to the flea, and once they dig in and set up shop they can be a bastard to shift.

EDIT: And now I'm itchy.

[Nikolas]

When we had bug problems in the army, we used to put petrol on, and light fire on all beds... and on the rooms.

*ahem* totally dangerous and totally stupid, but once you do it once per month, for 12 months, you're an expert...

Kan Dis post jet more of topik?

[vertigoaddict]

Just shave your cats, you can tranquelize them first to make it easier.

[LimpingFish]

Just shave your cats, you can tranquelize them first to make it easier.

Yes, I have a hammer you can borrow!

[Da_Elf]

i personally think there are no fleas in your house. just really tiny aliens......