In an attempt to tackle the flea population we bought everyone a flea collar and we spent the weekend bathing our pets. We have the flea carpet powder, the dog has been treated with those flea drops and now we have introduced the flea shampoo and the flea collars. If the flea aren’t gone after this I’ll be surprised.
Fleas are nasty, nasty creatures. If you can’t tell the kind of make me crazy. It is all because of this one encounter N and I shared way back in the day. Right after we began dating N moved in to my tiny 1 bedroom apartment with me. It was in Tempe, Arizona in the dead of summer and our fridge died so I went to the complex management about it.
They wouldn’t be able to get us a new fridge for several days and all our food was spoiling so we were pretty put out. The complex management offered to let use a working fridge in a vacant apartment in the meantime. They could have just moved the working fridge to our place but whatever. So they gave us the keys to the vacant place, we packed up our spoiling groceries and headed over to store them in the vacant place.
As soon as we entered the vacant apartment we immediately were disgusted by how dirty and messy it was left, then we felt things jumping on our legs. We soon realized the place was totally infested with fleas and they were feasting on our fresh meat as we walked across the apartment. It was the most unbelievable thing. We were literally jumping all around and trying to run across the carpet to avoid the fleas.
After entering the flea infested apartment we would shake off and even left our shoes outside our apartment to avoid tracking fleas in to our own place. We had 3 cats at that time so fleas were the last thing we wanted. Unfortunately they were unavoidable.
Inevitably a few made it in to our place and began taking up residence on our clean kitties. We got rid of the fleas after several months and it was not a fun process. We were just thankful that our flea situation never even came close to the nastiness of the vacant, flea apartment. To this day fleas and roaches just make my blood boil (I’ll save the roach story for another day though).
Amazingly bathing the cats was mostly an easy task. Jack, our huge yellow kitty, was the handful of the bunch. He acted like we were trying to skin him or something, it was quite dramatic and man is he strong! The rest of the kitties were cooperative and now everyone smells and looks so nice. Also, they have all stopped itching so I feel good about the flea eradication.
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Want a comb that will electrocute fleas? I found this fun and evil little flea zapper online that ammused me.
Totally nasty. *scratching needlessly* A Q-tip soaked in alcohol will kill the buggers on contact.
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GROSS…. Ill trade you cats! Mine LOVES taking a bath! If you dont close the bathroon door when your showering, he’ll jump in a take one with you! Monkey is such a weird cat!
Krystal McCarthy » That is too cool! Andrew, one of our cats, will just open up the bathroom door if you close it. He is a sneaky one.
If there is even one flea in a place, it will get on me. I hate them. If I get a flea bite, it will make me ill for days, sick at my stomach, headache, itchy, and then the bite gets infected and is gross looking.
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Karen » You get that sick? Wow, I wonder what causes that reaction. I have never gotten sick but the itch and the initial bite is so annoying it just makes me crazy.
The one good thing about living here and having the cold weather is that there is a “season” for fleas and they die off in the cold weather. Sounds like your pets are happier and itch-free. YAY!
There is an herb that gets rid of fleas, too. Wish I could remember what it is… you just put the leaves (I remember they are leaves if that helps someone) in the corners of your rooms.
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teeni » Do they really die off in the cold? I didn’t know that.
maiden53 » I know brewers yeast and garlic help repel fleas when ingested. Garlic is toxic to cats though. If you think of the herb let me know, I love herbal remedies.
Know of any remedies for pregnant indigestion and general bloating? I feel like I swallowed a balloon or something.
Eucalyptus! Sent you a link… they suggest Eucalyptus oil. I thought my mom used to use the leaves.
When we got our puppy, he had a single flea on him, and I went crazy. Flea collars, flea powders, flea sprays, flea shampoo…then I went to the vet and she laughed at me and told me it’s all a farce. Only diligent cleaning with ammonia and water and flea medicine will get rid of them. Ick. Thankfully, we’ve only ever had that one flea.
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Ha, that sounds familiar since we have only actually seen 2 fleas and now I am going mad. It is true hard core cleaning is the only way to win.
Well, yeah, I’m pretty sure they do. In these parts, nobody gets flea infestations in winter. In fall, there are quite a few as fleas make last minute attempts to get on your pets and into your house. So unless they are already in the house before winter, around here they aren’t a problem.