Help! How To Vanquish Fleas The Mustachian Way?

[Dicey]

When I wed late in life, DH came complete with two small dogs. When a dear friend died, I inherited his cat. Other than childhood pets (thanks, mom), I have little pet experience. In a very short time my "just me" family expanded to include DH, his city-college-student (yay!) son, DH's mom and her pal Al Z. Heimer, plus three pets. I am at my wit's end and need help from the forum, please.

Recently, relatives and their two dogs stayed with us and forgot to pack up their fleas when they left. We have tried flea treatments (everything that Costco sells), flea collars, salting the carpets, vacuuming upholstery, washing linens, etc. to no avail. I comb the cat every single day and the poor dogs, who have less comb-able coats, have chewed themselves raw. We are now officially at wit's end.

As a cancer survivor, I am loathe to use flea bombs, but would if I absolutely had to and knew they would work. I can't stand to see our four-legged family members suffer, so any advice of the mustachian sort would be appreciated. Hell, I am completely willing to throw money at this problem, but I have no idea what to do next.

Some details that might be pertinent. We live in a 2500sf clown house with very high (10'-14') ceilings. Kitchen, baths and hallways are tile. LR and BR's are carpeted. Cat is an indoor cat and dogs have a very large dog run. They are inside except to do their business. DH says the dogs have never had fleas before, even when they spent more time outdoors. If I've forgotten anything, please ask. I thank you and my furry family would if they could, but right now they're too busy chewing fleas, poor things.

Edited to add: Yes, there are lots and lots and lots of fleas...

[Krolik]

The only thing that worked for us when our cat got fleas (although was on Frontline) was Ultracide spray (~$26 on Amazon). We vacuumed, bathed the cat, sprayed entire house multiple times with Ultracide. It smells bad so we left the house for a few hours after spraying but it finally worked. I think it took us a few weeks to be completely flea free. It was an absolute nightmare. You need to break the flea life cycle which takes long time.
Good luck! Flea infestation is horrible for pets and humans ;-(

[SunshineAZ]

I grew up in California and we always had cats and dogs, I detest fleas with a passion, although they are no longer an issue where I live in AZ.  *yay*   The only thing I found that was tolerable to use and effective when I lived in California is Fleabusters http://www.amazon.com/Fleabusters-59111-1-Rx-Fleas-Plus/dp/B000MS6Q2Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435090531&sr=8-1&keywords=flea+busters+powder.  Simply treat your carpets, and furniture, then vacuum up.  When I lived in California, every apartment I ever lived in was treated with Fleabusters before I ever moved in and my cats never had fleas.  (I usually put it in the cracks along the back of all cabinets and under bottom drawers in the kitchens and bathrooms as well, which is much easier if they are empty.)  I even did it here in AZ, before I realized that fleas aren't a big problem.   

I had to board my cats once and the woman told me I had to pay for a flea dip, I objected, saying that my cats didn't have fleas.  She didn't believe me, so I told her to check and she was amazed because she said she had never had a cat come in that didn't have fleas. 

Edited:  That was before Frontline or Advantage and I never treated the cats with any toxic stuff at all.  Granted, it might be more necessary to treat the animals with dogs going in and out.  YMMV

[ubermom4]

I am so sorry you are struggling with fleas!! I hate them and they are hard to get rid of. We lived in the East Bay a few years ago and had a tough infestation with 3 cats. There were billions of fleas jumping in that house. The only way I know to deal with them is a multi pronged approach which includes all toxic approaches. I would use the Frontline drops on the dogs and put them outside, put the cat in one room (with drops on her, too) and then 'bomb' the entire house room by room. You have to leave the house for a few hours during the bombing (get the room sized cans from the pet store -- they are not cheap). When you return, you have to move the cat and then 'bomb' the room where the cat stayed. Then you have to vacuum and/or mop every single room. After vacuuming, the bag has to be placed in its own garbage bag and sealed up and put outside. The vacuuming and moping need to be done every day for a month (probably). You need to break the life cycle of the flea and get those eggs off of the pets and out of your rugs. This is a long and involved process. I noticed that our infestation got much better in a couple of days and was 'better' when the weather was cooler. The hard thing for you is that carpet -- we mostly had hardwood which was mopped daily. To this routine, I would probably add some sort of flea poison powder to applied several times to the rugs. Bombing the entire house might have to happen a few times.  BTW I have several kids and they were all very diligent about helping with this huge daily task. They hated the fleas as much as I did. The Frontline stuff needs to be done every month. Prevention is worth a million pounds of cure with this thing. Sorry you are facing this and hope this helps. There is nothing Mustachian here -- you just want them gone, right now! Best of luck.

