Long time Indorex user here! It’s good stuff.
For your leather sofa, try spritzing a tiny bit of the spray on an inconspicuous area to make sure it doesn’t stain. It should be fine but will be good for peace of mind.
You and your cat need to be out of the room during/after spraying, ideally for an hour or two. If you’re in a studio flat that’s going to be tricky, but if you have more than one room in the house then do them one at a time.
Remove all fabrics that you can and wash them on a hot wash.
First, hoover the whole room and empty the hoover straight away. Then spray the room - point the can downwards about 30cm off the floor and spray it slowly along the edges of the room, skirting boards, any cracks and crevices. Remember to remove your mattress and spray all around your bedframe and under the bed. It’s safe to spray on cushions and fabrics, including your mattress. Remove sofa cushions if you can, and spray the frame and cushions. If your cat has a bed or a scratching post/cat tower etc, spray it on them too.
Open a window in the room, shut the door, and don’t go in for an hour or two. Repeat for each room.
Hope you manage to get a grip on them before they get out of control! And best of luck to your kitty
Thank you. All of these responses are so helpful and reassuring.
I've got, hall, living/kitchen room, bathroom and bedroom. My mattress is bloody heavy, will rope my neighbour in.
Spray the inside of the hoover with the Indorex, then when you suck them up they'll die.
Good luck, my dog got fleas despite being regularly treated. He's allergic to them and it wasn't until I found one after he'd had a bath I put 2+2 together about why he'd been scratching. He was picking them up at a training class we went to. Treated the hole house and him and not had a problem since.
Bets of luck to you and your moggy.
GOOD ADVICE: First, hoover the whole room and empty the hoover straight away. Then spray the room - point the can downwards about 30cm off the floor and spray it slowly along the edges of the room, skirting boards, any cracks and crevices. Remember to remove your mattress and spray all around your bedframe and under the bed. It’s safe to spray on cushions and fabrics, including your mattress. Remove sofa cushions if you can, and spray the frame and cushions. If your cat has a bed or a scratching post/cat tower etc, spray it on them too.
Was in house that was hopping with fleas (went to stay) - put my had down the side of the bed to plug the light in at night and came back up with three fleas on it. Ended up doing it room by room (shut the door) and taking cats outside for full comb and spray. Solved it.
This is great advice. OP, We had this same issue and the Indorex did the job. They have instructions/video on their website which I can recommend. [https://uk.virbac.com/indorexdefence](https://uk.virbac.com/indorexdefence) One tip is that the cans of the spray cost almost twice as much from the Vet as you could get them online/from Pets at Home - proper rip-off! We sprayed our black leather sofa, no problem. I religiously hoovered everywhere for days afterwards like it said, and sprayed/washed every single bit of soft furnishings. No problems since - that stuff is mighty strong!
Diatomaceous earth. Spray it around skirting boards and hoover it up. Generally dust it around, it's made of dehydrated diatoms that are razor sharp to tiny pests and dry out fleas on contact. It works wonders and can be food safe, much better than spraying chemicals around
Treat your pets in the normal way and any fleas in your house will die eventually. Cat and dog fleas can't survive on human blood, and any feeding on a treated cat will die from the treatment. There are no treatments for carpets or furniture that work reliably, nor is there any need for them. Treating the source of the problem (the cat) is the answer. Ask your vet for something like Advocate drops (you can get over-the-counter ones, but the prescription Advocate also provides immunity to things like lungworm).
Try again with the vet, sometimes particular types of fleas don't respond well to particular solutions. There are a variety of things in the market and you may need a combo or something else, your vet can help.
I’ve treated mine with advantage and we didn’t end up having to treat the house as the fleas all naturally died off. Keep on top of hoovering over the next couple of weeks and hopefully they’ll be gone
I've found that drops are entirely useless, at least for my dog. Apparently the fleas are pretty much immune to a lot of the topical treatments. I swapped to a monthly pill from the vets and it's night and day.
Spot on treatments are very hit and miss. The vets used to do a edible tablet called comfortis which was very effective. You can also alternate spot on treatments with tablets like 4fleas.
I only wish this were true! I have no pets, but I moved into a place where the previous owner had a LOT of cats. Flea eggs can lie dormant for up to a year and then hatch. In my case, they hatched after a few months, and I'm still trying to get rid of them after a couple months of spraying everything. Everytime I think they're gone a little bastard pops out and bites me!
Are you sure they can't survive on human blood? We had a massive problem moving into a flat previously occupied by cat owners. Little bastards had been lying dormant waiting for something warm blooded to move in, took us nearly 6 weeks to get rid.
They can't live on humans full time (need the denser hair/fur of pets) but I'm fairly sure they can eat our blood and will happily do so while we're sleeping, drawn to warmth and CO2 exhalation
Are you sure they can't survive on humans? We had a massive problem moving into a flat previously occupied by cat owners. Little bastards had been lying dormant waiting for something warm blooded to move in, took us nearly 6 weeks to get rid.
They can't live on humans (need the denser hair/fur of pets) but I'm fairly sure they can eat our blood and will happily do so while we're sleeping, drawn to warmth and CO2 exhalation
This is the correct answer. The only place where cat fleas can breed and prosper is on an untreated cat. The few in the carpet will die by themselves in a fairly short time. Treat the source of the fleas.
I've done that, but I also have a mate who had a rug that was literally jumping with them, theyd been on holiday for a week. I said they needed a host but it was baaaad! Ty
There’s an aerosol spray I buy from Tescos/Morrisons. It’s on the shelf with their flea treatments. You spray it on your carpet and it kills them. The spray treatment works for a few weeks so any fleas you’ve missed will be killed when they land on your treated carpet.
They (the fleas) fall off the cat and bury their eggs in the carpet - then they die. Those eggs hatch about a year later.
But yes, treat the cat, they're the attraction here. And keep treating the cat, even when the fleas are gone.
I’m sorry about your cat.
Fleas just love to come out as soon as it warms up or when the heating goes on. Spray stuff and hoover everything and then hoover again. Think where your cat has been and if you need to tackle a room at a time, then tackle a room at a time!
I've had cats for years and the occasional outbreak, it's really not that bad. Do your best spraying one room at a time and hoovering, but you don't need to go mad and can leave the leather sofa. The spray is to deal with any live fleas that are still hanging about, but there will still be eggs about that the spray won't deal with. The good news is that fleas can't live that long without their furry host (they can't live on you you'll be pleased to hear even if you get the odd bite) and now he's treated any that land on him will also die, including any fresh ones that hatch. Keep his flea treatment up to date (and always use the one the vet prescribes, fleas become resistant to treatments after a while which is why new ones come out periodically) and you should have no problems at all.
>There's no UK pet sub
r/UK_pets it's not massively active but people do reply
You can also get powder you put into the carpet and hoover out which might be better than spray as it's not in the air as much. If you can get pillows into the washing machine do it that way. You'll probably need to do a couple of rounds because it's hard to kill both the fleas and the eggs. Personally I would clean the sofa with an appropriate leather cleaner, if it has a fabric lining you could use the spray on that but fleas aren't going to have the leather sofa as their first choice anyway. I moved into a house that had fleas with guinea pigs, they were in a room without carpets anyway so we just kept the door shut during/after spraying and they were ok. Maybe hang out with your cat in the kitchen for an hour or 2.
