posted
Fleas, to be specific. Yes, I know, branching out from killing deer, I should be satisfied with just eliminating deer, oh well, I'm expanding, m'kay?
I have no idea how, but my cats have fleas. Which means my apartment has fleas. Which means I'm covered in little red welts. Yay. I need to kill these fleas dead dead DEAD.
This afternoon, I put flea collars on both cats, and used Hartz 2-in-1 spray on all surfaces and the carpet of the living/dining room, followed by vacuuming. Tomorrow, I'm going to redo that section of the apartment and hit the den and bedroom. I'm also going to bag up all towels, clothing, sheets, etc., and leave them bagged until I'm able to wash 'em and make sure they're free of fleas.
I don't know if this will work. I'm hoping so, but if it doesn't, what is the recommended way to kill as many fleas as quickly as possible?
posted
My parents didn't speak Spanish so bueno when they moved up to the SF Peninsula. They bought the house in which I grew up which happens to be about a half mile from a street called Alameda De Las Pulgas. Loosely translated this means Avenue Of The Fleas. As it turns out, this name was entirely appropriate. There is a product called Advantage available for pets which is topical. You place a few drops onto their shoulder blades and it's about a kazillion times more effective than flea collars. To kill fleas and eggs permanently and drastically in your home you're looking at investing in some foggers and getting yourself and your pets the hell out of there for a couple of days.
-------------------- "Nah. The 9th chevron is for changing the ringtone from "grindy-grindy chonk-chonk" to the theme tune to dallas." -Reverend42
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I agree, Advantage does the job. But we also have our cats vaccinated with Program (an injection) every six months. As for the house. . . First, vacuum very thoroughly. It won't get rid of them all, but it's a start. Then get rid of/empty the vacuum bag.
First time we had a flea problem, we had someone who came round who a) sprayed all round the perimeter (walls, skirting-boards etc - I hesitate to use the word 'Wainscotting. . .')
*in the remote village of Wainscotting in the West Country, a woman comes rushing out of her cottage and says "Woo! We've been mentioned!"*
. . . b) he then fogged the place with God-knows what, it did the trick though. Only had to stay out of the house for a few hours.
The next time, we had someone come round who just sprayed everywhere; he maintained that fogging was no good against fleas. That also worked. We'd tried commerically-available light-the-fuse-and-get-out-for-an-hour foggers, but weren't very impressed.
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
There's also a service that can put down what is basically diatomaceous earth (or borax, hmmm) a white powder that is (fairly) harmless to us mammals but kills the fleas.
But it cost a fair bit so I'd try the Advantage first.
You know - all we need to do now is have a "how do I get my whites really white" thread to complete our transmorgification from ubertrek-nerd site to happy homemaking.com.
-------------------- Twee bieren tevreden, zullen mijn vriend betalen.
Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Prior to the home fogging kit, we tried a commercially-available powder, but it's tricky - hard to spread, you can't get it even and it tends to lie in drifts where you've sown or sifted it.
Oh, yeah, one other thing - make sure you have a flea-comb and comb the cats regularly. You'll see the flea-dirt (eggs etc.) that comes out.
posted
I had a very bad flea problem when I moved into my first apartment last year. My mother neglected to mention to me that my cat (who came to live me now that I was out of the dorms) had fleas. Within two months, you weren't able to go anywhere in that apartment without having to swat ten fleas off of your feet.
What I had to do to get rid of them was bomb everything. I used a flea treatment called Frontline (similar to Advantage, but expensive and only available in vet's offices down here) on my cat. Then, I set off a flea bomb in every big room of the apartment. I just used the cheapest brand I could find; it worked well. After venting the apartment, I sprayed a flea spray around all the doors and windows. I finished it all up by vacuuming thoroughly and washing all the linens. Took about three hours total to do, but it solved the problem. Never had another flea infestation.
If you're going to bomb your apartment, you better do it all at one time. Just doing one room (like I did at the start of the mess) does nothing but gives the fleas the chance to run to another room and raise a new, larger army to drive you nuts.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Some bugs? Create a relativistic time bubble around the area you are choosing to contain them in. - Make sure they don't take control of the mechanism
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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Might have to get a new apartment afterwards though. And a new cat...
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Toadkiller: You know - all we need to do now is have a "how do I get my whites really white" thread to complete our transmorgification from ubertrek-nerd site to happy homemaking.com.
Vinegar.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I say we bug out and nuke the site from orbit: it's the only way to be sure.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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