How to get rid of fleas...

[amychris03]

My dog, who gets frontline monthly, still seems to have brought home fleas.
She just had her frontline on Tuesday and on Saturday we noticed what we thought was a rash on our son. Well, it turns out it's flea bites. I am at a loss for what to do. Obviously we need to bomb, but will we need to be out of the house for a while because of it? And how will the bomb affect his toys? Will we need to clean them all? (ive already cleaned them, but I guess it doesnt matter since we havent fixed the problem yet).

[lorbo]

IMHO, i wouldn't bomb the house with a new baby. my advice for flea infestations(avoiding chemicals) is to vacuum vacuum vacuum. vacuum everything, including every place where the dog is...throw the bag away-not in the house out of the house-you could spray the bag with flea spray then. vacuum several times...what's happening is you're stirring up the environment and making the flea larvae hatch. once the fleas hatch, they'll bite or come in contact with your frontlined dog...and voila, death. a small investment in vacuum bags...a woman i gave this advice to, called me back the next week and said she had to cleanest house ever because she kept vacuuming-multiple times a day.you could try putting a flea collar in the bag...but i wouldn't do that until the infestation is under control. people can also bring in fleas on their pants. if you just can't take it and it's too much-with the baby and all, i'd consider calling in a professional-just not a fan of flea bombs.

[amychris03]

That makes sense... We have a bagless vacuum so we cant do the flea collar trick. I sure hope we brought it in and not the dog. It seems if we brought it in the house, it be fewer fleas you know??? I just cant think that putting front line on 5 days late would cause this craziness!

[MLA]

I wouldn't bomb the house. The fleas will die off on their own if they don't actually have a food source (i.e. your dog). My parents had an infestation of fleas because of two kittens. Once the kittens were old enough for flea collars (this was before frontline), the fleas all died off. I think the vacuuming advice is best. Then the frontline will take effect, and you'll be flea-free!

[Ki Ki Marcus]

You can also use mothballs in the vacuum cleaner to kill fleas. We keep moth balls in our bagless vacuum all year round for the few fleas that never make it to our frontlined dog. Works like a charm for us!

[Sarah051504]

We've got 2 dogs, 1 indoor outdoor cat, and 1 indoor only cat. About 2 years ago I took the cats to the vet for their shots and the indoor only cat had fleas! The outdoor cat didn't and neither dog did either. I have no idea how we got fleas or why just the one cat got them but we gave all four frontline/advantage and I vacummed liek crazy and washed everything I could put in my machine inthe hotest water possibable. About a week later the fleas were gone. We think that eithe DH brought one home from the pet store or we had ordered something online and the indoor cat had been sleeping in the box that it had come in so maybe there were fleas in there. Who knows and why was the only animal that DIDN'T go outside the only one to have fleas? Who Knows.

vacuum vacuum vacuum that's what worked for us.

[Tonysweetie]

We have 2 indoor only cats and we had a horriale flea problem about 3 months ago. I have no idea how they even got in our apartment but it was horriable. They were jumping on the counters, they bit us, they got in our bed etc. I washed everything, vaccumed what I could nothing got rid of them. I went to the vet and got advantage for both the cats put it on them and that didn't even work. I got borax for the carpet, that didn't work. Finally we called the office in our apartment and told them what was going on. They told us to treat the source and again and they had to bomb to get rid of them. So we had to load up the cats and take them to DH grandmothers for the day and me adn DH were at work when they did it. We had to be out for about 3 or 4 hours I think. When I came back I could smell the chemical they used in our apartment but it wasn't bad. I kep tthe windows opened for a few hours and cleanedt eh house incase the chemical was on the counters and stuff. I put more advantage on the cats and we haven't had a problem since. I don't know if I would bomb with a baby in the house but I know it's the only thing that worked for us. Good luck!!!

[jnettie]

I wouldn't bomb the house. The fleas will die off on their own if they don't actually have a food source (i.e. your dog). My parents had an infestation of fleas because of two kittens. Once the kittens were old enough for flea collars (this was before frontline), the fleas all died off. I think the vacuuming advice is best. Then the frontline will take effect, and you'll be flea-free!

You know, I don't know how true this is. People are a food source, too, as you have discovered.

We had a flea infestation in our house when I was a kid. The thing that finally got rid of them was ripping up the carpets and replacing them with tile. I kid you not. The problem is that the eggs are in the rugs and the furniture.

If you can't bomb, find an anti-flea rug and upolstery shampoo. Clean and clean and clean! I'd say at least weekly for a while. I don't know exactly what the life cycle of a flea is, but you have to kill the living ones, the ones that have just hatched, and the eggs, too. Bombs get the living ones, but they don't get the eggs.

Good luck!

[amychris03]

Thanks for the info ladies. I think I will try the mothballs in the vacuum! I *think* that DS may have gotten the flea bites when we were sitting in the park while I was feeding him (the same day I noticed the bites) because they are fading and there is no sign of a new bite. Ive scoured the dog and see none on her (nor is she scratching) and we've vacuumed and washed everything in the house. Hopefully that is all that it was and we are in the clear!

[Ericka_Jarett]

Something we did that my step-grandmother suggested years ago was:

Set a shallow pan of soapy water in the ceter of a room, turn the lights out and shine a flashlight on the pan. The fleas jump in and die. We had to do this in my room, because the dog thought under my bed was his bed. We did this for 2 night to make sure they were gone, thry never returned.