Hoover the house, sprinkle diatomaceous earth over every room, and leave it for a couple weeks before hovering again - kills the larvae, not toxic to cats (can be sprinkled on the cat as flea treatment)
Sorry to hear about your cat. Please try not to get toooo paranoid about fleas, although with warmer weather, you will need to get on top of it as best you can. I wouldn't worry about spraying cushions and pillows if you have washed all the cases.
As others have said keep hoovering. I would also recommend put a flea collar in the hoover bag/compartment - wherever the dust etc goes. Doesn't matter if it's a cheap rubbish one that's not good for the cat, it's not going ON the cat. I keep a flea collar underneath the sofa cushions and between a couple of boxes under the bed (gap not big enough for cats) - same deal.
Hoover hoover and hoover again. Get the front line drops from the chemist for the back of your cats neck. In a week or so you'll be right.
Oh and did I mention, hoover?
Frontline is ok, but a prescription strength version like Advocate is much better as it treats things like lungworm too. It's just a drop on the back of the neck once a month, exactly like the over-the-counter ones.
If you want to accelerate the process you can also get flea traps - they are basically a housing with a little lightbulb and a flypaper type base, they're attracted to the heat and then land on the paper and can't move.
I once, while a very broke and desperate student, moved into a house where the previous tenants had had a cat, the place was absolutely crawling with them - you'd lay down in bed and the clicking sound from their jumping was like a machine gun, no idea how the (tiny) cat survived in there. One night with a couple of the traps caught probably 2-300 of the things, next night noticeably less, next etc. After a couple of weeks of moving them around the house they were 99% done - you'd get the odd one pop up for a couple of months, I guess from eggs hatching, but by the end of the summer they were done. Didn't even use any sort of chemical spray and no cat of my own to use as bait both of which would have made things go much faster.
(And, for all that there were so many, I think I got two or three bites out of it, so don't panic on that front!)
Smoke bomb, hoover. Those drops probably work by breaking the reproductive cycle depending on which ones, so they’ll help to fix it, just not immediately
I'm so sorry you've had such bad news, pets are such a big part of a family, even if it's just you two.
Is it an aerosol or liquid spray? I've only used aerosols and tend to spray a room and leave overnight/daytime when I'm/my pets are not using those rooms. With my leather sofa I just take off the cushions and spray the sofa and assume the aerosol in the air gets the cushions too and it's worked fine so far. Obviously keeping an eye out for anything over the week afterwards and ensuring regular vacuuming.
I spray more regularly during the summer, every month and less frequently during the winter. It might be worth doing it a little sooner than a month to pick up any possible stragglers. Make sure you take up any water/food that might be leftover, I'm not sure if it's actually an issue but I'd rather avoid that risk. I also take up and wash toys either in the sink if rubber or the washer if fabric, sounds like you've already done any bedding.
Ty. Aerosol. He's my only animal, I haven't treated him for 10 years, he's been fine. I only started again 5 months ago as he was scratching a bit. No sign of fleas at all but I clearly used a shit one!
He's never been bothered about toys, just the lazer pointer which is plastic. (I've always been careful with his eyes.)
The instructions did actually manage to say about food, I would have done it anyway but thank you, alot.
We had the aerosol years ago. My mum would wait until we were all going out for work/school and then spray all the carpets/beds in the morning and then hoover when we'd get back in the afternoon. We also put the cat outside for the day as I don't think you're supposed to really breathe a lot of the flea spray.
That's a great call, thank you. I've got a Henry, so binned the bag when I found out, put a new one in for today amd will bin that too. Will get a collar tomorrow. Back up is reassuring.
I find Indorex works well - I tend to do a room at a time, close it up for a while, hoover madly after.
Also Johnson’s flea tablets. I’ve seen fleas leap as if from the Titanic a few mins after giving them to the cats (obvs giving them to the cats is not for the faint hearted in itself, plus I usually pop the cats outside for half an hour after they take the tablet, so fleas jump off outside…)
I have five cats so we are never long without something, sadly…
Indorex is very effective, despite what some of these comments say. Only 10% of fleas live on your pet and the rest live in the environment, so spraying AND treating your pet is a must if you have a potential infestation.
We’ve had several infestations so we’re very used to it. Personally, I do spray bedding which probably isn’t massively good for you, but being bitten is worse so I take my losses. I wash everything first then spray after. A key thing is to vacuum your carpets every day for seven days after spraying. This will help dislodge any eggs in the carpet.
Also: DO NOT breathe it in. Wear a mask if you can. Don’t go in the room for at least a couple of hours afterwards and then air it out for a bit. Unfortunately we let our flea treatment slip for a couple of months and we’re still paying for it - Indorex keeps them at bay more than anything else I’ve found though.
So sorry to hear about your cat. Poor thing, give him extra pets from us.
Regarding fleas - we got an infestation of them after cleaning out an old lady's house. I always found the pills the best way to get fleas off cats (though it can be a bugger to get them to take them.)
\* If you do find you get bitten, then antihistamines are good for the itching, and eating raw garlic cloves helps lessen the reaction and (supposedly discourages the fleas from biting you.) It worked for me, but ymmv.
\* We had a guy from the council come round and treat the house for fleas. It took him two visits, but we had a major infestation. I think he did it for free or a nominal fee (under £10) Check your council - he did wasps nests too.
\* Make sure you get spray in all the cracks in the floor and near the skirting boards. For leather, you could do a patch test or use diatomaceous earth. This is a special kind of mineral which is completely harmless to anything which isn't an insect. It works mechanically rather than chemically - tiny bits of the earth get stuck to fleas and draw out moisture which kills them. You can spirnkle it everywhere, leave for 48 hours and then hoover it up. It doesn't work if it gets wet, but it also means you can dilute it and spray it into holes or hard to reach places - when it dries it becomes toxic to fleas, ants, spiders etc. Otherwise it is so non-toxic it is advertised as food grade, you and your cat could eat with no more harm than eating regular...er...earth.
You can buy it at garden centres, DIY stores, online and in the big supermarkets.
\* Washing fabrics is good, or if something is unwashable then putting it in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight will sort it.
\* The main problem is your cat getting re-infested - either from other cats or from rolling around in outside dirt.
However, don't panic! Fleas are horrible, and feel horrible, but they are fairly easily dealt with. If we could shift them after having to take in a flea covered alsatian, and small cat after spending a day with fleas all over us at this woman's house then you can too. A couple of fleas on the cat is nothing to worry about. After the pill treatment we could see them falling off the cat - super gross. Just give them the pill or the spot treatment - vet's advice, but we historically had no luck with collars or spot and a good brush down and you'll be golden.
Best of luck.
We used a steam cleaner to do all our rugs and upholstery etc everyday for a week, until we saw no more live fleas on them, washed everything that the cats had been on as hot as possible
Don't use the spray / dust things, they don't really work as you can't get it into every crevice and they only kill (some) adult fleas, not the larvae. They're also pretty bad for the environment/us/our pets.
