Keeping your home flea and tick free?

1096 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Liesje, Jun 9, 2008

AbbyK9

Discussion Starter · Jun 8, 2008

What does everyone do to keep their pets and home free of fleas and ticks?

We have never had a problem with either before, but this year seems to be really bad for both. It's like the ticks are just dropping from the sky around here the second you step outside, and even with Advantix on the pup and bug spray on me, we still pick them up. Fleas, too. We've never had any issues with fleas and today I found two on my little kitty.

He's had a bath and I've washed all the pet bedding and sprayed down everything with the herbal no flea spray I have, but it's just frustrating. We take every precaution and literally clean and vacuum every day, and this year we're just having an issue with both kinds of critters.

Any suggestions?

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GSDgirlAL

· #2 · Jun 8, 2008

I honestly have never really had to worry about fleas and ticks inside b/c in the super hot and warm months the topical flea preventative has worked well enough for me.

A friend of mine was having a terrible time with it and I finally suggested getting her girls a new bed, she did and hasn't had a problem since.

I hope you find a solution soon and Im sure someone else will chime in with better advice.

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ldpeterson

· #3 · Jun 8, 2008

My cats are indoor only so I use to never use flea control on them. Somehow though, Sunny managed to pick a few up and got tapeworm from them. That was the only time I found fleas in the house (and fleas are BAD around here).

Now every animal regardless of it's indoor/outdoor status gets flea preventative and we haven't had an issue since.

Plus I think it helps that out floors are tile as I know fleas looooove carpet!

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CertainlySpoiled

· #4 · Jun 8, 2008

We don't normally have flea/tick issues here, but Emma had a tick on her the other day, so now we are using the flea/tick collars for right now.

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AbbyK9

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 8, 2008

We only have carpet in three areas of our new place: the living room, our upstairs bedroom, and the stairway. All other rooms are either tile or wooden floor.

Like I said, we never had an issue before, but this year, for some reason, it's a problem, even with preventive. I think Abby is mostly to blame for bringing fleas and ticks on from the outside, especially when we go hiking and herding, but also from our backyard. My cats are both indoor cats (one is only 10 weeks old!) so they are not normally treated with anything. I found one tick on my older cat (I'm assuming it came in on Abby, as my cat does not go outside) and one tick on both myself and DH this year, along with 2 on Abby (who is treated monthly).

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BrennasMom

· #6 · Jun 8, 2008

I've never had a problem with fleas. When I was living in FL I took the dogs hiking and they came back absolutely covered in what I assume were tick nymphs...Barely visible little bitty ticks, everywhere! It took weeks before I finally got rid of them and that was only because I was moving so I threw out all my furniture.

Last Tuesday I took them hiking and we came back with probably 20 or so ticks between the 3 of us. They are on frontline plus and I had sprayed myself with bug spray. Luckily the frontline plus killed all the ticks I couldn't find and they dropped off. If you read the website it says it takes 24-48 hrs to kill all ticks. It says they don't need to attach to be killed though most of the ones I found were attached.

Next time I go hiking I'll have to get preventic collars for them.

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doggiedad

· #7 · Jun 8, 2008

i know you don't want to use chemicals but maybe the herbal isn't strong enough. did you spray all of the floors in the house? did you spray outside? spray the funiture. make sure the spray you're usuing won't stain the funiture or cause harm to the wood. switch brands now and then. they can get use to one brand. i forget the time frame but after you spray your supposed to spray again so you get the newly hatched. i know it's a pain but hang in there.

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arycrest

· #8 · Jun 8, 2008

Earlier this year I had to switch from Frontline Plus to Comfortis for flea control.

Knock on wood, we haven't had ticks yet but I plan on giving Frontline a try before trying another product. I have the yard sprayed when I have a problem with ticks or fleas that can't be controlled.

I know you recently moved but can't recall if you're in the city or country now. If you're in the country, Guinea Fowl are supposed to be excellent for controlling the tick population.
http://www.lymediseasepa.com/GuineaHens.htm

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Foo Lyn Roo

· #9 · Jun 8, 2008

year round advantix and no issues in over the year we have had him.
baby girl isn't done her foster vetting yet, but she too will go
on a year round dosage.

Best method is prevention.

Im sure some of you are anti-meds like that but, I live in NJ, and all it takes is one bite and my dogs got lyme disease.

No thanks.

We also treat our yard for pest.

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Liesje

· #10 · Jun 9, 2008

Kenya brought in fleas last fall (while on BioSpot!). I did some reading and it said that the fleas generally stay on the dog and won't jump on you unless the dog is sick, but the eggs drop off into the carpet and don't stay on the dog. I also read the only way to really break a flea problem is to stop the egg cycle; simply killing adult fleas is only temporary.

So I went to the vet and they sold me this big can of spray. It's similar to bombing (pets should be removed while spraying). I could not bomb b/c I don't know how to turn off all our pilots. The spray said it protects the house for 365 days. I also got a powder for carpets, same thing, just in a powdered form. Both contain an insect growth regulator called Nylar. The IGR is the only way to "kill" (interrupt the life cycle) of the flea eggs.

I used the spray on the porch, furniture, curtains, and around the baseboards of all the hard floored rooms. Actually, before I sprayed I took all the bedding, curtains, dog bedding, rugs, and removable upholstery and washed them in boiling water (poured in water I boiled on the stove) with bleach and lots of salt. The power I sprinkled on all the carpets, then brushed it in with a broom, let it sit several hours and vacuumed it up.

I have not seen a flea or any other pesky sort of bug since then.

I've heard vacuuming every day and keeping a flea collar in your vacuum canister helps with any eggs, though I have not done this since the products I used supposedly work for a year.

I cannot treat my yard because it is HUGE and parts are long grass or wooded. I'm thinking of treating the porch again, b/c that's where the dogs lay and where they go in/out of the house.

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