I"m Going Crazy-Fleas

[StillandSilent]

Ok, I feel like I'm out of options here. I have a major flea infestation in the apartment. The dogs are taking Trifexis, and they don't seem to have any. I have vaccummed, bombed and treated the apartment. The cats each took a comfortis and I thought we were good. All bedding/cloth items were washed.

We came back from vacation today, and the little kitty was crawling with fleas within 8 hours. Obviously, they are in the apartment, because she didn't have any over the weekend. Her coat is very sparse (Ukranian Levkoy cat) so it is very easy to see when she's infested.

I have everything bagged up to go to the laundromat, but what else can I do? Confortis didn't last an entire month on the cats (give the 7th of this month), frontline might as well be water, advantage didn't work, and the fleas had a rave when I tried Revolution.

I don't seem to get the bites, but my poor kitties are miserable. Short of calling in a professional, what can I do?

 

[Grab]

Diatomaceous earth along the baseboards/under furniture? I would guess that flea eggs hatched while you were away

 

[StillandSilent]

I'm getting the DE tomorrow. I thought that the kitty tree was the culprit, but I've scrubbed and flea combed it (don't judge, I'm losing the battle ) and found nothing.

 

[milos_mommy]

A few years ago we had a bad bought of fleas...treated, they seemed to go away, and a month later they were back. Treated, bombed again, and the next month the same thing. I had to get all the reptiles out every time we bombed so it was a big PITA.

Eventually after 4 or 5 rounds of treating, they went away for good, but I think that may have coincided with the weather. If you're bombing and treating, it's all good until the eggs you haven't killed hatch. I think what I eventually did was figure out the cycle and when they were hatching and spray/bomb right as they're supposed to hatch (like the day before).

I also sprayed the mattresses and baseboards and washed EVERYTHING (towels, sheets in the closet, etc).

Good luck. If you keep doing a full treatment every month you should get them soon.

 

[*blackrose]

When my cats had fleas, it took at least two months of treating before I saw results. So just keep at it. The first month I saw fleas on them about three weeks after treating. Treated again and didn't see fleas, but saw the symptoms. Treated again, finally everybody was good. No fleas, no symptoms. Dogs were on Nexgard, cats were on Advantage Multi, and I treated the house with Siphotrol.

 

[sassafras]

It can take 3-6 months to clear an infestation. The pupae are extremely resilient and can e dormant for a long time.

 

[pinkspore]

I've heard that the vacuum is your best weapon, the heat and vibration stimulated the pupae to do whatever it is they do when they sense a host nearby. The trick is to keep vacuuming, like twice a day or more to get the ones you woke up with the previous round. I've also heard of people keeping a cheap flea collar in the bag or canister to make it as inhospitable as possible.

 

[swabby]

Our Vet. told us there was a new variety of "cat" flea.

They don't bite humans, but chew the dogs up, even if they are on Frontline. (we do not have cats...allergic...)

Fortunately this happened at our vacation home and we could bomb the place back to the stone age.

 

[DogKisses]

Apparently they make Comfortis for cats now. I just saw it mentioned somewhere else and looked it up!!