How do I get rid of fleas!?

See the 20 responses for http://www.fluther.com/disc/1731/my-house-has-fleas-how-can-i-get-rid-of-them/

Fleas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea

Unfortunately, you will have to wash all of your clothes and bedsheets. You will also have to buy some borax and sprinkle it on your mattress and all over the floors in your house. Then with a vacuum cleaner that has a bag vacuum it all up and dispose of the bag outside (because flea eggs can live forever) so you really want to get rid of the bag! I have dealt with this several times and finally I am rid of them. Nothing else but this seemed to work. Let me know if I can give you any other advice or if you have any more questions.

Also, keep in mind when researching that cat fleas are different than dog fleas, and are much harder to get rid of.

After treating your home for fleas leave a few saucers of Dawn dishwashing liquid out on your carpet. For some reason the fleas are attracted to Dawn. They will jump into the dishwashing liquid and not be able to get out. You can find out if you still have fleas, and hopefully kill those that remain.

i have tried flea shampoo (that worked for about three days) and spray for the rug (did not work) and powder for the rug (did not work) and spray for the cats' coats (did not work). now, i feel like the wall to wall carpeting is just disgusting with all these chemicals in it. have encased mattress and box spring in plastic covers and have concluded the only thing that may work will be to flea bomb. have treated the cats with professional topical stuff which has worked on them. exterminators are expensive some quotes i got were in the hundreds. flea bombs are about $5 each, one per room. is a lot of work but hopefully it will work. i heard getting rid of clutter is effective also to enable the bomb to get everywhere it has to in order to work.

Years ago the flea issue was non-ending for me even though the cat stayed inside, the dog had to go out. I bombed and did laundry non-stop for a loong time, including having the pets professionally dipped and groomed. Since Advantage came out there is no more problem, though I hate putting it on the kitty and she hates it too, the first day. Advantage kills the fleas when they jump on the cat, it can take a few days if you're infested. Sounds like you need to do all of the above advice, bomb, vacume, laundry, etc.

i ended up hiring an exterminator and it was worth the money. got the one year contract so they can come as many times as necessary, which covers next summer. worth the peace of mind to have them take care of it, and fleas are all gone. got a discount bec neighbor works for them, $400 for one year. am sorry i didn’t do it sooner, after the money spent for the powders, sprays, shampoos, night in hotel to bomb. the other thing i did was put advantage on the cats, so they’re taken care of, too. that cost some money. all in all, $100 for 4 mos. of advantage for 3 cats, $50 for miscellaneous chemicals, $100 for night in hotel, $400 for one year contract = a whole lot of money. no fleas: priceless.

interesting story on Yahoo Got fleas? Get the vacuum

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071218/sc_nm/fleas_vacuum_dc;_ylt=Alo62NSznoJa3Sqz93txZ4kiANEA

i got rid of fleas,,,,2 indoor cats and i had big infestation
first thing i did was bomb house,,,vacuum,,spray,,borax,,,salt , all the usual stuff and was not getting better,,,so,,,,i took cats to vet hospital,,,paid for complete exam and shots and put them up for adoption, then bombed again and spray and vacuum like crazy and now almost none,,,it was sad to give cats away but i can not live with infestation,,,,,no way

Shave all of your hair off and take a real hot shower.