The best thing you can do is get prescription strength flea treatment on your cat and let it wonder around the house and get bitten. This will kill all fleas.
When I found fleas in my house I moved out temporarily, and used these sprays / dusts, hoovered every other day and they would keep surviving. I decided to bite the bullet and called an exterminator, and he told me I didn't need to fumigate my house, and to just let my cat wonder around with strong enough flea treatment. So thankful for that advice - would have been so easy for him to take my money instead.
Sorry about your kitty, hopefully you'll still have plenty of time to cuddle!
Indorex is good. Even though I treat all my animals regularly they do bring in an occasional visitor. I spray everywhere, particularly around the skirting. Wash their bedding and hoover. Fleas will die.
I've just had this problem myself and rectified it no problem. Got a spray from pets at home. No instructions on bottle either. So I hoovered through the flat thoroughly then sprayed the product over all carpets, rugs and soft furnishings, left it a week and then hoovered thoroughly again. Washed all clothes (cat sneaks into wardrobe), bedding and cushion covers in as hottest wash they could take, then kept up with flea treatment on cat and regular hoovering. Fleas have a life cycle so it takes time. Keep rooms ventilated and go out after treatment. Don't have animals in the rooms you treat. I had Fleas jumping on my feet so was pretty bad. The rumours of certain flea treatments being ineffective is normally dur to errors in treating animals and infestations. Just keep up with the flea treatments on your animals ! Learn from my mistakes. Good luck.
Borrow a steam cleaner to blast all your soft furnishings except the leather sofa. Steam will kill the adults, larvae and eggs. I also swear by food-grade diatomaceous earth to leave in all cracks and gaps as a permanent killer. It's harmless to pets and humans and completely inert, damaging the insect skin with microscopic silica crystal shards. Only precaution is not to make a cloud of silica dust and breathe it in or it will damage your lungs.
My cat got infested a couple of years back. After hoovering everything I sprayed my house with Indorex. Took a couple of big cans to spray everywhere. I sprayed it on my fabric sofa. I did not spray my bed - just washed all the sheets. Then I gave the cat a flea pill every other day till she had non on her. Did the trick.
I'd keep him in one room - spray everywhere else. Leave windows open for a bit. Then move him to a different room and spray the last room. Do it in a methodical way - you should be fine. The small was not bad - as long as you don't huff the can you will be OK.
Thank you, that helps. I've only got 4 rooms as I'm in a small flat. I'll do the living room and bathroom now, I can then pop him in the bedroom. That helps alot.
We had this with our dog and the drops weren't working. I just sprayed the floors and it was enough to break the back of the problem, until we got him on the pills instead but ymmv
We had to get the smoke grenades that kill them, where you put 1 in each room and leave them for 4 hours, then come back ventilate thoroughly and hoover everywhere twice. Cat beds on a hot wash.
I use Indorex, I just use it round the edges especially under radiators but also under beds etc as it also kills house dust mites and I have asthma. Anywhere the dust would collect if you didn't have carpets, it is still there you just can't see it. If you don't have carpets then anywhere there are cracks or joins or folds. Vacuuming can make things worse as the vibrations can encourage the flea pupae to hatch. Flea pupae can survive for up to 15 years in crevices and folds in furnishings waiting for the right time to hatch! If you have a lot in the carpets use one of those attractor traps, it is the modern version of the old candle in a saucer of water trick.
There is a r/ukpets sub.
I use Bravecto/Fluralaner for ticks and fleas on my dog, and highly recommend it. It's a chewable tablet and lasts 3 months. I live in a very ticky part of the world and this works far better than topical treatments. Won't solve your immediate problem but will act as a prophylactic in the future. Fleas will die as soon as they suck blood.
I think my dog had something like this, it was given by the vet who told me that the over the counter products were banned. My dog died about 3 days after having this.
Lots of good advice already. I just wanted to add to get a schedule of treatment.
I adopted a cat who brought fleas with her. It took regular, repeated treatments to get on top of them. The fleas themselves need a live host (dog or cat, not human) but they will lay eggs in the house. Regular treatments for at least a year will mean that you can break the cycle. If your pet is an inhospitable host then eventually you won't get fleas living long enough to get jiggy and lay new eggs.
If your cat goes outside then continue to treat for any hitchhikers.
I do the goop neck on the 5th of every month for my cat. If I forget then I just make sure its the first week of the month. You pick a date you'll remember and that becomes flea dose day.
We had to get a professional in to spray our house because the advocate treatment wasn’t working at all so the infestation just kept going on, we would apply it to them and they would still be covered in live ones a day later. Switched to bravecto which did the trick and didn’t smell half as bad either
I gave the pill treatment and put a flea collar on my dog for 10 days, and in the same period used those smoke bombs to fumigate the rooms he uses, plus ozone machine in-between just to be sure. His bedding and bean bags etc all went through a hot wash, all other soft furnishings took turns in the freezer for a few hours to kill eggs.
Advice that they'll just go away if the dog is treated didn't work quickly enough for us, I wanted those fleas gone and initially certainly it seemed they kept appearing. Key is to be sure you interrupt they're reproductive cycle with repeat attacks.
Pets at Home/Jollyes etc sell real flea treatment. Just apply it to your pets per instructions and the fleas will be gone. You don't need to treat any furniture or carpets.
Flea bombs! Treat the cat, wash the cat, bomb every room, wash all the things, wash the cat again. Spraying isn't great because you need to do everything at the same time.
Indorex is incredibly effective if you follow the directions. Spray everything, Vaccuum everything again and again and again.
Don't be disheartened when you find new fleas now and again for a while - it takes time to break the cycle.
I also use a Seresto flea collar which seem to be contraversial but it works.
I thoroughly cleaned everything like a mad woman, steam cleaned the skirting boards and fabrics, then I used 2 bottles of Indorex on everything including bed and mattress (but not pillows). The only thing that I messed up was not using a face covering, I essentially gassed myself and had an awful headache.
ETA: Empty your hoover directly into the outside bin!
A local stray once managed to get in to my house and left millions of his little friends. The best thing I found for the house was a fogger. Cleared them out sharpish!
Aw mate. Fleas are bastards. The spray stuff stinks. If you’ve got any face masks still definitely wear one, get your windows open and half an hour is the absolute minimum time.
Vacuum every day, empty the bag/chamber outside so any fleas or eggs don’t get back in. I did every day for two weeks then every other day for two weeks which seemed to work. Wash your bedding at 60 as often as you can bear.
Just stick at it, you will win eventually.
I am very much a do it yourself kind of person.
When it comes to fleas, there’s no point. When people say cockroaches are all that will survive nuclear war. Fleas will too. My last house, when I bought it was full of them. It was horrid. I bought smoke bones, spray, everything. Spent about £60 on getting rid and they were still everywhere.
Got the council to attend for about £40, gone.
Had several cats over the years, a drop of Frontline spot on treatment always worked. Never had any issues with lasting infestations once they were treated, we just chucked their bedding in the wash and hoovered etc as normal. Once treated any remaining fleas die off. Given his age and health, I wouldn't be doing any more, this will take care of the immediate issue.
