Can anyone offer me some advice about dealing with fleas?

I give the same advice each time. Get a professional exterminator. By the time you buy bombs and then rebomb in the prescribed period of time, it costs as much as the exterminator but there is no guarantee.

For the dogs, I use Comfortis. In my area it works like a miracle, the fleas drop dead and fall off in 24 hours. It seems to help the skin as well. I don’t know if the effect is due to the medicine or just because the fleas are gone. I am not sure if it is available for cats.

I don’t like using poison on my dogs but I don’t like them to have fleas. The Comfortis box of course says dose them once a month. I only use it when I see fleas. Which is sometimes months because once you get rid of them on the dog and in the environment the problem diminishes greatly.

I would prefer to use natural but natural is not nearly as effective.

One other thing, when they have had fleas, the often get tape worms afterwards because fleas are the host for tapes. Tapes are not diagnosed by a stool check unless there are segments visible in the stool. If you walk your dog you will see the segments in the stool sometimes, looks like moving grains of rice or you may see something that looks like dried up grain of rice on their backside. That means it is time to dose for tapes!

I don’t think birds get fleas but they do get mites.

Thank you for your answer but it’s brought up another question! We thought the fleas would be gone as soon as we bathed them and put the oily stuff on them. Could they still be there after and be gone in a few days?

Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Pull your sofa away from the wall, sweep in the crevices, wash all of your bedding and throw linens.
Check Lowes or Home Depot, they do sell a product that you can spray your lawn with to kill fleas outside.

@SarasWhimsy there can be eggs and larvae around that do not get killed by the first treatment. They can be in the carpet, couches or bedding of the house or on the people in the house.

1. go to the vet and get either advantage or frontline and put it on all the pets necks immediately.

2. Either get a flea bomb or call an exterminator

3. Vacuum over and over and over everyday for weeks

I have used both but loved the frontline if no ticks are involved. The frontline makes the fleas sterile but you need to put it on religously every month because the fleas can come back even in the winter. The vacuuming will get rid of all the eggs after the bomb or the exterminor. So it is important you do it many many time a day for a few weeks to get those little buggers

@WestRiverrat speaks the truth, you can have them all gone today and they will be back tomorrow. That is why I opt for the professional exterminator who guarantees their work. And also why I choose the less desirable route of poison instead of natural defenses.

I see what @creative1 above says. In my experience Frontline and Advantage are a waste of time and money, they just don’t work. But I think different areas have fleas that respond differently to products. So perhaps where you are they would work. As I said above, Comfortis works like a miracle here. I would say check with your vet but they will push whatever product they are selling. Maybe you could call an obedience club or better yet the local groomers and ask them what is working in your neck of the woods.

My stepfather is a professional exterminator and even the stuff they use they will come back if you don’t vacuum vacuum vacuum. No matter what you do, you need to get rid of the eggs because if you don’t they will be back.

In egg form and in the pupae stage the fleas are pretty much immune to any sort of poison. This is why you have to retreat. I’ve heard good results with Comfortis (active ingredient is Spinosad).

And the vacuum cleaner is your best friend when it comes to fleas. For the items that are hard to treat and aren’t too large, you can stick them in a deep freeze for a few weeks. In areas of the country like Utah where the ground freezes hard and long, they don’t have fleas so bad. In fact I had never even seen a flea until I grew up! The same goes for cockroaches!

We’ve always had cats and dogs and have had this problem. It happened after the dog comes home from the groomer. I recommend a professional exterminator. They can put something on your floor that will kill the fleas. Then set your pets on a flea control regimen.

Fleas are what brought me to Fluther! I had fleas in the house about 4 years ago, when my daughter was first born, and I had wall to wall carpeting and by the time I realized I had fleas, it was out of hand. I had bites on the bottom half of my legs. I tried (at that time) sprays, powders, flea baths for the cats (I have 3 cats) and nothing worked. I did the bombs, stayed out overnight to let the bombs do their thing, no fleas for 3 days and then was very disheartened to find fleas again. Had the carpeting in the baby’s room torn up, threw out the couch, still fleas. I had to call an exterminator and that was the secret. I got Frontline for the cats, and once the exterminator came, I saw no fleas for about 26 days. Then I saw about 2, called him back and never saw a flea again…..until this summer, four years later. My fault for not using Frontline on a regular basis in the summers (I live in NY, so it’s really only a problem from about April to October). Anyway, got the Frontline and got an exterminator to treat the yard, basement and inside the house.

After the first time, I learned that there are a lot of remedies for fleas, but the best thing that is guaranteed to work and not waste time and money is a professional exterminator. I spent so much time and money last time on the powders, sprays, flea baths and the bombs (plus one night in a hotel) and each time I was hopeful, and each time it did not work. Do yourself a favor, nip it in the bud and call an exterminator. Combine that with Frontline or any of the “back of the neck” flea treatments. I also use a flea collar now, so the cats are extra protected. I no longer have wall to wall carpeting, because I didn’t want the baby crawling around on a carpet that had flea treatment on it.

Thanks @jca! We live in PA so I’m sure your answer is the most similar to what we’re going through.

By way of update, we’ve since been told (by an exterminator) that they won’t come out for a few weeks due to the bombs we did. However, our vet is going to give (sell) us home treatments and we’re going to use Frontline for the dogs and the cats. We’ve decided to take down all the curtains and up all the throw rugs and all of the decorative things (pillows, blankets doilies etc). They’re going to be washed and bagged and stored for right now. We’re also going to be vacuuming at least 3 times a day and mopping at least once (luckily we have mostly hard woods and tile.

The vet’s also going to do a follow up on the dog who’s allergic to fleas and we’re expecting an a round of prednisone to help her rash. With any luck at all she’ll be feeling better soon! Last but not least, I’m going to be taking my anxiety pills on a regular basis because bugs are to me what heights/fear of death/clowns/etc are to some.

Great answers all around! I appreciate everyone’s input!!!!

If you put “Fleas” in the Fluther search, you will see many other questions people have asked about the topic. Also google the flea life cycle to get a better understanding of the stages they go through (each female drops 50 eggs per day, and the stuff exterminators use will prevent the eggs from hatching, and prevent the fleas from growing). It’s helpful to learn about the life cycle, so you can understand why you should do treatment (which ever you choose) over the course of a few weeks at least.

You were right about the laundry, too. This time and last time, I had to wash all the blankets, comforters, etc. It was a real chore.

Flea eggs can lie dormant in an empty house for a long long time (not sure how long). But when someone moves in, and movement begins to happen, they hatch out. Based on that fact, you should be able to put some things in a plastic garbage bag and just let it sit in the house somewhere for two complete life cycles (just to be safe). The eggs hatch and the larvae eat whatever they eat, but it isn’t blood. Then when they become adult, they need blood. They won’t live to reproduce if there’s no blood source.

I have tried this, and found that it works quite well. It has saved me a bunch of work.