[starbuck]

Oh man I went through this two years ago, and it was terrible. Here are the ONLY two things that worked for me:

1. Washing as many of the pets as possible (even the cats which was a two person job!) using regular Dawn dish soap - the blue one. The soap kills the fleas almost immediately, and the dawn dish soap is safe to use on them. (If you vacuum, empty the canister contents into the trash and THEN take the trash outside.)

2. Going to the vet and getting whatever expensive flea and tick medication they sell that is NOT Frontline or Advantix - that shit is useless in our area. My vet sells one called 'Vectra' and it was a miracle. INSTANT household happiness, even though it is crazy shit expensive. I wish I had just dropped the money on the expensive meds at the first signs and saved my sanity. (Yea I tried the Costco ones too.)

So I would do number 1 now (like tonight!), until you can get number 2 done. omg best of luck, fleas absolutely suck. I went a decade without ever having this issue with my pets, and then blammo.

[projekt]

I am a veterinarian.

Right now, I think the most cost-effective flea product is the Seresto collar. It lasts 8 months and has high efficacy. The new oral products, Bravecto and Nexgard are highly effective. All three products kill ticks. I feel that the efficacy of Frontline is diminishing and many of the generics are now based on fipronil, which is the main ingredient in Frontline. I do not have a lot of experience with the over-the-counter products but people often do come into the clinic after failure with those products. We still have lots of happy clients on Comfortis/Trifexis. My dogs wear Seresto collars.

A flea infestation in the home can take 6 months to fix entirely, so if you treat for a month and think everything's fine, the fleas can come out of their pupae any time in the next few months and restart the cycle. Some people have luck with diatomaceous earth outside and borax inside, but most people will have the best luck treating their house with a combination product containing an insect growth regulator. Pyriproxifen is a nice, long lasting insect growth regulator.

This field changes every few years, so if this answer is a few years old, look for a newer answer.

[Frankies Girl]

Flea bomb time. All of the systemic treatments for your pets will work eventually (some are about a 72 hour to total killoff I think), but for immediate house-wide eradication, [flea] bomb the place. I know you said you don't like them, and I agree, but if your poor pets are chewing themselves up, it may be worth it since the results are pretty much immediate. We got ours from Home Depot I think, but you can get the bug bombs specifically targeted for fleas at WalMart I'm sure...

We use Revolution as it protects from fleas, flea eggs, ear mites and several types of intestinal worms. Bonus! NO washing of animals that hate it, and no combing out pain in the arse fur. We have one indoor/outdoor cat (he was a neighborhood stray that we adopted and now has regular vet visits, but he still likes hanging out in our backyard more than in the house.

Back when we had a flea incident, we first treated the pets, then flea bombed the house and waited about 4 hours to go back and air the place out (stashed the pets in the garage with food/water) and then cleaned up the floor (vacuumed/mopped), washed all of the clothes and washables (sheets, curtains, etc) and we were fine that night - no more fleas.

Now we're a bit lax in our Revolution, but do it about every other month and no re-infestation in about 8 years I think.

Maybe not the most frugal way, but it is immediate and long lasting relief from fleas. My pets are less stressed, I'm less stressed... so in this case it was worth the money to me.

[justajane]

Are you keeping the vacuum cleaner canister or bag outside between vacuuming? You can reinfect the house if you don't. Also, you have to vacuum daily, sometimes even more, empty the canister in the outside trash and store the canister outside. We had success with borax in the carpets and Frontline on the cats. We also brought someone in to spray but became discouraged after it didn't work the first time. I didn't want to pay another $50+, so we just vacuumed constantly. It really, really sucked.

[Cycling Stache]

Good advice here.  We are suffering through this as a result of one cat--and Mustachianism!  In an effort to curb my power bills after reading about MMM's superpower, I started opening the doors in the morning here in the winter (it's Miami, so think 60) to cool the house down and try to avoid using the air conditioning so much.

Our 15-year old always indoor cat decided she wanted to go outside for that hour or so each day, and I figured what's the harm--she's old and seems to enjoy it in small doses, so no big deal.

