<p>Well, what do you all recommend as the best, yet least poisonous treatment for a cat with fleas? I gave kitty some stuff, the squeeze-on kind, but I don’t think he felt very good for several days. Though it is kind of hard to tell when a cat is being lethargic, he did seem to be more lethargic than usual.</p>
<p>The only thing I have found that has worked on my cats is Advantage. My vet told me the Frontline and some others were not as effective in our area right now - the fleas are becoming resistant. I used Advantage 2 weeks ago and have not found any fleas or flea dirt on the cats and I check them every night. However, I still need to flea bomb the house as I am getting flea bites! I am just waiting for when I have the block of time to do it.</p>
<p>If kitty has a bad infestation the vets also have some sort of Pill they can give them that makes all the fleas on them drop dead. Still need to treat them to kill new hatchlings from on kitty and around the house. We have used advantage in the past with success. Our current kitty is an indoor one so we do not had a problem. </p>
<p>Had a terrible infestation a few years back. Had a couple of outdoor plus garage kitties (not well mannered enough bathroom wise for the house, which is unusual in cats). I walked out to the garden and came back through the garage and when I got into the house looked down at my white socked feet and they were almost black - with fleas. I was not sure if it was from the garden or the garage so did a return walk through wearing clean white socks (what was I thinking?) to both and discovered it was the garage (we have one of those 3 car garages that has no room ffor a car - my husband is a pack rat - I usually avoid the garage because it stresses me out). It was bad!! Ran through the house ripping my clothes off to throw them into the washer. Must have been a sight - fortunately we had no visitors that day. We bombed the house and the garage and did advantage on the animals and sprayed and vacuumed. The house was probably toxic for a few days - but it was a really bad infestation!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Frontline prevents the fleas from settling on your cat. They don’t kill fleas that your cat already has. For that, you need Advantage or some other flea-killer.</p></li>
<li><p>You must do both cat and house simultaneously or those damn fleas will just jump from one place to the other. It’s awful, it’s horrible, but that’s what you’ve gotta do.</p></li>
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<p>Oy. Good luck.</p>
<p>There’s also a nice spray/shampoo line out there that kills on contact and is really safe. It’s the Natural Chemistry line. You can use it on the cat, on surfaces, on YOU … whatever. I’ve talked to their tech support people and they tell me it’s OK for guinea pigs, reptiles, birds etc. You should be able to find this product line at an independent pet store … not sure you can get it in petcosmartlandia and definitely not in the grocery store.</p>
<p>Tks. I guess I will probably have to bomb the house, too. Soon!</p>
<p>Caution when bombing the house. Read the instructions carefully, esp. near the pilot light in the stove and water heater. I put the special flea powder stuff on the rugs to kill them. Open your closet doors. May have to bomb the house twice if persistent. Ick. Been there.</p>
<p>You may have to “bomb” the house more than once. In fact I within a few weeks I used a gallon of insecticide spray and approximately 30 flea bombs. There seemed to be no effect until I got the Raid permethrin fumigator cartridges. After one treatment, the fleas were gone and I did not see so much as a spider in the house for at least a year. Great stuff and not toxic to humans or pets.</p>
<p>A number of years ago we had a cat that ended up with fleas. We had to call the exterminator in to get rid of the fleas - it took 3 times and was like a horror show!</p>
<p>We had a big flea infestation on our cats last year, and Frontline was enough. For awhile after we started it, the fleas started biting us more because the cats weren’t available. But I vacuumed the sofa, chair, and run very well for a few days, and within a couple of weeks the fleas were gone.</p>
<p>Fleas are absolutely the worst of all bug infestations— worse than bedbugs, worse than headlice. Unfortunately, I’ve done my own field, or house, research. You do have to treat the cat and simultaneously bomb the house and vacuum like crazy, especially the furniture and carpet, anything upholstered. Vacuum every crevice and crack, then throw away the vacuum bag. People who visit you can also get infested. The fleas will hop a ride on their clothes or shoes and make themselves comfortable in their homes, and especially on any pets. </p>
<p>One thing I learned after shampooing my cat only to find fleas on him the next day (and the next): you have to start at or near the cat’s head and work the shampoo down the body very quickly. If you start at the body, the fleas immediately migrate to the cat’s head where you don’t shampoo. Clever buggers.</p>
<p>I was taught when shampooing cats and dogs to first make a lather, to the skin, right around the collar area to keep the fleas from migrating to the head. In addition, cotton balls in the ears to keep the fleas from jumping and hiding there.</p>
<p>For those of us with more money than time: You can have the vet handle the animals at the same time as you have the pest control people deal with the house. You go for a nice 48-hour vacation somewhere.</p>
<p>mstee, rather than flea bombing the house, try borax. just sprinkle it on all carpeted surfaces and all upholstered furniture. let it sit for a while and then vacuum. its worked wonders for me. when I lived in a house with wall to wall carpet, I would sprinkle borax weekly before vacuuming and never had a problem with fleas(and I’ve got 3 cats & 2 dogs).</p>
<p>For ridding the infestation in the house I strongly, very strongly, recommend fleabusters. It is a non-toxic powder you spread on the carpet and leave there that suffocates the fleas. I have used it twice. The last time was probably five years ago and I haven’t seen a flea since (my cats are indoors). For a bad infestation I gave my cat the pill from the vet that kills all the fleas and then I used fleabusters and the fleas went away and stayed away for good.</p>
<p>You guys have jinxed me. I was sitting on the couch last night and got several flea bites. So far we have treated the cats with Advantage, removed the couch and chair cushions and covers and sprayed the remaining upholstery. Hopefully that will be enough. I still have some fumigator left. Unfortunately NY State decided to ban the sale about a year ago so I need to be frugal. Dealing with the professionals is a multi-hundred dollar event that I would like to avoid.</p>