ARGH! My indoor cat got fleas!

[moriah]

I don't know how -- it's possible that he got them when he was boarded recently and I just didn't notice until now, it could be that I visited someone's house who had fleas and brought one or two home with me.... but I hadn't had him on flea treatment since he was an only child and an indoor cat.

Does anyone on here have any recommendations for the best flea treatment? I have carpeting, and I can put borax down and vacuum it up, etc, but I'd really like to make biting my cat a Bad Thing for them. (Too bad they'll still be able to bite me... but hey, we can't have everything.)

I know I can get Capstar very easily, and I'm tempted to give it to him just so he'll have some relief, but I know that it's far from a permanent solution -- it might be good for the first day or two so he feels better, but I couldn't see giving it to him daily, which is what would be required to use it to truly rid us of a flea infestation. I had one cat that was on Revolution, and it worked great (she was indoor-outdoor) -- has anyone else had problems or good results with it? Part of the reason I had chosen Revolution back then was that it was also a dewormer, and a cat with fleas usually also has worms.

I know the treatment will either be Frontline, Advantage, or Revolution -- I will NOT put a Hartz flea treatment on my cat. I've seen it damage too many of them. I'm also not all that gung-ho on the idea of treating my house with Hartz flea products, but those are the only spray treatments for furniture/carpeting I've found so far.

[tencats]

1. What I would do.

I have used both Frontline spray and Revolution with good outcomes. I bring in barn cats and house cats from bad homes occasionally. These cats are usually heavily infested with both fleas, 2 kinds of mites, I don't know how many kinds of worms and more. They are on a short pile carpeted floor which I vacuum frequently. What I find works best is I will almost always bath the cat well using original Dawn detergent and right-away when the cat is dry do the Frontline or apply the Selamectin. I have only once had a single flea or two show up a month later on a rescue cat or in the carpet. The Revolution is my first choice because it has worked so well with the ear and dandruff mites. My Vet at times willingly sells me packs of six capsules plus one recheck exam charge otherwise for one cat its likely a full exam charge and one application of Selamectin for something like $85. The Frontline spray I will only go with because its much less $, can be purchased otc or online and those cats I transfer out quickly. For more through worming I do a separate work-up on the cats later but that Revolution seems to work very well on most of the common round worms.
Btw I actually see more cats with Cheyletiella mites "walking dandruff" than fleas lately. For quick relief do the Dawn bath and flea comb. You get a good view of everything that has been biting on the cat by carefully checking what bugs come out in the bath water.

Never yet have I used or known anyone that uses the Capstar(nitenpyram).

Good luck with your cat.

[virgdem]

2. I would stay away from Hartz products altogether...

I think they are very unsafe for cats and you don't want to take the chance of getting your cat sick. It's late, but I will look on the internet tomorrow to look for a safe treatment for getting fleas out of carpeting.

[moriah]

7. Agreed on that!

I've seen a lot of success other people have had with putting down Borax on the carpeting, leaving it for about an hour, then vacuuming it all up, and I can probably confine him to the bathroom for that period of time. As it stands, my last night of work this week is tonight, so hopefully I can get that done over my weekend.

I also washed my sheets with Borax in the water last night, but I'm trying to figure out just what I'm going to do with the down mattress pad and down comforter I have. I'm not sure if a wash that would be safe for either would actually kill the fleas -- they can't be washed in hot water. Hopefully, though, once the fleas can't lay any more eggs the problem will get resolved.

[virgdem]

3. I just did a google search for natural flea products...

for carpet infestation. I ran across the following site that sells a natural product that is not toxic to dogs or cats - food grade diatomaceous earth.

http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/no_flea.html

I hope this helps. I have found that the best way to search out answers is to go to one of the search engines and type in exactly what I'm looking for. Good luck with your flea problem.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. I used those treatments

and as long as my pets were delicious meals to the fleas, it didn't matter what
I did to the carpet and rugs.

powder treatments and flea baths didn't help my pets either, just

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. my cats got fleas from our dogs

The dogs have to go outside to pee.

Well, we have a heavy deer population in our neighborhood, so lots of fleas in the grass.

I tried all of the natural remedies etc and they never worked.
Bathing is ok but it does not cure the infestation nor get rid of it.

After much misery, I treated all animals with advantage and capstar.

I don't like putting these chemicals on my animals, but they were utterly miserable until I did.

One cat was chewing the tip of her tail bloody until I gave her a capstar pill and advantage.

It took about 2-3 months of treatments before they were clear, and then they were fine the rest of the year until the next spring.

Rinse and repeat. : }

[moriah]

6. Well, I ended up getting Capstar and Frontline Plus....

Treated him with one Capstar yesterday morning, then when it was time for me to go to work applied the Frontline (didn't want him to be all wet with nasty chemicals and decide my head was where he wanted to sleep).

He seems much more comfortable today. I've still gotten bit a few times myself -- I hope that the "flea birth control" isn't going to get interfered with since quite a few may decide to feast on me instead of the cat and therefore not get their dose. But he isn't scratching at himself nearly as much, so I think it is at least starting to fix the problem.

Hopefully any fleas that try to lay eggs now will have their dose of BC and them not hatch -- if that's the case, I'm hoping the house will be flea-free in a month. I'm still going to treat him for at least three months, though. I don't want to just kill most of them and end up with a crop of Frontline-resistant fleas.

[CC]

8. I'd of gone with the Frontline Plus too and use

it about every 3 months on my indoor only cats. It works fine like that and I haven't had a flea infestation in over a decade. The dogs gets Frontline Plus (fall, winter) or Advantix (late spring, summer)bi-monthly year round. Ferrets get Revolution twice a summer. The dogs have to go out and can bring fleas in to the rest. Since the rest do not go out they don't need it as often. Also we go outside and though humans are not a fleas favorite host they will hitch a ride in with you. Never used Capstar so have no idea with it.

As for the comforter, can you put it in the dryer dry without hurting it? The heat may kill any eggs on it. For furniture and carpets you can vacuum daily but take the bag out and put it in the trash outside every time. Or dump the canister in the outdoor trash each time if you have a bagless vacuum.

[Warpy]

9. There is only one way to get rid of fleas in a carpeted house

and that is to flea bomb the place. That means crating your animals, loading them into your car, setting the bombs off, and planning to be gone for most of the day. Do it twice, about a week or ten days apart, and you'll have killed all fleas and any larvae that have hatched after the first kill.

Be sure to follow instructions on the can to the letter.

I'm really opposed to the use of nasty chemicals and won't use them unless I'm desperate. Fleas made me desperate enough to do this. I had to wear those Hartz collars as anklets. Then I bombed.

[david13]

10. The fleas live in the carpet. They lay eggs. The eggs hatch.

However, there is one thing that helps, and gets rid of them. Boric acid. It is a natural powder, and it dries out the carpet, the fleas and the eggs where they won't hatch.
It may be in Borax I don't know. Or it may be made from Borax or the same stuff.
I have never seen any of the collars or other products work at all.
dc

[Butch350]

11. My cat got the fleas from my Rottie...

My pets vet suggested a 3 month treatment with frontline. It takes about 3 months for the fleas to die out.

My cat was constantly grooming, licking herself, scratching. She had welts from some type of flea infection,
she had to get a shot from the Vet to calm down the itching. After two months of the frontline treament for
both cat and dog along with the shot for my cat - she is now happy and back into her normal rountine of playing
with her toys and not constantly scratching and in misery.