Fast forward 3 months, and she started scratching, and I realized way too late it was fleas.  So we've half assed it the entire way, combing her occasionally, bathing her occasionally, and getting her that Pet Armor flea stuff from Wal-Mart.  She's still scratching, there are still probably fleas all over the carpet, and it's time for us to get serious and follow the advice here.  Half measures did not work.

[startingsmall]

I am a veterinarian.

Right now, I think the most cost-effective flea product is the Seresto collar. It lasts 8 months and has high efficacy. The new oral products, Bravecto and Nexgard are highly effective. All three products kill ticks. I feel that the efficacy of Frontline is diminishing and many of the generics are now based on fipronil, which is the main ingredient in Frontline. I do not have a lot of experience with the over-the-counter products but people often do come into the clinic after failure with those products. We still have lots of happy clients on Comfortis/Trifexis. My dogs wear Seresto collars.

A flea infestation in the home can take 6 months to fix entirely, so if you treat for a month and think everything's fine, the fleas can come out of their pupae any time in the next few months and restart the cycle. Some people have luck with diatomaceous earth outside and borax inside, but most people will have the best luck treating their house with a combination product containing an insect growth regulator. Pyriproxifen is a nice, long lasting insect growth regulator.

This field changes every few years, so if this answer is a few years old, look for a newer answer.

Another veterinarian here and ditto all of that.  Most of the OTC products have high resistance rates (except the Seresto collars)... but your vet is going to be the most knowledgeable on what product will be most effective in your area.   I've had great luck with Nexgard and Comfortis/Trifexis in dogs and Comfortis or Vectra in cats, but it all depends on your geographic area.  Plan on treating all pets in the home consistently for 3 months before you'll start to see significant improvement. Some of the skin disease may be due to flea allergies and/or secondary skin infections from self-trauma, so if the dogs are truly pulling their hair out then a vet visit would be in order.  Trust me, it'll be way cheaper than all of the OTC stuff you've thrown money away on so far.

[southern granny]

Flea bomb time. All of the systemic treatments for your pets will work eventually (some are about a 72 hour to total killoff I think),

I am going to disagree with this statement at least for our dog.  Although at one time the frontline worked, either they have changed the formula or the fleas became immune because it does absolutely nothing for my dog anymore.  The nexguard is working well, but it is about $20 a month.  I have to do it because my dog is very sensitive to fleas and will scratch himself raw over just a few fleas.

[Dicey]

Thanks everyone for all the information. Our clown house came complete with a central vac, which is located in the garage, so we're good on that front. DH and I will read through all of your advice tonight and chart a new course. Sounds like a trip to the vet is in order. I don't really care about the cost, what I was hoping for by asking my questions here was good, level headed advice which you guys have delivered in spades.

Just curious - I'd read that sprinkling salt, working it into the carpet and then vacuuming it up 48+ hours later worked to dehydrate/kill the eggs. Is this true? I just bought a metric crapton of salt at the 99 Only Store, but I'll wait until I hear back from this freshly assembled team of experts. Again, y'all are awesome and I am in your debt.

[gReed Smith]

I didn't read every reply, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating, but here are the things I have done when my dogs got fleas:

Adams Flea and Tick spray on all areas where the dog lays regularly, including your sofa
Capstar (may have to get this from your vet)
Wash dog with dawn detergent
Wash all bedding and blankets (yours and the dog's) in hot water
vacuum the carpets every single day for a week - empty the canister/bag outside immediately after each vacuuming
pick up all of the dirty laundry on the floor and wash it in hot water
Advantage II flea treatment on the dog

I did a flea bomb once, and it worked, but I hope I never have to do another

[Gimesalot]

I had a similar problem a few years back.  I would not bomb the house so this is what I did.

Go to your vet and get your animals flea injections.  For cats it lasts 6-months.  This killed the fleas on the cats and in the house. 

Over the summer we use Advocate on our cats.  It is not available in the US, so there is no resistance problem.  We buy ours for cheap, without a prescription here:
http://www.singpet.com/cat-flea-and-heartworm-combination.  It takes about a week or two to arrive, but the savings are worth it. 

[partgypsy]

Yeah our vet recently changed things up, and gave us Bravecto for the dog, and (I can't remember the name) for the cat, which were both different than what they were prescribed last year. As long as you treat the dogs, cats, it should control it (eventually). If the animals are chewing themselves raw, it's time to get out the big guns. We live in the south and our cat is indoor/outdoor, so we can't mess around.

