MissLijChristne
09-30-2004, 12:14 AM
And now I'm covered in flea bites. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the bugs that bite and make the itching go away?
Sponsor
Soulcatcher
09-30-2004, 12:19 AM
They need to have your apartment sprayed by a professional. They will not just go away. I don't know if you had a pet and then the pet is gone so now the fleas are coming out or if someone before you had one, if so your apartment should be responsible for spraying and it could take up to three weeks for them to be completly gone so you may have to find a place to stay for a bit. They will only get worse. They are starving so they are feeding off of you, you can carry them on you to a friends house or to work...fyi.....Good luck and get it treated right away. It's not that expensive.
MissLijChristne
09-30-2004, 12:23 AM
Thanks for the quick reply :)
I've treated before (I have 2 pets) and treated the animals. I am at a loss as to what to do... I swear they laugh at me when I set off the foggers...
I've treated before (I have 2 pets) and treated the animals. I am at a loss as to what to do... I swear they laugh at me when I set off the foggers...
Soulcatcher
09-30-2004, 12:30 AM
Your dogs may be bringing the fleas in from the outside, and in that case they need to spray out there. Foggers are ok but they only kill the adult flea's. SO the new ones are coming out and feeding. If they are biting you then they are feeding on the animals too. Flea collars don't work. Honestly the only thing that can be done is to treat it professionally. If your pets are dogs you might want to walk them in a differenet area.
MissLijChristne
09-30-2004, 12:44 AM
my dog isn't house trained, so she doesn't do outside :-P
Professional treatment may be my only answer... I should call the office about it (we can't have the exterminators in w/o approval) soon
Professional treatment may be my only answer... I should call the office about it (we can't have the exterminators in w/o approval) soon
sugar_glider
10-01-2004, 03:12 PM
I can't promise that this will work for you, but it sure is worth a shot. I have an outside dog, and i always have to treat our premisies before flea season. I have tried a lot of products and have found one to stick with. It is * Bengal* Fullseason flea killer plus. It kills the fleas, eggs and the larvae. I only have to use it one per season and i don't have to evacute my home for days. I just spray before we leave the house for shopping or any kind of outing that will keep you away for a few hours. I buy it a regular discount store. Hope it works for you. Plus for yourself I reccomend plain Cortisone, anti-itch cream.
Terri43
10-01-2004, 04:05 PM
I had the same problem. I bought a ferret and didn't know she had fleas. within a week i had fleas every where and my cat and 5 ferrets had fleas. I was told by a professional that if you treat your pets with flea control( hotshot or advantage) the fleas will die off but it will be in cycles, adults then the new hatched eggs it takes about 4 weeks...I tried the bombs and the sprays and they had to run the life cycles of the fleas....good luck
melleth
10-04-2004, 09:07 PM
I had the same problem. Some friends moved in and brought fleas. I used Hartz flea spray for carpets. it works great. it has IGR so it controls the larva and adults. I treated the carpets once a week for about a month and that did the trick. I ahve 2 dogs 2 cats 4 ferrets nt the house and no fleas!
SiberianLover
10-05-2004, 02:14 AM
You have to treat both your animal and your house, but the most important thing is doing it right. Fleas hide in the darker areas of your home....such as behind and underneath furniture. Pull your couches away from your walls when you fog. Be extremely thorough.
Also, try investing in brewers yeast for your dog. You can buy it at Walmart for fairly cheap. Brewers yeast makes your dog less likeable to fleas, creating an unfriendly environment on their bodies, plus it is very healthy for your dog. :) I'm a dog groomer, and this is what I recommend to clients. My dogs have never been on any chemical flea treatment, as I don't believe in them, and they have never had fleas.
You do want to make sure to treat your animal, because dogs can actually get blood poisoning from fleas.
