# Fleas! :(



## Rowan (May 27, 2011)

I heard those little suckers can live (hide) in the carpet forever! I'm thinking if you want to get rid of them permanently, your best bet might be calling in a professional to treat the entire house and yard. When my sister lived in Florida, they were really bad and seemingly impossible to get rid of. We don't have many problems in my area (thank goodness).

What is Acclaim? (Off to Google.)


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## Panda (Jan 7, 2010)

Acclaim is a flea spray for houses. its supposed to stop the eggs hatching for up to 12 months and has a short acting killing effect on the adults. I need to buy a new hoover I think as mine is not very good. I borrowed my mums hoover but don't want to give her house fleas too. I looked and our local council don't spray for fleas and the local pest control companies recommend the sprays such as the one I used unless you have a bad infestation (I don't think ours is bad as I have only ever seen 1-2 fleas). They say you are still likely to see fleas for u to 21 days though due to the cycle but I want to try and break the cycle. It sucks that once they are in a cocoon they are impossible to kill so you have to wait for them to hatch. I hate fleas  Stupid landlord giving them to us!


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## thestars (May 2, 2009)

You have to vacuum straight for 21 days. Powders or sprays help. Wash bedding regularly in hot water, I do mine every week. Also I use Diatomaceous earth, human consumption grade on the carpets. Safe on pets and humans and can be used as a dewormer. I prefer using d-Limonene Flea & Tick Shampoos over Pyrethrin based shampoos. They smell like citrus, fresh smelling. Wal-Mart carries Adam's which is nice but if you like to have more on hand for regular weekly baths while you are fighting them down you can get a gallon of MAXI-GROOM Organo-Flee Shampoo. It smells like oranges! I love the stuff and it's safe on young puppies too. Oh and put the flea collar IN the vacuum bag not on the dog!!!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

You have to spray the yard/outdoor area as well as the inside of the house. When we lived in a house that had a bad flea problem years ago, we bug bombed the house, sprayed the yard and vacuumed every day for a couple of weeks. That took care of the problem. Now they have bug bombs that also kill the eggs, so you wouldn't have to vacuum so much, you just have to find somewhere to go with the dogs for the afternoon. 

Once you have gotten rid of the fleas initially, you have to put drops on the dog once a month during flea season. We do that from Spring through about October. Then we stop until April of the next year. We haven't had to spray our yard since we moved in 10 years ago when we did it once because the dogs and cats are treated.

I know people don't like those flea drops, but honestly, they are the only thing that really works around here. My area has loads of fleas just waiting to hitch a ride. My dogs and cats would be infested if it wasn't for those drops. Advantage works the best for us. Frontline doesn't seem to work nearly as well, I don't know why. I don't use the Advantix because we only have ticks in the foothills and if I go there I check for ticks afterwards.


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Yes, in Texas for fleas we first bomb the house with a bug bomb, spray the yard with bug spray (the vet will tell you what to use) , put Sevin Dust around the perimeters of the yard and then start the front line drops on the doggies...whew, it's a big deal, but the fleas are gone and then use front line to keep them away forever...


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

You've gotten excellent tips for the yard and house. To kill the fleas on the dog, you need to get hold of some CapStar. Good stuff to get rid of a sudden infestation; a lot of rescues use this stuff. 

Once you get the environment under control, the HW preventative Sentinel includes flea control as well. 

Good luck getting rid of those little suckers!

--Q


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## Panda (Jan 7, 2010)

Thank you so much for all the tips! I am off out to a game fair all day with Panda today so unless they sell anything there for fleas I will have to get it tomorrow after work or online if pets at home don't sell strong enough stuff. I din't treat our garden so will definitely do that this time. My mum said I can borrow her spare hoover and I will try go out and buy a new one for myself this week as my current hoover just is not working well enough to pick up flea eggs.

Out of interest, I took Panda round to my mums the other day thinking we had gotten rid of the fleas....have I now given her house fleas too?????

Do all flea bombs and flea shampoos work the same? Can I get some d-Limonene oil and make up a spray so I can spray the house with that as well as a bug bomb?


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