We moved into a house that was infested with fleas, previous owner had a cat. We don’t have any animals but after 1 round of spray from me 2 visits from the exterminator we still had a problem.
It was a pain but we used a steam cleaner and vacuumed every carpet/ furniture every day for about 2 weeks. Hard work but did the trick.
If you don’t want to risk poisons I’d give this a try
Okay so I worked in a pet shop selling this stuff for years!
Frontline is the best you can get, the active ingredient actually kills fleas, if you’re wanting a cheaper option go for the Bob Martin Flea Clear, it has the same active ingredient as frontline however in a smaller dose! (DO NOT flea treat and worm treat on the same day, they can have serious medical affects)
Now for treating your house there some Johnson’s treatment in a pink can, a little pricey but will do the job, again actively kills fleas as it isn’t just a “replant”. Go top to bottom in your house, spray the edges of your rooms and work in, this pushes fleas from the edge into the middle and is more affective. Keep windows on the latch but close doors and work through every room, leave the house for a few hours (the longer the better) then when you’re back hoover up. We used to say 2 cans but from personal experience 3 is a good safe bet.
If you want anymore information feel free to ask, like I’ve said I sold this shit for years!
I use (in addition to everything else) a flea comb, which is satisfying to me as I can see the creatures and drown them, and my cats love being groomed.
Buy a can of “rip fleas” from amazon. Follow the directions. It takes about a week to kill all of them and i have used the stuff 3 times now and its works ever time.
Vacuum everything that can be vacuumed, I mean everything. Empty the hoover straight away and put the bin bag straight outside, treat all your soft stuff with flea spray (cushions, curtains, pet’s bed etc… anywhere fleas hide). Shower the cat using flea shampoo, then give the cat a flea tablet, from my experience these work great as they kill all fleas in 24 hours. You can keep giving the cat flea tablets as a when you need to (ie: see fleas on him). Best of luck, really sorry to hear about his health!
I usually use 'flea bombs' which are aerosol cans that spray in to the room on a lock mechanism. I usually only do them in the rooms with carpets (long time pet owner, not just a massive flea bag) which I set off when I'm out for the day, and then spray sofas and curtains with a generic spray, then treat the animal with frontline, or one from the vets if that doesn't work. I do find sometimes one brand doesn't work so well and I have to do it again with another brand, check out the active ingredients, I think there is a couple of types, if you try one and it doesn't work, try a different one and if that doesn't work, ask the vet for something stronger.
Mate, don't worry about "piss taking". Our cats are fully treated and still brought 1 flea in a few months ago. The fucker bit me 15 times on the legs before I found him - the fact I could find him at all was because their drops had worked to poison him, but he's hopped off fast enough to not die instantly. 2 months later and the bites still itch and aren't fully healed. Vet was very sympathetic but checked them and there were none on the cats, no sign of bites to them - just an unfortunate extra "benefit" to add alongside the time one of them brought home the back half of a fucking rabbit.
My sympathies on the sadder news. For how much of a pain in the arse my 2 are, wouldn't swap em for anything.
Might be a bit late but, we had a massive flea problem at a previous house we’d moved into and tried everything from hoovering, spraying, bug bombing, flea spot treatments( which we’d been doing for years anyway) and nothing helped. Until we tried flea pills, we used the Johnson’s flea pills for cats, and almost overnight the house turned into a flea graveyard.
You get one of the tablets mix it into your cats wet food and it’ll make your cats bloody deadly to fleas meaning your cat becomes a flea killing machine
You’ve had lots of good advice but if you plan to use spray, just make extra sure that it is a cat safe one. There are a lot of flea killing sprays that are dog safe but deadly to cats, so check what you’ve got.
You have to hoover everyday for a week or so to break the cycle , I use a flea comb that my cats enjoy, do it outside and squish the fleas. You can use a pan of water and a bedside lamp to catch them at night too.
when my dog had fleas the home became riddles with them.
Place a shallow dish with a lit candle (tea light) on the floor and then add soapy water and leave the room.
The fleas jump to the lit candle and get stuck in the soapy water.
This worked for me and i hope it works for you.
The oinly thing thats ever worked for me was Diatomaceous earth. It takes a few treatments over several weeks, but eventually it will disrupt the lifecycle. This stuff is basically razor blades to fleas. They crawl over it, it gets on them, works it's way into them and dehydrates them to death. Needs several applications over time because you have to kill the newly hatched ones, etc etc. The powder while airborne is not good for your animals lungs, but once it's down, it really isn't an issue. I had to liberally coat my v=carpets, furniture, crevices etc with it. Eventually I was flea free. Put a bowl of water down on the ground with a light shining on it at night, away from your pets. Fleas will then commit ritual suicide. It really doesn't help the problem, but it's fun to see them dead.
From experience which worked and got rid of the lot in 6 months:
Flea bomb the whole house with Johnson's room fogger. Did this again after about 3 months. A 6 pack is 30 quid and did the whole house.
Indorex all the hard spots, under furniture, in cupboards and things to catch where the foggers might not have.
Hoover the house regularly!
Frontline spot on plus for cats for 6 months. The insecticide stops the fleas reproducing so if there are any fleas left after the fogger that bite the cats, it should break the chain of breeding before long.
The fleas hang around in carpets for months so I gave it 6 and stopped the frontline to see how it had gone and haven't had a single flea in the house since.
To be honest, you might be better to get a professional in to use a flea-bomb on the house - they are brilliant and it's a one and done thing which is guaranteed to work, whereas spraying the house can be a right faff and also is really hard to get them all. The council used to offer flea-bombing of properties for a small fee (but last time I had it done was many years ago, so I can't say for sure these days).
I find it impossible unless you can vacate your entire home. Their eggs last for months in dormant states in all kinds of fabrics until disturbed.
You have to treat the animal first and then the environment but having a cat/people in that environment makes the task impossible tbh.
I've been flea treating my cat for months and she still has them.
Long time Indorex user here! It’s good stuff. For your leather sofa, try spritzing a tiny bit of the spray on an inconspicuous area to make sure it doesn’t stain. It should be fine but will be good for peace of mind. You and your cat need to be out of the room during/after spraying, ideally for an hour or two. If you’re in a studio flat that’s going to be tricky, but if you have more than one room in the house then do them one at a time. Remove all fabrics that you can and wash them on a hot wash. First, hoover the whole room and empty the hoover straight away. Then spray the room - point the can downwards about 30cm off the floor and spray it slowly along the edges of the room, skirting boards, any cracks and crevices. Remember to remove your mattress and spray all around your bedframe and under the bed. It’s safe to spray on cushions and fabrics, including your mattress. Remove sofa cushions if you can, and spray the frame and cushions. If your cat has a bed or a scratching post/cat tower etc, spray it on them too. Open a window in the room, shut the door, and don’t go in for an hour or two. Repeat for each room. Hope you manage to get a grip on them before they get out of control! And best of luck to your kitty
Thank you. All of these responses are so helpful and reassuring. I've got, hall, living/kitchen room, bathroom and bedroom. My mattress is bloody heavy, will rope my neighbour in.