KM
Also, try investing in brewers yeast for your dog. You can buy it at Walmart for fairly cheap. Brewers yeast makes your dog less likeable to fleas, creating an unfriendly environment on their bodies, plus it is very healthy for your dog. :) I'm a dog groomer, and this is what I recommend to clients. My dogs have never been on any chemical flea treatment, as I don't believe in them, and they have never had fleas.
You do want to make sure to treat your animal, because dogs can actually get blood poisoning from fleas.
KM
Crossbow
10-07-2004, 03:37 PM
I'm having a really bad problem with fleas also. What did you treat the dogs with? I tried Hartz first, and it didn't do anything at all. Frontline worked for a few days the first time I used it, then quit - but the second time I used it, a month later, it worked wonderfully. The cats are now flea-free. My house, however, is not.
Things that will help: wash all your towels and bedding. ALL of it. Finger towels you never use. Extra pillowcases. Your mattress pad. Change your bedsheets at least every 2 days aslong as you have the infestation. Every day, if you can. Wash any clothes you have lying on the floor, too. Wash any area rugs that can be washed.
Vacuum everything, including scratching posts, furniture, your mattress and bos springs - and then immediately remove the vacuum cleaner bag, tie it in a plastic bag, and throw it out. Do this every time you vacuum.
Shampoo the carpets and furniture. You can rent a "Rug Doctor" for about $20-$30.
My roommate bought flea traps that seem to help, too. There's a sticky pad with a light over it, and the fleas are attracted to the light and then get stuck to the pad. The ones in the basement have caught lots of fleas.
These procedures haven't completely rid me of fleas yet, but I've only gotten two bites in the past week, as opposed to the 10+ bites a day I was getting before. (I may never be able to wear shorts again!)
Things that will help: wash all your towels and bedding. ALL of it. Finger towels you never use. Extra pillowcases. Your mattress pad. Change your bedsheets at least every 2 days aslong as you have the infestation. Every day, if you can. Wash any clothes you have lying on the floor, too. Wash any area rugs that can be washed.
Vacuum everything, including scratching posts, furniture, your mattress and bos springs - and then immediately remove the vacuum cleaner bag, tie it in a plastic bag, and throw it out. Do this every time you vacuum.
Shampoo the carpets and furniture. You can rent a "Rug Doctor" for about $20-$30.
My roommate bought flea traps that seem to help, too. There's a sticky pad with a light over it, and the fleas are attracted to the light and then get stuck to the pad. The ones in the basement have caught lots of fleas.
These procedures haven't completely rid me of fleas yet, but I've only gotten two bites in the past week, as opposed to the 10+ bites a day I was getting before. (I may never be able to wear shorts again!)
Crossbow
10-10-2004, 07:59 PM
Oh, and wash your curtains, too.
black_cat1
10-12-2004, 04:38 AM
Been there, had that problem, and fixed it within days. Actually, I have the problem right now too, and it was from when I moved in (didn't know I could make the managers pay for the spraying) anyway, 3 weeks is way too long. EASY solution, apple cider vinegar. I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment with 4 cats. 1 of them came in with fleas, and gave it to all the others, as well as the fully carpeted apartment, and all the furniture. Easy recipe, drinking water for you and the pets, take a 4 litre jug (milk cleaned out, or a water one) and put like a quarter teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it, easy way to measure is putting it in the jug lid ONLY enough to about half cover the base of the lid, barely even enough to cover the bottom, certainly nowhere near full. This small amount will not taste your water AT ALL. If you taste it, you've put too much in, dump out half the water and fill the jug again. Give this water to yourself as well as the animals, the vinegar sends fumes out of your pores (don't worry you, nor other humans can NOT smell the fumes, you won't go around stinky), but the fumes SERIOUSLY repel the fleas, and they won't bite you OR your animals. I did this with my 4 cats and got results within a few hours of drinking the water, no more bites, and, well as fleas can't live off of nothing, they all went away. Keep the mix up for months, don't assume they're dead because they're not biting, they will be living off guests, or whatever they can find, wait a LONG time to get rid of the vinegar, the stuff's really cheap, and you use such a small amount, you'll just never run out (although chances are, if you actually do, you won't have to buy a second bottle). Just make sure you get APPLE CIDER VINEGAR or it won't work. Regular vinegar, malt vinegar, none of those work, it has to be apple cider. Some people even like to use the stuff as salad dressing (I guess then it would work even better?) Anyway, trust me, from experience, it's worth trying, also, get a spray bottle and make a stronger solution (still mixed with water) and put it on a light mist, spray on furniture, animal beds, pillows, beds etc, only a light mist so the surface doesn't really get wet, and it will repel them from the furniture so you will have a comfy place to sit. Repel them from enough places and they'll go away. :D
Crossbow
10-12-2004, 01:44 PM
Black_cat1 -
Hmm. I use apple cider vinegar in my cooking, but I dont' think it helps. Maybe I don't eat it often enough. I'll try your idea. My cats are flea-free now - I only have to worry about myself.
