AHHHHH!! Fleas!!

[cwsmum]

I noticed this morn that my kitten has fleas :eek: (at least now I know how they got into the house again) She is only only about 6mths old...maybe a little less...how do I get rid of them and keep them away? She has a flea collar but it's obviously not working coz the fleas are just running around on her, even near the collar.

Can anyone help my poor kitty? I'm going to go out and get something later today but thought I'd see if you guys could recommend something that actually works :)

[EskimoMumma]

I am all itchy just reading that word Fleas!

I remember once my dog died, we found him on the street (he was bitten by a snake in florida after the firestorm there some very long years back) and we buried him and the likes, but for the next 2 weeks our house was invested with fleas :banghead: :eek: :thumbsdown:

You could literally see them on your white socks it was disgusting. I dont know how my mum got rid of em but i think she had to end up bombing the house and getting everything cleaned very well.

I woudl suggest having the cat stay somewhere else while you totally clean the house top to bottom??? get some...flea bombs or something??

Not much help i guess but i know how ANNOYING those buggers are.

[Mum&bubs]

Ahh i hate those little itchy critters! For the house I say flea bombs- they worked for us! If you have a big house maybe use two?
As for your cat there is a powder or shampoo you can get at the supermarket (cant remember what its called) to put on it :fingerscrossed: you get rid of them soon! I know how annoying they can be!

[Mikeswifey]

Flea colars dont work. My mum gets a program injection for her cats that have an anti flea thing in it. They have never had a flea.

But my cat is 1yo now, we dont flea him - never have and he has never had a flea.

We dont flea our dogs either and they have never had a flea in 2yrs.

Maybe we are just lucky...touch wood.

[draught]

We had this problem a few weeks ago with our 6 month old puppy. First things first - rather than a flea collar see your local vet for their advice on which topical treatment is best for that age - ours recommendation Revolution or Advantage as apparently Frontline is not working well in our area at the moment (and they sell all three so weren't commercially biased). AFter applying the treatment to the dog I washed all of his bedding and any furnishings he spent time on - to remove the eggs that fall off. You need to vaccuum thoroughly - every nook and cranny as apparently only 10% of the fleas will be on the animal - the rest and their eggs will be in the carpet, floor board cracks etc. AFter you vacuum through the vacuum bag away, then mop. You can also do a flea bomb or have a professional come and spray (which is what we did as my DH was concerned about the bomb while I am pregnant). Then you need to watch as the flea cycle is 3 weeks so any eggs that are in the house could hatch again in three weeks, when you will need to do the same routine of vacuuming, mopping etc.

Good luck - it took me a day to do our house but we haven't had a problem since (touch wood!) They are more prevalent in the warmer areas where they live in the soil - when we lived in CAnberra we didn't treat our dogs and never had a flea but in Qld we have had problems every summer.

[cwsmum]

Flea colars dont work.
I'm starting to realise that...even tho my mum has only ever had flea collars on her cats and they only get fleas when the collars need replacing, she's had one of the cats for 16yrs without any major issues.

draught ~ yup, we have had probs with the dog every summer too...our old dog we used Advantage on coz he had a bad reaction to Frontline and lost most of his fur. We have a puppy now and DH was planning on getting some more of the Advantage stuff on the weekend...looks like he's gonna have to do it today, before the dogs gets them as well.

We seem to get fleas here every 3 or 4mths...I clean, spray etc and they seem to be gone, then they are back again :banghead:

[Mikeswifey]

cwsmum, you could possibly be living in a high flea area.

Some areas are more prone to fleas than others unfortuantly.

[cwsmum]

:thumbsdown: high flea area :thumbsdown: maybe we should check the cows, the pigglets and the rabbit (he seems to like living in our yard with the cows, no idea where he came from tho).

I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the week. We have a very large house, all of upstairs is carpet except for the kitchen (old lino tiles that are lifting on the corners) and the bathroom (with tiles lifting in there also...stupid owners wont fix them).

[cheezelkat]

I use Revolution. easy to apply and it works well :)

[Mum2Tyla]

Hi,
I am a vet nurse and flea collars do not work a shampoo will kill the fleas on the cat but will nto effect the eggs, pupa or larvae and as the adults only make up a very small portion of the population shampoo does little to help in the long term, products such as frontline, advatage, revolution kill the adults but also kill the larvae etc and they can be used on young animals gererally over 12 weeks of age, if you have alot of animals you can also bomb the house or if the fleas have been around for a while a bomb will help get on top of the problem, collars may work for some people but it is not that the collars work it is that they may not have much of a flea probelm in there area my mum has never treated her dog for fleas and has never had a problem some people are just lucky.
Kelly:ecomcity:

[megaminz]

Hi

We had similar issue a while back. We put all our animals on Advantage as this drops little crystals everywhere that kills fleas. I also gave the house a flea bomb and barrier sprayed under the house, and around the doors/windows and any cracks. Havent seen one since and its been about 6 months.

Good luck

[Rica]

Hi

My dog seems to attract fleas... and to top it off he's allergic to them! Great! Tried everything, nothing worked until someone from the philipines gave me the golden tip: wash him in citrus based dishwashing liquid! I swear, haven't seen a flea since. Plus my dog smells like lemon/lime. Give it a go, what's the worst that can happen??

[madhousemum]

im not sure on ages etc with kittens but id try advantage or something similar.ask your vet or a good pet supplies shop.. not justa pet store out to make a fast $.. also the area needs to be treated , vacume regulary and wash the bedding or anywhere he sleeps.
flea collars rarely work as they will only kill adult fleas on the animal not break the cyle and stop the eggs from hatching