Fleas and the Best way of seeing them off FOR GOOD

[JontyFletch]

We have a cat a dog a two-year old daughter, oh and then there's me. My partner gets bitten by fleas (as does my mother - but then she often deserves to) these FLEAS even dared to bite my daughter. The other morning I saw two FLEAS on me!!! This was enough for me to reach for the insect equivalent of NAPALM!!!

I beleive the cat-flea is more 'aggressive' than the dog-flea.

Does anyone else have experience of such a set of circumstances.

N.B. My partner, daughter and I do not harbour fleas!!!

[ummmm]

I had a major problem with fleas a few years ago. I ended up spending about �200 on flea powders, bombs, sprays. Nothing worked so I got rid of the cat. It was so bad that when my husband was driving to work he could see fleas jumping off his socks. Once the cat was gone it took about a month to finally get rid.

[obione]

the only way i have found is to go to the vets and ask for advantage drops (they do them for cats and dogs) you put these on the back of the neck once a month. they cost around �17 for four months supply but it definitely works. i've tried all the supermarket/pet shop treatments but to be honest they usually end up being a waste of money.

[pelican8000]

Hi Jonty,
Some people are more prone to being bitten than others. I used to get bitten like mad, then when I started going through the menopause they didn't touch me at all. Must be something in the skin.

Generally if you have animals in the house, you will get flees. You need to get flee spray on the areas where your animals have access, and that is floors (wooden or carpeted), furniture, cushions, everything basically. Generally you should start doing this in late spring - it is the heat of summer which makes then breed like wildfire. Obviously you should also treat your animals. The best treatment I have found is the Frontline spray, available from your vet - it is expensive, but you do not need to use a lot of it. As I said, it is expensive, but I do believe that a law came in earlier this year allowing it to be sold by other companies, not solely vets. So you could try searching the internet to get the best price.

Also, with regard to the flee spray for use on the floors and furniture, my friend found out on the internet that if you put washing up liquid in water - that had the same effect - and is obviously a lot cheaper. However, I do not know where she got this information from, so it may not be accurate. Hope this all helps - by the way I own 4 big dogs, so know a bit about flees. 8-)

[lankeela]

Frontline spray can be bought from other companies but you still have to get a prescription from your vet. In my opinion it is the best you can get. You can buy the Frontline Spot On without prescription, but I don't like these 'spot on' treatments, as most only prevent future
fleas from hatching, and not kill the ones that are present.

Johnsons do a flea treatment called 4Fleas which is a tablet, and they do work, killing all fleas on the animal within 24 hours. You then have to treat the environment to stop any more hatching, or have to use the 4Fleas again but in the short term they do a good job.

Please take care with Advantage - go on the Bayer website and read the warning on the product ESPECIALLY if you have any of the Collie breeds as it contains macrocyclic lactones (can be fatal to collies).

[meltoadhall]

we have 3 cats and 1 dog and use the frontline drops every month, no fleas anywhere and we hoover and wash the floors regularly.
some years are worse than others - 2 years ago we were invested and had to go to the vet for house spray but nothing this year - which is good.

[mightywease]

Thank you so much for posting this question! For the past three weeks our little cat seems to have been fostering his very own flea circus and my legs have been the flea equivilent of an all you can eat buffet!

We have tried various remedies but the little b-s just keep coming back!

Armed with the knowledge from these postings those fleas are history!