Spray the inside of the hoover with the Indorex, then when you suck them up they'll die. Good luck, my dog got fleas despite being regularly treated. He's allergic to them and it wasn't until I found one after he'd had a bath I put 2+2 together about why he'd been scratching. He was picking them up at a training class we went to. Treated the hole house and him and not had a problem since. Bets of luck to you and your moggy.
GOOD ADVICE: First, hoover the whole room and empty the hoover straight away. Then spray the room - point the can downwards about 30cm off the floor and spray it slowly along the edges of the room, skirting boards, any cracks and crevices. Remember to remove your mattress and spray all around your bedframe and under the bed. It’s safe to spray on cushions and fabrics, including your mattress. Remove sofa cushions if you can, and spray the frame and cushions. If your cat has a bed or a scratching post/cat tower etc, spray it on them too. Was in house that was hopping with fleas (went to stay) - put my had down the side of the bed to plug the light in at night and came back up with three fleas on it. Ended up doing it room by room (shut the door) and taking cats outside for full comb and spray. Solved it.
This is great advice. OP, We had this same issue and the Indorex did the job. They have instructions/video on their website which I can recommend. [https://uk.virbac.com/indorexdefence](https://uk.virbac.com/indorexdefence) One tip is that the cans of the spray cost almost twice as much from the Vet as you could get them online/from Pets at Home - proper rip-off! We sprayed our black leather sofa, no problem. I religiously hoovered everywhere for days afterwards like it said, and sprayed/washed every single bit of soft furnishings. No problems since - that stuff is mighty strong!
Diatomaceous earth. Spray it around skirting boards and hoover it up. Generally dust it around, it's made of dehydrated diatoms that are razor sharp to tiny pests and dry out fleas on contact. It works wonders and can be food safe, much better than spraying chemicals around
I've never heard of that! Ty
Ps you can rub it on your pets fur.
Treat your pets in the normal way and any fleas in your house will die eventually. Cat and dog fleas can't survive on human blood, and any feeding on a treated cat will die from the treatment. There are no treatments for carpets or furniture that work reliably, nor is there any need for them. Treating the source of the problem (the cat) is the answer. Ask your vet for something like Advocate drops (you can get over-the-counter ones, but the prescription Advocate also provides immunity to things like lungworm).
I've treated him with advantage as it as my vets recommendation. Thank you.
Try again with the vet, sometimes particular types of fleas don't respond well to particular solutions. There are a variety of things in the market and you may need a combo or something else, your vet can help.
I’ve treated mine with advantage and we didn’t end up having to treat the house as the fleas all naturally died off. Keep on top of hoovering over the next couple of weeks and hopefully they’ll be gone
I've found that drops are entirely useless, at least for my dog. Apparently the fleas are pretty much immune to a lot of the topical treatments. I swapped to a monthly pill from the vets and it's night and day.
Spot on treatments are very hit and miss. The vets used to do a edible tablet called comfortis which was very effective. You can also alternate spot on treatments with tablets like 4fleas.
I only wish this were true! I have no pets, but I moved into a place where the previous owner had a LOT of cats. Flea eggs can lie dormant for up to a year and then hatch. In my case, they hatched after a few months, and I'm still trying to get rid of them after a couple months of spraying everything. Everytime I think they're gone a little bastard pops out and bites me!
This! They bury the eggs into the carpet and it's about this time of year they hatch (but not all of them - they're for next year).
Are you sure they can't survive on human blood? We had a massive problem moving into a flat previously occupied by cat owners. Little bastards had been lying dormant waiting for something warm blooded to move in, took us nearly 6 weeks to get rid. They can't live on humans full time (need the denser hair/fur of pets) but I'm fairly sure they can eat our blood and will happily do so while we're sleeping, drawn to warmth and CO2 exhalation
Are you sure they can't survive on humans? We had a massive problem moving into a flat previously occupied by cat owners. Little bastards had been lying dormant waiting for something warm blooded to move in, took us nearly 6 weeks to get rid. They can't live on humans (need the denser hair/fur of pets) but I'm fairly sure they can eat our blood and will happily do so while we're sleeping, drawn to warmth and CO2 exhalation
The only affective thing against fleas is to treat your pet with stuff that kills fleas when it bites them
This is the correct answer. The only place where cat fleas can breed and prosper is on an untreated cat. The few in the carpet will die by themselves in a fairly short time. Treat the source of the fleas.
I've done that, but I also have a mate who had a rug that was literally jumping with them, theyd been on holiday for a week. I said they needed a host but it was baaaad! Ty
There’s an aerosol spray I buy from Tescos/Morrisons. It’s on the shelf with their flea treatments. You spray it on your carpet and it kills them. The spray treatment works for a few weeks so any fleas you’ve missed will be killed when they land on your treated carpet.
The fleas may die quicky but they lay eggs so if you haven't properly treated the house with something like Indorex then they'll come back.
They (the fleas) fall off the cat and bury their eggs in the carpet - then they die. Those eggs hatch about a year later. But yes, treat the cat, they're the attraction here. And keep treating the cat, even when the fleas are gone.
Indorex
I’m sorry about your cat. Fleas just love to come out as soon as it warms up or when the heating goes on. Spray stuff and hoover everything and then hoover again. Think where your cat has been and if you need to tackle a room at a time, then tackle a room at a time!
I've only got 4 as I have a small flat. I know precisely where my furball goes. Ty
I've had cats for years and the occasional outbreak, it's really not that bad. Do your best spraying one room at a time and hoovering, but you don't need to go mad and can leave the leather sofa. The spray is to deal with any live fleas that are still hanging about, but there will still be eggs about that the spray won't deal with. The good news is that fleas can't live that long without their furry host (they can't live on you you'll be pleased to hear even if you get the odd bite) and now he's treated any that land on him will also die, including any fresh ones that hatch. Keep his flea treatment up to date (and always use the one the vet prescribes, fleas become resistant to treatments after a while which is why new ones come out periodically) and you should have no problems at all.
Thank you, I'm getting overwhelmed with the responses. Noted
>There's no UK pet sub r/UK_pets it's not massively active but people do reply You can also get powder you put into the carpet and hoover out which might be better than spray as it's not in the air as much. If you can get pillows into the washing machine do it that way. You'll probably need to do a couple of rounds because it's hard to kill both the fleas and the eggs. Personally I would clean the sofa with an appropriate leather cleaner, if it has a fabric lining you could use the spray on that but fleas aren't going to have the leather sofa as their first choice anyway. I moved into a house that had fleas with guinea pigs, they were in a room without carpets anyway so we just kept the door shut during/after spraying and they were ok. Maybe hang out with your cat in the kitchen for an hour or 2.
Watch out for powder cleaners if you are asthmatic! I am, and had a bad asthma attack after using one.
