Need help getting rid of fleas

No, not for me..

I have a dog, and two cats, and they all have fleas. We can't seem to get rid of them.

We've tried a few different things, one we got from a vet, which worked for a little while, but then they came back. I can't think of the name right now.

We've used flea shampoo, which killed the fleas on them, but did not prevent them from coming back.

So I just wanted to know what others have used that has worked.

Do they spend alot of time inside? Try one of those flea bombs. If they are in the house there will be alot of them and keep jumping on the animals. Even if the flea treatment works, new ones will keep jumping on them.
also, apart from treatments, have you put a flea collar on them? they usually do the trick

One thing you got to remember about fleas is after you treat your pets the fleas have nowhere to go... So you start seeing them all over on people and furniture and carpets. Cat and dog fleas can feed of humans if they have to - but they have a hard time living on humans. I think I used to use petplan on my cat - the small tube you put in the nape of the animals neck - best way is to re-apply as soon as the instructions say you can (4 weeks I think?) - and as well as doing that get a cig can of spray for your carpets etc.

The big can of furniture spray is mportant - I used to really go to town with it - I locked the cat out of the house - sprayed everywhere - It's nasty stuff - try not to breath it in!! - Then I went out for about an hour - anyexcuse to go to the pub

Oh yhea - as soon as the really cold weather hits the little sods all die anyway!

[edit on 24/11/2008 by Now_Then]

The dog is the only one that goes outside. They all have flea collars on.

Reading up on the flea bomb, that sounds like a lot of work, but I suppose it would be worth it.

We have hardwood floors in our house, except for a few carpet rugs, so I guess that would just leave the furniture to be sprayed down.

salt suffcates fleas. kills them instantly. so if you have carpet salt it all over. when dead sweep them up and the salt.

flea drops once a mth on the back of the neck for the animals you can buy this any place that sells animals stuff. like wal mart etc...

reply to post by Shar


No carpet, hardwood floors all through the house. Just a few rugs here and there.

put salt down still those fleas can hide in the cracks and in those rugs. salt kills all fleas instantly.

reply to post by Shar


What kind of salt?

Like the salt that you put on food, or the salt you use to melt ice?

Never heard of this method before.

years ago i just used regular table salt. it worked all of them were dead. had no problems after what i am telling you.

reply to post by Shar


Ah, cool. Thanks for the input.

I'll try that as well as some of the other things mentioned and see how it works out.

no problem let me know how it goes. trust me it will work. dont forget the drops on the back of the neck of your animals every month.

might not be much help, but here's a handy tip for actually catching the fleas.
You get a bowl of water, with a bit of washing-up liquid in it, put it somewhere under a lamp. The fleas will dive towards the light, fall into the water and be unable to get out cos of the washing-up liquid.
Sounds weird, but i recall catching quite a few of the damn things this way, a couple of years back.

reply to post by geek101


Wow, never heard of that either. I'm gonna try that sometime soon as well. Thanks for the tip.

try taking off the flea collar when you do the drops. they usually shouldn't need both. mine didn't.

Well the flea collars don't work anyway, so they probably wont be on for much longer.

reply to post by wisefoolishness


i swear it works. It was nice in a sadistic way seeing them floating there...our cat had got infected with the things and they were turning their attentions to us. I can't even remember who told me about it, but it did work.

reply to post by geek101


I'm definitely gonna try it out. I have an older rag doll cat, which means her fur is a bit longer, and thicker, and they've really given her the blues. So being sadistic doesn't really bother me at this point.

reply to post by wisefoolishness



Eucalyptus oil is really good, fleas hate it. I have 3 cats and one just seems to be a magnet for them. I got some stuff from the vet - Advantage and you put on the back of their necks... really good and works but to clean the house, put eucalyptus oil in hot water and clean the floors, use a cloth to dust everything with it on too.

If your concerned about bedding or lounge suits etc then vacumn thoroughly. As for quilts, wash then put in dryer. The heat kills any eggs.

good luck!

I haven't had any problems with fleas since lot of work though..

reply to post by Thurisaz


Yeah, Advantage was what we got. It's sorta expensive though.

Haven't heard of the eucalyptus oil before. Where can you get it at?

Had a similar problem with 2 cats.... And my girlfriend freaked. So did the usual flea drops on the back of the neck (Flea Collars DONT WORK) Hoover'd till i was sick of hoovering (Cos eggs can stay unhatched) And used a Animal flea spray for textiles). And then repeated hoovering daily (making sure to clean hoover as well.... After a month no probs since , and ensure the cats get their flea drops on the neck once a month , i used something callled Frontline.
I also chucked all the animals bedding.
And also comb the cats witha flea comb from time to time.
Also got these flea attraction sets which has a sticky surface and a light above it , the light draws them and they get stuck on the sticky sheet. Never got much on it as i kept them in the spare rooms.