getting rid of fleas

[Denim Deb]

Bomb the house. I had to do the same thing last year when my cats got fleas bad. Nothing I did helped. I have no idea where the fleas came from since they were inside cats, but I couldn't get rid of the fleas. And, one bombing didn't work. I had to do it 2x.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I would bomb the house, but that means a big clean up after. DH puts a tray of water in the middle of the floors with a candle burning in the center. I think he has a little dish soap in the water and he then turns off all the lights and in the morning, there are dead fleas.
I made my own flea shampoo by putting cheap people shampoo with the correct tablespoon of poison.....forgive me for not having the correct spelling, but it has been previously typed.
People try telling me to treat my yard, but I can't because of my animals. Most of them eat grass.
I did buy Frontline from Jeffer's, but I should have bought Advantage. Thats what is on my dog now and its working much better. I think I'll use the Frontline on the other neighborhood dogs for whatever its worth, so they can go around killing whatever fleas they can.
In the past, my vet told me that I won't need to treat my house or yard, if I use that flea med on my dog, because the dog will go around and fleas will drop dead wherever he passes, so the dog will solve my flea problems. Thats a much safer treatment for my situation, because I can't run the risk of killing all my livestock, just because of fleas.
I have also used garlic. It helps.

 

[the funny farm6]

I am thinking that you may have to treat your yard also.

 

[Justme]

Pennyroyal. It's in the mint family. Years ago we had a little shed out back that was completely infested. You step in and within a few minutes your legs would be brown from all the fleas that were on them. We also had them on the pets and in the house just not as bad as the shed. Daily vacuuming and the soapy water helped but didn't cure the problem. Chemicals were outta the question as I am too sensitive to such. A little research lead me to pennyroyal which I happened to have growing. Cut a bunch , chopped it and covered with water. Let it sit for a while and strained into a sprayer. Sprayed my legs with it then sprayed everything in the shed. Note not one single flea jumped on me while doing this since I had first sprayed myself. Did the same with the house and dogs. Also started giving the dogs brewers yeast and garlic. Continued with the vacuuming daily and spraying every couple of days and in a few weeks problem was gone and never seen again.

 

[so lucky]

I had done a lot of research trying to find natural insect repellants--don't know why I never came across this before! Now a little googling shows that, indeed, pennyroyal is a great flea repellant and gnat & mosquito repellant, too. The articles I read say not to take it internally, not to put it on a cat, and definitely don't use the essential oil for anything. It can cause liver damage and death. Most of the articles say to use the fresh herb or dry and crush it. I bet using some in a dog's bed or doghouse would work great. One article said stick a few sprigs in your hatband to repel mosquitos. Now that's a fashion statement. Thanks, Justme, for bringing this to our attention.

 

[hqueen13]

You can treat your yard naturally.
I believe Nemotodes work for interrupting the life cycle in the soil. I have not yet tried it, but there are several people I know of that say that it works well. I need to do more research because there are several varieties of nemotodes, and some will harm plants, others just go after the other bugs
I have also heard of spreading coffee grounds out into the yard will reduce the bugs. I've only put the coffee on my other plants since I've heard that it is a good fertilizer for acid loving plants, so I can't tell you if it works.

Its all about knowing the other uses for things

 

[lagniappe]

salt is a new idea i must try it but i cant stand the idea of any poisons. for many years i have used boric acid its a powder and very dry very safe not an acid dries the fleas and a few days later vacuum up no fleas

 

[YogaMama]

I realize that my answer isn't very environmentally friendly, but call an exterminator. We had a bad infestation recently, and had no clue where they came from. Our 1 cat has never been outside! We bombed EVERY weekend, and still couldn't kill them damn things! One visit from the exterminator, and they were gone. They came back in 2 weeks for a follow up, and will be back out in 2 more weeks to start our bi-monthly visits. I tried EVERYTHING! I washed my cat in Dawn, then washed him in vinegar to try and change the taste of the flesh. Didn't work. I bought Advantage, didn't work. We have all hard wood floors, with only area rugs, and they were everywhere! Our vet said that because of the poor winter, that we can expect a bad bug season,and people who normally don't have a problem are having them now. I even tried vacuuming every day, then spraying the floors down with lavender water, as they supposedly don't like the taste of lavender. With a baby on the floor, crawling around and getting bitten by the fleas, they had to go, and an exterminator was the only way that was going to happen. Good luck to you.

 

[so lucky]

Uggh! I was babysitting at my son's today, and saw that his cat has fleas (again). So about that time I started itching. I hate fleas. I. Hate. Fleas. It is possible to get an infestation even if your cat never goes outside. I have carried fleas home on my clothes, from flea infested areas. Once in the house, they may jump off and find true love, then the population begins. But before they go searching for a mate, they will have bitten me about 30 times.
After our cats died a few years back, they left us with a lot of anxious and hungry fleas. Getting rid of them in the carpet on the main level was hard enough, but they still were in the basement. Finally, just before we were going to burn our house down, we stumbled upon the combination of borax and DE. We had good luck using borax and Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled heavily on the basement floor, then leaving it for a couple of weeks. This got rid of all the fleas, finally. Of course, not everyone can leave something like that on the floor for two weeks, but it worked for us in our unfinished basement.

 

[the funny farm6]

Can you sprinkle your yard with DE? Would that work? I have never done a large area with it. I have dusted my dogs and cats with it. (After a dawn bath and dried).