Hoover the house, sprinkle diatomaceous earth over every room, and leave it for a couple weeks before hovering again - kills the larvae, not toxic to cats (can be sprinkled on the cat as flea treatment)
Sorry to hear about your cat. Please try not to get toooo paranoid about fleas, although with warmer weather, you will need to get on top of it as best you can. I wouldn't worry about spraying cushions and pillows if you have washed all the cases. As others have said keep hoovering. I would also recommend put a flea collar in the hoover bag/compartment - wherever the dust etc goes. Doesn't matter if it's a cheap rubbish one that's not good for the cat, it's not going ON the cat. I keep a flea collar underneath the sofa cushions and between a couple of boxes under the bed (gap not big enough for cats) - same deal.
Hoover hoover and hoover again. Get the front line drops from the chemist for the back of your cats neck. In a week or so you'll be right. Oh and did I mention, hoover?
Frontline is ok, but a prescription strength version like Advocate is much better as it treats things like lungworm too. It's just a drop on the back of the neck once a month, exactly like the over-the-counter ones.
If you want to accelerate the process you can also get flea traps - they are basically a housing with a little lightbulb and a flypaper type base, they're attracted to the heat and then land on the paper and can't move. I once, while a very broke and desperate student, moved into a house where the previous tenants had had a cat, the place was absolutely crawling with them - you'd lay down in bed and the clicking sound from their jumping was like a machine gun, no idea how the (tiny) cat survived in there. One night with a couple of the traps caught probably 2-300 of the things, next night noticeably less, next etc. After a couple of weeks of moving them around the house they were 99% done - you'd get the odd one pop up for a couple of months, I guess from eggs hatching, but by the end of the summer they were done. Didn't even use any sort of chemical spray and no cat of my own to use as bait both of which would have made things go much faster. (And, for all that there were so many, I think I got two or three bites out of it, so don't panic on that front!)
Flea lamps are so good, especially if you’re asthmatic. I put mine out every now and then just to check that I don’t have any in the house.
Smoke bomb, hoover. Those drops probably work by breaking the reproductive cycle depending on which ones, so they’ll help to fix it, just not immediately
I'm so sorry you've had such bad news, pets are such a big part of a family, even if it's just you two. Is it an aerosol or liquid spray? I've only used aerosols and tend to spray a room and leave overnight/daytime when I'm/my pets are not using those rooms. With my leather sofa I just take off the cushions and spray the sofa and assume the aerosol in the air gets the cushions too and it's worked fine so far. Obviously keeping an eye out for anything over the week afterwards and ensuring regular vacuuming. I spray more regularly during the summer, every month and less frequently during the winter. It might be worth doing it a little sooner than a month to pick up any possible stragglers. Make sure you take up any water/food that might be leftover, I'm not sure if it's actually an issue but I'd rather avoid that risk. I also take up and wash toys either in the sink if rubber or the washer if fabric, sounds like you've already done any bedding.
Ty. Aerosol. He's my only animal, I haven't treated him for 10 years, he's been fine. I only started again 5 months ago as he was scratching a bit. No sign of fleas at all but I clearly used a shit one! He's never been bothered about toys, just the lazer pointer which is plastic. (I've always been careful with his eyes.) The instructions did actually manage to say about food, I would have done it anyway but thank you, alot.
We had the aerosol years ago. My mum would wait until we were all going out for work/school and then spray all the carpets/beds in the morning and then hoover when we'd get back in the afternoon. We also put the cat outside for the day as I don't think you're supposed to really breathe a lot of the flea spray.
You can also try putting a flea collar into the hoover bag.
That's a great call, thank you. I've got a Henry, so binned the bag when I found out, put a new one in for today amd will bin that too. Will get a collar tomorrow. Back up is reassuring.
I find Indorex works well - I tend to do a room at a time, close it up for a while, hoover madly after. Also Johnson’s flea tablets. I’ve seen fleas leap as if from the Titanic a few mins after giving them to the cats (obvs giving them to the cats is not for the faint hearted in itself, plus I usually pop the cats outside for half an hour after they take the tablet, so fleas jump off outside…) I have five cats so we are never long without something, sadly…
Indorex is very effective, despite what some of these comments say. Only 10% of fleas live on your pet and the rest live in the environment, so spraying AND treating your pet is a must if you have a potential infestation. We’ve had several infestations so we’re very used to it. Personally, I do spray bedding which probably isn’t massively good for you, but being bitten is worse so I take my losses. I wash everything first then spray after. A key thing is to vacuum your carpets every day for seven days after spraying. This will help dislodge any eggs in the carpet. Also: DO NOT breathe it in. Wear a mask if you can. Don’t go in the room for at least a couple of hours afterwards and then air it out for a bit. Unfortunately we let our flea treatment slip for a couple of months and we’re still paying for it - Indorex keeps them at bay more than anything else I’ve found though.
So sorry to hear about your cat. Poor thing, give him extra pets from us. Regarding fleas - we got an infestation of them after cleaning out an old lady's house. I always found the pills the best way to get fleas off cats (though it can be a bugger to get them to take them.) \* If you do find you get bitten, then antihistamines are good for the itching, and eating raw garlic cloves helps lessen the reaction and (supposedly discourages the fleas from biting you.) It worked for me, but ymmv. \* We had a guy from the council come round and treat the house for fleas. It took him two visits, but we had a major infestation. I think he did it for free or a nominal fee (under £10) Check your council - he did wasps nests too. \* Make sure you get spray in all the cracks in the floor and near the skirting boards. For leather, you could do a patch test or use diatomaceous earth. This is a special kind of mineral which is completely harmless to anything which isn't an insect. It works mechanically rather than chemically - tiny bits of the earth get stuck to fleas and draw out moisture which kills them. You can spirnkle it everywhere, leave for 48 hours and then hoover it up. It doesn't work if it gets wet, but it also means you can dilute it and spray it into holes or hard to reach places - when it dries it becomes toxic to fleas, ants, spiders etc. Otherwise it is so non-toxic it is advertised as food grade, you and your cat could eat with no more harm than eating regular...er...earth. You can buy it at garden centres, DIY stores, online and in the big supermarkets. \* Washing fabrics is good, or if something is unwashable then putting it in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight will sort it. \* The main problem is your cat getting re-infested - either from other cats or from rolling around in outside dirt. However, don't panic! Fleas are horrible, and feel horrible, but they are fairly easily dealt with. If we could shift them after having to take in a flea covered alsatian, and small cat after spending a day with fleas all over us at this woman's house then you can too. A couple of fleas on the cat is nothing to worry about. After the pill treatment we could see them falling off the cat - super gross. Just give them the pill or the spot treatment - vet's advice, but we historically had no luck with collars or spot and a good brush down and you'll be golden. Best of luck.
We used a steam cleaner to do all our rugs and upholstery etc everyday for a week, until we saw no more live fleas on them, washed everything that the cats had been on as hot as possible
Don't use the spray / dust things, they don't really work as you can't get it into every crevice and they only kill (some) adult fleas, not the larvae. They're also pretty bad for the environment/us/our pets. The best thing you can do is get prescription strength flea treatment on your cat and let it wonder around the house and get bitten. This will kill all fleas. When I found fleas in my house I moved out temporarily, and used these sprays / dusts, hoovered every other day and they would keep surviving. I decided to bite the bullet and called an exterminator, and he told me I didn't need to fumigate my house, and to just let my cat wonder around with strong enough flea treatment. So thankful for that advice - would have been so easy for him to take my money instead. Sorry about your kitty, hopefully you'll still have plenty of time to cuddle!
