The Bomb.

[Tempset]

We have cats. We also, unfortunately, have fleas. We've tried just about every other option out on the market today to rid our 1 bedroom apartment of this problem.

My mother'n'law says we need to bomb the apartment.

I told her about my nano reef, my fiance's 55gal freshwater and my 4 snakes cakes(each covered with a hard screen designed for each tank).

She said we should use plastic wrap over all tanks(aquatic & reptile), remove the cats and take in a movie or something (leaving the cats at mom'n'laws house of course).

I wanted to know the general opinion of what people here think. Any other options that are sure fire method of handling this problem?

[BiggySmalls]

i wouldn't risk it.
get rid of the fleas on ur cats, go to the vet

[Tempset]

Originally posted by BiggySmalls
i wouldn't risk it.
get rid of the fleas on ur cats, go to the vet

The fleas aren't only on the cats, they're in the carpet as well.

[usmcsgt]

I have that same dilema, but I am eventually removing all my carpet and replacing it with Pergo Laminate floors.

[BTTRFLYGRL]

They do make products to use on carpets..Some are powder. I have never used them, so I can't tell you if they work or not but its worth a try

[chrisstie]

Have you tried something like Frontline or one of the medications you put on the back of the cats neck? If you can eliminate them from the cats (and yourselves) they should die off eventually without a food source.

I used to live in the boonies and we would actually vacuum the fleas out of the carpet and dispose of them, but depending on your vacuum and carpet it may be difficult.

Getting rid of them may be like an algae bloom- time and patience unless you go the nuke it all route =\

You may even want to check out a cat forum (thecatsite.com) for ideas on how to help your cats with animal-friendly solutions.. Bombing a house with fish tanks just sounds like a bad idea

[Sk8r]

It can be done with the plastic wrap. Shut down lights and everything that could bring bad air in. And the minute the requisite time has passed, get in there, fling open the windows, run fans in the windows outbound, and run polypad and carbon as you start the tank up.

Step two. Get Advantage for the cats and dogs. If you were using that, you wouldn't likely have the carpet problem. It robs the fleas of a host, and they can't breed. Ask your vet.

[theatrus]

Have you tried advantage or frontline on the cats? Yes its in your carpet, but from having cats these medications work extremely well.

[Sk8r]

Before I'd bomb the place, I'd undoubtedly go for Frontline or Advantage to see if after the 14-day life cycle of said fleas, they are able to breed. Fleas have to have blood to produce eggs. And blood-sucking from a cat that's had Advantage is fatal to the flea.

[MimicTang]

have u tried advantage? Suppose to make fleas sterile. You just to be patient wait for the remaining eggs to hatch and die

[dfleary]

I agree on the Frontline. I'd not want to risk "the bomb" wiping out the aquarium, not to mention my other pets (I also have a couple of snakes and a couple of parrots).

[pad]

Frontline or advantage on the pet and dust with DE. Diatamaceous earth filter powder for swimming pool filters. Vacuum and reapply until they go bye bye.

[3D-Reef]

We had problems with fleas in the carpet last year.We would bomb the house and use advantage,frontline,ect... Finally We called the bug exterminator.Thats the only thing that worked.

If your going to bomb the place,tape plastic over the top of the tank.Put a air pump outside and run a line into your tank.That way it will have fresh air.

With all of the money we spent on bombs and spray,it would have been cheaper to call the exterminator first.With a lot less hassle.

[lclzgarling]

I'd say something but there are cat lovers out there. HA HA

[MimicTang]

You must have super fleas 3d-reef

[Tarkus70]

I have used a powder on carpet that was flea infested. Got it from Agway or you can order it online it worked real well but buy enough for two doses. Just My $0.02

[jblackwell0488]

my wife was told to use borax powder on the rugs.. she sprinkled it on and let it sit on the carpets for about 12 hour.. now, this did work... it got rid of the fleas...but you need a stong vacuum to suck up all the powder the next morning....if you have dark carpets it may leave white patches , i have tan/beige carpets.. after i knew it worked i shampooed the carpets anyways just to make my wife feel better. im sure the carpet shampooer didnt do the fleas any good either.....jaime

[MimicTang]

You can also try using plates of water near your cat and bed. Sounds funny but fleas can't jump outta water.

[Jesika_rose]

I have both a cat and a dog.. I also work at a farm store... Get a product called Sevins Dust and sprinkle it on your carpet ( Its also safe enough to put directly on your dog never put it on a cat so i dont know)... THen let it have time to set for a couple hours and then vacuum...

