flea problem, please help!

[saltwater]

hi everyone, i'm new here obviously, but i was just hoping someone could help me out. i've had my cat Kiki for around two years now, and we've never had problems with her, bug-wise. But then sometime around mid-July, my sister went down to her friends house by the beach, staying for an all-night party. The next morning she showed up at home with the most adorable white kitten, explaining she had found him on the side of the highway near a cardboard box. Since there were no houses nearby she could only assume it had been abandoned.

We gave him tapeworm medication, we gave him a bath with animal shampoo and all that jazz. I don't believe he's had his shots yet, if that's any help. But for a while, things were great, he was getting along well with Kiki and everything, and we named him Ghost, since he looks just like one. But then about two weeks later, one day out of the blue, he was literally crawling with fleas. From then on out it was nothing less than a battle. If you've ever had an infestation, you know what i'm talking about.


They were suddenly in the carpets, on Kiki and Ghost both, and my little brother would wake up with bites all over him. It's been hell, and we've done everything. We used Black Flag flea bombs through the entire house and put killer in the carpets, given them flea baths, this pill called Capstar, and put Frontline medication on both of them. That got rid of them almost immediately, like a total flea genocide, but now... they're back. Just two or three on Ghost, but they're there nonetheless. If they come back full force, i don't know what else to do.

We're re-administering their medications tonight, but in case it doesnt work, does anyone have any advice on getting rid of them once and for all? If you have had this problem, how did you get rid of them? Any tips or suggestions, anything at all, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[head]

take 'ghost' into the vet, have him vaccinated and pick up some advantage or frontline from your veterinarian dosed according to his weight. this way you can start to ensure that the beginning of the vaccine series (kittens require three FVRCP vaccines and one rabies, feline leukemia vaccine if they are outdoor cats)

purchase some sephitrol, ovitrol, or frontline spray to use for your furniture and carpeting. apply the spray, vaccuume, wash all bedding, reapply as necessary.

[MiRose]

you do need to treat everything at once. that way they have no where to go (and live). I once had them BAD and it was a pain toget rid of them. basically kitties got a really good bath and comb and then the meds. then we bug bombed that day (we let it go for 8 hours. Then we vaccumed the floors - threw out hte bag asap! , carpet cleaned and once it was dry we put the powder down. Also vaccume every day and if you can spray your furnature too... make sure to throw out that bag in your vaccume. We put fresh powder down daily and then bug bombed again in a week.

We had them bad in this place we moved to in FL. We have moved in place unseen because we were moving form out of state and had no place to stay with 3 cats. My ex BF uncle took a look at the place. It was nice, but I guess he did not spend to long there. It had fleas before we moved in but we did not know till after we moved in. OMG, it was bad. Bwca is allergic to fleas. So he was missing hair and such. I felt so bad. But we just went into over kill mode and it worked, we spent 2 weeks doing the above.... and we still put powder down for some time.

Please note though, we did talk to a vet before we put more drops on the cats. So I would talk to a vet. You can do it for free if you just kinda just talk to them in the lobby... hehehe... I do it often.

Like I said, I know what we did was over kill, but it worked for us. I think the flea egg laying to hatching cycle is like 3 days??/ I may be wrong. So you will have a new batch every so often, so that is why you have to go through it more than once. To get the last bits of them.

I hope some one here has a better idea. Something easier. lol

[creativz]

It's widely recommended that all adult dogs and 'free living' adult cats are treated for fleas and wormed every 3-6mths, but all are at risk from parasite infection, there is one type of tapeworm that can be picked up simply by the animal swallowing a flea. Fleas lay their eggs in carpets, furniture... the larvae hatch within 16days, they form immobile pupae - and in summer or hot humid conditions, are active within 17days - but can remain in pupae state for 6mths inactive over winter, just waiting for the heat and a warm blooded creature passing by to jump on.
Many pets are allergic to fleabites and can then develop dermatitis, which only worsens due to constant scratching. It's difficult but essential to break the whole flea/egg cycle, which is reason why to also treat the household environment, as well as pet and pets bedding. There are more potential fleas in your house than on your pet, a flea collar is far more effective in your vacuum cleaner, than around the neck of your pet. There are various products all do different things, some kill adult fleas, whilst others inhibit eggs from developing.... vets undoubtedly have the safest, best advice and usually the easiest treatments to use and administer.
*Always read the label*

[saltwater]

alright, we've come up with a plan of sorts, and i'm taking all your advice, re-bombing the entire house this weekend, and giving both the cats baths and combing them, as well as taking ghost to the vet to see about medications and whatnot, and hopefully get him vaccinated as well. for now, it seems like things are under control, thank you so much for all of your help!

[lastunicorn86]

there is also a product called De Flea made by Natural Chemisty. it's all natural using a type of salt that dehydrates and kills fleas, can be used With topical medication(ie Frontline), can be used to spray bedding and such, and can be used on any animal 6 wks and up (i think). i use it at work when we spot fleas on dogs or cats, before they get a flea bath, and around our stations so they don't muliply in the grooming room. it works great!

[AllAnimalLover]

you should treat for atleast 3 months. Fleas won't be gone with just ONE treatment. That is...the animals, AND your house. Siphotrol is amazing! You vacuum first, spray, let sit, and it has a residual effect for 7 months.

[farmgurl19]

i heard the animal ingest's the flea and they lay there eggs in the gastrol region.. and they come out in yellow patches around the bum area.. (never seen it just heard about it) is that not right? is any one else itchy from reading this, ... or is it just me... lol =)

[creativz]

There are many nasty wormy parasites ! :(
See...

http://www.vetinfo.com/cworms.html

http://www.fabcats.org/worming.html