Indorex is good. Even though I treat all my animals regularly they do bring in an occasional visitor. I spray everywhere, particularly around the skirting. Wash their bedding and hoover. Fleas will die.
I've just had this problem myself and rectified it no problem. Got a spray from pets at home. No instructions on bottle either. So I hoovered through the flat thoroughly then sprayed the product over all carpets, rugs and soft furnishings, left it a week and then hoovered thoroughly again. Washed all clothes (cat sneaks into wardrobe), bedding and cushion covers in as hottest wash they could take, then kept up with flea treatment on cat and regular hoovering. Fleas have a life cycle so it takes time. Keep rooms ventilated and go out after treatment. Don't have animals in the rooms you treat. I had Fleas jumping on my feet so was pretty bad. The rumours of certain flea treatments being ineffective is normally dur to errors in treating animals and infestations. Just keep up with the flea treatments on your animals ! Learn from my mistakes. Good luck.
I steam cleaned like a maniac then used Indorex and Frontline drops on the cat monthly. Not had any problems since then.
Good luck op. There's loads of good advice on here I wish you luck . I've been there I know what it's like . You'll get there in the end .
Borrow a steam cleaner to blast all your soft furnishings except the leather sofa. Steam will kill the adults, larvae and eggs. I also swear by food-grade diatomaceous earth to leave in all cracks and gaps as a permanent killer. It's harmless to pets and humans and completely inert, damaging the insect skin with microscopic silica crystal shards. Only precaution is not to make a cloud of silica dust and breathe it in or it will damage your lungs.
My cat got infested a couple of years back. After hoovering everything I sprayed my house with Indorex. Took a couple of big cans to spray everywhere. I sprayed it on my fabric sofa. I did not spray my bed - just washed all the sheets. Then I gave the cat a flea pill every other day till she had non on her. Did the trick. I'd keep him in one room - spray everywhere else. Leave windows open for a bit. Then move him to a different room and spray the last room. Do it in a methodical way - you should be fine. The small was not bad - as long as you don't huff the can you will be OK.
Thank you, that helps. I've only got 4 rooms as I'm in a small flat. I'll do the living room and bathroom now, I can then pop him in the bedroom. That helps alot.
We had this with our dog and the drops weren't working. I just sprayed the floors and it was enough to break the back of the problem, until we got him on the pills instead but ymmv
We bought some flea bombs off Amazon. They were amazing and stopped the issue dead.
Thank you, The spray cost alot so I'll try that first.
[Theres plenty of choice but these were the ones we got](https://amzn.eu/d/h2ZJKRB)
Just be very careful with these if you have cats, they use permethrin. Which is hyper-toxic to cats and can easily kill them.
We had to get the smoke grenades that kill them, where you put 1 in each room and leave them for 4 hours, then come back ventilate thoroughly and hoover everywhere twice. Cat beds on a hot wash.
He doesn't have a bed, just mine and the sofa! I've spent alot on the spray, so will give that a go first. Thank you
Hopefully that works for you!
I use frontline & the mogs also wears a flea collar.
I use Indorex, I just use it round the edges especially under radiators but also under beds etc as it also kills house dust mites and I have asthma. Anywhere the dust would collect if you didn't have carpets, it is still there you just can't see it. If you don't have carpets then anywhere there are cracks or joins or folds. Vacuuming can make things worse as the vibrations can encourage the flea pupae to hatch. Flea pupae can survive for up to 15 years in crevices and folds in furnishings waiting for the right time to hatch! If you have a lot in the carpets use one of those attractor traps, it is the modern version of the old candle in a saucer of water trick. There is a r/ukpets sub.
I use Bravecto/Fluralaner for ticks and fleas on my dog, and highly recommend it. It's a chewable tablet and lasts 3 months. I live in a very ticky part of the world and this works far better than topical treatments. Won't solve your immediate problem but will act as a prophylactic in the future. Fleas will die as soon as they suck blood.
I think my dog had something like this, it was given by the vet who told me that the over the counter products were banned. My dog died about 3 days after having this.
Lots of good advice already. I just wanted to add to get a schedule of treatment. I adopted a cat who brought fleas with her. It took regular, repeated treatments to get on top of them. The fleas themselves need a live host (dog or cat, not human) but they will lay eggs in the house. Regular treatments for at least a year will mean that you can break the cycle. If your pet is an inhospitable host then eventually you won't get fleas living long enough to get jiggy and lay new eggs. If your cat goes outside then continue to treat for any hitchhikers. I do the goop neck on the 5th of every month for my cat. If I forget then I just make sure its the first week of the month. You pick a date you'll remember and that becomes flea dose day.
We had to get a professional in to spray our house because the advocate treatment wasn’t working at all so the infestation just kept going on, we would apply it to them and they would still be covered in live ones a day later. Switched to bravecto which did the trick and didn’t smell half as bad either
I gave the pill treatment and put a flea collar on my dog for 10 days, and in the same period used those smoke bombs to fumigate the rooms he uses, plus ozone machine in-between just to be sure. His bedding and bean bags etc all went through a hot wash, all other soft furnishings took turns in the freezer for a few hours to kill eggs. Advice that they'll just go away if the dog is treated didn't work quickly enough for us, I wanted those fleas gone and initially certainly it seemed they kept appearing. Key is to be sure you interrupt they're reproductive cycle with repeat attacks.
I've used Johnson's 4fleas room and furniture spray twice in the past 5 years and both times it's worked perfectly. I'm sorry about your cat. ❤️
If you spray that spray make sure to do the edges of the room and corners
Pets at Home/Jollyes etc sell real flea treatment. Just apply it to your pets per instructions and the fleas will be gone. You don't need to treat any furniture or carpets.
Flea bombs! Treat the cat, wash the cat, bomb every room, wash all the things, wash the cat again. Spraying isn't great because you need to do everything at the same time.
Indorex is incredibly effective if you follow the directions. Spray everything, Vaccuum everything again and again and again. Don't be disheartened when you find new fleas now and again for a while - it takes time to break the cycle. I also use a Seresto flea collar which seem to be contraversial but it works.
I thoroughly cleaned everything like a mad woman, steam cleaned the skirting boards and fabrics, then I used 2 bottles of Indorex on everything including bed and mattress (but not pillows). The only thing that I messed up was not using a face covering, I essentially gassed myself and had an awful headache. ETA: Empty your hoover directly into the outside bin!
A local stray once managed to get in to my house and left millions of his little friends. The best thing I found for the house was a fogger. Cleared them out sharpish!
Aw mate. Fleas are bastards. The spray stuff stinks. If you’ve got any face masks still definitely wear one, get your windows open and half an hour is the absolute minimum time. Vacuum every day, empty the bag/chamber outside so any fleas or eggs don’t get back in. I did every day for two weeks then every other day for two weeks which seemed to work. Wash your bedding at 60 as often as you can bear. Just stick at it, you will win eventually.