[startingsmall]

Over the summer we use Advocate on our cats.  It is not available in the US, so there is no resistance problem.  We buy ours for cheap, without a prescription here:
http://www.singpet.com/cat-flea-and-heartworm-combination.  It takes about a week or two to arrive, but the savings are worth it.

That product is marketed in the US, under the brand name Advantage Multi.  I see a lot of flea resistance issues with Advantage (imidacloprid), but your mileage may vary depending on the specific resistance pattern of fleas in your area.

[knudsoka]

Check out diatomaceous earth!! Safe for humans and pets (you can even eat it), deadly to exoskeleton-ed pests. I haven't needed to use it myself, but I have heard multiple people talk about how great it is. Cheap, available in bulk (you might have to do some hunting, but garden supply stores should have it -- it's frequently used as a slug and other pest deterrent).

Here's some more detailed info: http://www.richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp

Good luck -- that sounds awful! But I totally get wanting to avoid the bomb your house with chemicals approach if at all possible.

[starbuck]

Check out diatomaceous earth!!

I tried DE and it was a hot mess. Broke my vacuum cleaner because it was very very powdery, and it was a PITA to spread and then clean up. And we still had fleas. So... YMMV but my mileage was very short.

[former player]

Agree with the advice to take all your animals to the vet and get them all treated at the same time with whatever your vet tells you is effective in your area.  Keep the treatments going at the recommended intervals from now on (changing to new treatments if the recommended treatments become ineffective).   Also get them treated for worms, too.

Washing all the animals' bedding is the place to start with the housework.

Best of luck - once the animals have been to the vet, you should see an instant improvement.

[CrazyinVA]

1000X diatomaceaus earth!!  Make sure you get food grade if you do.  It works so well for us that I don't use any chemicals at all.  Put it everywhere and try not to breathe it in!!  It may #@%# up your vacuum, I have to clean mine out occasionally.  Also anything you can do to decrease humidity will help.  I use it as a preventative by putting it between couch cushions, under rugs, between mattress and box spring etc.

[paddedhat]

We tried countless approaches, and eventually ended up calling a pest company. They had a 90day guarantee and ended up doing the job three times before they prevailed. This was in a new house, new development, first house in the neighborhood, and the place was so loaded with deer that it was nothing to see 4-6 grazing up against the house. In the end. the exterminator said it was one of the toughest cases he ever had, and that they were retreating into the crack between the basement slab, and concrete wall to escape eradication.

[Rural]

Sorry you're dealing with this; I know how miserable it is. We've gone thorough it ourselves.


 We've found that if you treat your animals with something that's effective in your area, the fleas will start dying out in the house even without further actions.


In my area, that's Soresto collars on the dogs and Comfortis for the cats. Actually, Comfortis for dogs works fine for us, too, but with giant breed dogs we've found the collars are less expensive and work just as well.


Then wash your bedding and theirs and vacuum occasionally as things get better.


Do take the dogs to the vet if they're pulling out clumps, and the cats will have to go if you choose Comfortis since it's prescription.

[shelivesthedream]

+1 to the advice to do everything in one day. Sure you can wash all the bedding bu if the fleas are in the carpets they'll just jump right back onto the bedding, or vice versa. Set aside one day a week for six weeks and put the pets out or lock them in one room. Boil wash everything that can be washed (exposed clothes, bed sheets, cushion covers) and scrub/vacuum everything that can't be. Don't forget to move furniture. Just suck it up and buy a flea spray and spray all the corners. Treat your pets regularly according to the schedule of whatever flea treatment they are on.

If you can get rid of every adult flea and as many eggs as possible in the entire house every single week, eventually you will break the cycle.

[Dicey]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the choices. We're still fighting the fight so any and all suggestions are welcome. We're in the middle of flipping our first house, so every waking moment is dedicated to that right now. This flea thing definitely came about at a terrible time. But then, is there ever a good time for a flea infestation? Ha!

I'll keep reading and trying your suggestions and when it's all over, I'll share what worked. I always like to hear the "rest of the story" (Thanks, Paul Harvey), so I'l be sure to share post our progress.. Eventually. Sigh.

Did I mention that I have super squeaky clean and neat (non-pet-owning) friends coming to visit next month? Aaacccckkk!

[Rural]

I've just realized you have carpet. My advice about the fleas dying out on their own if the pets are treated may not apply to a house with carpet in it; maybe someone else can chime in on that.

[waffle]

I didn't want to pay another $50+, so we just vacuumed constantly. It really, really sucked.

Hahaha Punny!