[Jesika_rose]

Also Dawn dish liquid detergent will suffocate fleas if you bath the animals in them... The newest roumer I have heard is to give your animals garlic tabets, but seeing as i have never tried it I am not postive on that one

[ls1grrrl]

I second the diatemaceous earth recommendation, but wouldn't suggest getting the kind used in pool filters. Filter grade DE is super heated which causes the diatoms to become more jagged, which makes it more dangerous to breathe. You should get food grade DE - its not super heated and works just as well but more safely to mechanically desicate all kinds of bugs including fleas, ticks, etc.

Sprinkle it all over the carpet and down in the spaces between wall/carpet, door jams, etc. Leave it for 2-3 days and then vaccuum. You may have to repeat it a couple of times (and use in conjunction with treating the cats and cleaning their beddding), but it's not toxic for you to breathe and won't hurt your snakes or fish. (Food grade DE is edible and some people use it for intestinal parasite control as well as getting rid of external pests.) You can also dust your cats with DE. I use DE on kittens and puppies too young to use chemicals on safely.

I used DE to get rid of a horrible tick infestation in my house. Literally you couldn't walk through the bedroom without pulling 3-5 brown ticks off of you. I dusted all my carpetted areas and left it down for 3 days, then vaccuumed and never saw another tick in my house. (At the time, I had 5 snakes and never had a worry about their safety.)



Regards,
Heather

[fargo_182]

To the dish bowl response, the more efficient and funnest thing to watch ever!!

Grab any cereal/tupperware bowl you desire, shallow is best so they don't have ot jump as high.

Fill bowl with water preferably warm/hot water mix in some dish soap, but try not to make bubbles.

Put near the most infested areas and put a desk lamp overtop of it (you know the ones with the neck that can be adjusted.

And watch the flying circus of death before your eyes! Turn off the lights for best results.

Frontline or advantage is the best thing ever made, we had the worst case ever all over your socks everything.
in 1 week the carpets were clear, in 2 weeks the dogs didn't itch. The worst part is waiting for the eggs to hatch.

I think we put it behind their ears though because thats where they bite the most. It was a long time ago when we had this problem, maybe fleas are immune to it now?

[chrisstie]

To Jesika and the OP - if you use seven dust (really not sure on the exact name) you can get it at a place like home depot- try the garden and\or pest department. That stuff gets rid of everything.

Pro-tip- Diatemaceous earth is really really great in FL for getting rid of silverfish (and all nasty little things) but definitely on the food grade stuff. Amazing how it works!

To fargo- I'm no vet but i've had animals all my life and 3 cats now- the frontline\advantage\et al types of medications are simply a topical application but you put it on the backs of their necks so they can't lick it off - or paw at it and then lick it off their paws - its then absorbed into the skin and bloodstream (like a smokers patch kinda) and the fleas drink the blood.. then poof!


I would just be so very, very careful using anything near you tank, even if you tape it off.

There was a thread on here not long ago about this poor guy who was sick.. He stayed home and slept on the couch- near the fish tank. When he started getting better mom decided she'd (and this is so something my mom would do, too) lysol down the whole area.. and not long after his tank started to go downhill. Just some lysol spray had gotten into and affected the tank.

If you do bomb and can't wait it out- i really would go with the advice to pump air in from outside if its at all possible, or even move the tanks if necessary.. but try the other options first!

A pack of flea stuff for one cat is ~$30 I think. If you live in a place where there's mosquitoes I think its frontline that also has heartgard type medicine to help prevent heart worm and possibly even ear mites

Aren't you all so glad that fish don't get problems like that?! Then again if it were the other way around I would be totallyf reaked out if I saw a cat with pop-eye

[Dubbin1]

I went through this problem this summer with our dogs. You can get a pill from the vet that will kill the fleas within 24hrs. That will take care of the cats. My wife then bought some flea spray for the carpet and that worked like a charm. Shes in bed right now and I wont see her until after work tomorrow but I will post the name of the spray when I can ask her.

[J. Montgomery]

Though everyone has already touched on pretty much every option on here I'll toss in my few comments. I've never seen carpet dusts or bombs work completely. The dust won't really come up well, and the bombs stink (and don't really work). Talk to your vet about a pill, or get some Frontline from your local pet store. The Frontline type of products are the bomb. And they usually are effective for ~6 months afterwards.