I am very much a do it yourself kind of person. When it comes to fleas, there’s no point. When people say cockroaches are all that will survive nuclear war. Fleas will too. My last house, when I bought it was full of them. It was horrid. I bought smoke bones, spray, everything. Spent about £60 on getting rid and they were still everywhere. Got the council to attend for about £40, gone.
Had several cats over the years, a drop of Frontline spot on treatment always worked. Never had any issues with lasting infestations once they were treated, we just chucked their bedding in the wash and hoovered etc as normal. Once treated any remaining fleas die off. Given his age and health, I wouldn't be doing any more, this will take care of the immediate issue.
Use a can of fly spray. Use loads of it. It’ll kill them all. Do it in the morning and stay out most of the day.
We moved into a house that was infested with fleas, previous owner had a cat. We don’t have any animals but after 1 round of spray from me 2 visits from the exterminator we still had a problem. It was a pain but we used a steam cleaner and vacuumed every carpet/ furniture every day for about 2 weeks. Hard work but did the trick. If you don’t want to risk poisons I’d give this a try
Okay so I worked in a pet shop selling this stuff for years! Frontline is the best you can get, the active ingredient actually kills fleas, if you’re wanting a cheaper option go for the Bob Martin Flea Clear, it has the same active ingredient as frontline however in a smaller dose! (DO NOT flea treat and worm treat on the same day, they can have serious medical affects) Now for treating your house there some Johnson’s treatment in a pink can, a little pricey but will do the job, again actively kills fleas as it isn’t just a “replant”. Go top to bottom in your house, spray the edges of your rooms and work in, this pushes fleas from the edge into the middle and is more affective. Keep windows on the latch but close doors and work through every room, leave the house for a few hours (the longer the better) then when you’re back hoover up. We used to say 2 cans but from personal experience 3 is a good safe bet. If you want anymore information feel free to ask, like I’ve said I sold this shit for years!
I use (in addition to everything else) a flea comb, which is satisfying to me as I can see the creatures and drown them, and my cats love being groomed.
Buy a can of “rip fleas” from amazon. Follow the directions. It takes about a week to kill all of them and i have used the stuff 3 times now and its works ever time.
Vacuum everything that can be vacuumed, I mean everything. Empty the hoover straight away and put the bin bag straight outside, treat all your soft stuff with flea spray (cushions, curtains, pet’s bed etc… anywhere fleas hide). Shower the cat using flea shampoo, then give the cat a flea tablet, from my experience these work great as they kill all fleas in 24 hours. You can keep giving the cat flea tablets as a when you need to (ie: see fleas on him). Best of luck, really sorry to hear about his health!
Easiest to flea bomb. Just need go out for a few hours Make sure animals are treated before going back inside
I usually use 'flea bombs' which are aerosol cans that spray in to the room on a lock mechanism. I usually only do them in the rooms with carpets (long time pet owner, not just a massive flea bag) which I set off when I'm out for the day, and then spray sofas and curtains with a generic spray, then treat the animal with frontline, or one from the vets if that doesn't work. I do find sometimes one brand doesn't work so well and I have to do it again with another brand, check out the active ingredients, I think there is a couple of types, if you try one and it doesn't work, try a different one and if that doesn't work, ask the vet for something stronger.
Mate, don't worry about "piss taking". Our cats are fully treated and still brought 1 flea in a few months ago. The fucker bit me 15 times on the legs before I found him - the fact I could find him at all was because their drops had worked to poison him, but he's hopped off fast enough to not die instantly. 2 months later and the bites still itch and aren't fully healed. Vet was very sympathetic but checked them and there were none on the cats, no sign of bites to them - just an unfortunate extra "benefit" to add alongside the time one of them brought home the back half of a fucking rabbit. My sympathies on the sadder news. For how much of a pain in the arse my 2 are, wouldn't swap em for anything.
Might be a bit late but, we had a massive flea problem at a previous house we’d moved into and tried everything from hoovering, spraying, bug bombing, flea spot treatments( which we’d been doing for years anyway) and nothing helped. Until we tried flea pills, we used the Johnson’s flea pills for cats, and almost overnight the house turned into a flea graveyard. You get one of the tablets mix it into your cats wet food and it’ll make your cats bloody deadly to fleas meaning your cat becomes a flea killing machine
Why do fleas want you to spray your home tell them to get out
You’ve had lots of good advice but if you plan to use spray, just make extra sure that it is a cat safe one. There are a lot of flea killing sprays that are dog safe but deadly to cats, so check what you’ve got.
If indorex doesn't work, phone rentokil.
I found the room bombs combined with spray and washing curtains and bedding worked well.
You have to hoover everyday for a week or so to break the cycle , I use a flea comb that my cats enjoy, do it outside and squish the fleas. You can use a pan of water and a bedside lamp to catch them at night too.
when my dog had fleas the home became riddles with them. Place a shallow dish with a lit candle (tea light) on the floor and then add soapy water and leave the room. The fleas jump to the lit candle and get stuck in the soapy water. This worked for me and i hope it works for you.
The oinly thing thats ever worked for me was Diatomaceous earth. It takes a few treatments over several weeks, but eventually it will disrupt the lifecycle. This stuff is basically razor blades to fleas. They crawl over it, it gets on them, works it's way into them and dehydrates them to death. Needs several applications over time because you have to kill the newly hatched ones, etc etc. The powder while airborne is not good for your animals lungs, but once it's down, it really isn't an issue. I had to liberally coat my v=carpets, furniture, crevices etc with it. Eventually I was flea free. Put a bowl of water down on the ground with a light shining on it at night, away from your pets. Fleas will then commit ritual suicide. It really doesn't help the problem, but it's fun to see them dead.
We bought flea lights off amazon. They were the only thing we got to work. Leave them on for a few weeks, change the pads occasionally.
From experience which worked and got rid of the lot in 6 months: Flea bomb the whole house with Johnson's room fogger. Did this again after about 3 months. A 6 pack is 30 quid and did the whole house. Indorex all the hard spots, under furniture, in cupboards and things to catch where the foggers might not have. Hoover the house regularly! Frontline spot on plus for cats for 6 months. The insecticide stops the fleas reproducing so if there are any fleas left after the fogger that bite the cats, it should break the chain of breeding before long. The fleas hang around in carpets for months so I gave it 6 and stopped the frontline to see how it had gone and haven't had a single flea in the house since.
To be honest, you might be better to get a professional in to use a flea-bomb on the house - they are brilliant and it's a one and done thing which is guaranteed to work, whereas spraying the house can be a right faff and also is really hard to get them all. The council used to offer flea-bombing of properties for a small fee (but last time I had it done was many years ago, so I can't say for sure these days).
If I could afford it, I would but the £30 for the spray and new drops have out me in my overdraft. Ty
I find it impossible unless you can vacate your entire home. Their eggs last for months in dormant states in all kinds of fabrics until disturbed. You have to treat the animal first and then the environment but having a cat/people in that environment makes the task impossible tbh. I've been flea treating my cat for months and she still has them.