Urgh....fleas!!

alg576

Our cats have *never* had fleas, and when they were taken to the vet for their checkups, they were examined and found to have no traces of fleas.  No traces - none. 

Well, they have fleas now.   I have no idea how this could have happened or where these things came from, not a clue!  I'm completely skeeved out and have dosed both kitties with Frontline, and am in the process of washing everything washable in our house.  (I realize that may be a bit of an overreaction, but...eew.)  

So, is there anything else we can do to address the problem?  We noticed them today (and had noticed the cats being more thorough about grooming themselves over the last couple of days), so I think we've caught it early.  But I'm amazed how quickly it went from no problem to Gus scratching himself all the time.  We're going to give the Frontline a chance to work, then give the cats a bath in a couple of days to get rid of the dead fleas and flea dirt. 

Any advice would be appreciated.  Poor Callie and Gus...

LuckyAngel07

I would just do some major vacuuming for a few days if I were you guys. Just in case. I go overboard when I find any trace of fleas, too; I'd rather go crazy than not do enough and let it get out of hand! Vacuum every day for a couple of days to make sure you get up any fleas/fea eggs on/in the carpets; if you don't have much in the way of carpet, then you're lucky, because it's not a problem on hard floors!

bruins8624

Correction, if your going to shampoo ur cat *

LuckyAngel07

bruins8624:

Make sure to vacuum vaccum vacuum and dont forget to use a carpet cleaner with it. Also when my dog had fleas before they came back even after frontline. I had to go to vet and get capstar a pill that gets rid of them. Also if you are going to shampoo your dog use a shampoo with citrus it will work right away. Fleas hate citrus, and like I said vacuum vaccuum vacuum. Also you want to wash all the sheets and dirty clothes in the house. Your doing the right thing they will go away

::head explodes:: Ack! Grammar and punctuation, please!

bruins8624

This is a board for advice. Not for an English grammar lesson. 

spalko

I would purchase a good, quality flea spray (SPRAY not a flea bomb) that contains IGR (insect growth regulator). Frontline doesn't kill all the life stages of a flea so the spray will help with what Frontline can't do. We sell Knockout at our clinic and it works really, really well. Even if you don't have carpet, fleas can still get underneath and into corners along base boards so it is a good idea to spray along all boards, furniture, any bedding (animal or human) - basically anywhere the cats go, spray! It typically takes a good 3 months of solid treatment to get rid of a flea problem and it will get worse before it gets better. Keep in mind that one female flea can lay up to 50 eggs/day, gross!!!