Hmm. I use apple cider vinegar in my cooking, but I dont' think it helps. Maybe I don't eat it often enough. I'll try your idea. My cats are flea-free now - I only have to worry about myself.
black_cat1
10-13-2004, 03:23 AM
Yeah, the benefit to the drinking water is you get exposed to the vinegar every single day, and therefore, the fleas never bite you, if you miss a few days, the fumes will no longer be coming out of your pores, and the fleas will come back. It is wonderful to use in cooking, as well as fleas, for many people it helps in weight loss, as well as to prevent acne (quite the miracle mix it is). My mom had a whole book written on all the good effects of it, I don't know if the flea one was in there, I learnt it years ago from a friend, but I know that it works. If you did the drinking water thing, as well as the cooking, it would be best, unless you could actually manage cooking with it every day, that would work too.
Crossbow
10-13-2004, 05:47 PM
Yes, apple cider vinigar has been toted as a cure-all for several years now. At the grocery store I go to, there are always like 3 different pamphlets about it. I suspect it's mostly marketing. However, it adds a lot to my peanut sauce, and I highly recommend it for the flavor if nothing else. I'll start drinking it as soon as I get around to buying a water pitcher.
black_cat1
10-15-2004, 03:05 AM
hehehe, just make sure you don't put much in your water, it might be great in cooking, but it's NOT in drinking, I put too much in the water once and YUCK, that was really gross. If you put the right amount, you don't taste it at all. I need a water pitcher myself, but I have one of those handy coolers with the bottle on top, and I just can't see wasting the space in my fridge when I've got cold water always at my disposal right in my livingroom. The problem doesn't really bug me though. It has cleared up a lot since I moved in as I had no pet (other than a bird) for a long time. I now have a rabbit, but it isn't on the ground often enough to pick up anything.
Crossbow
10-16-2004, 10:30 AM
OK, you said that usingt the vinegar worked in about two days?
I started using it yesterday morning, and I got FOUR new flea bites overnight last night, which is a lot more than usual.
I started with 1/8 teaspoon in a small glass of water, since I don't mind the taste, and that's the smallest measuring spoon I have. Then I put 1 teaspoon in 4 liters of apple cider that I was cooking, and I was drinking that all yesterday evening.
I'm trying to reaserch Apple Cider Vinegar on line. So far I've read through 13 pages of results, and all but three are sites of people selling it. The other three are weight loss information sites saying that it has no effect whatsoever for weight loss, but they don't address any of it's other claims.
I started using it yesterday morning, and I got FOUR new flea bites overnight last night, which is a lot more than usual.
I started with 1/8 teaspoon in a small glass of water, since I don't mind the taste, and that's the smallest measuring spoon I have. Then I put 1 teaspoon in 4 liters of apple cider that I was cooking, and I was drinking that all yesterday evening.
I'm trying to reaserch Apple Cider Vinegar on line. So far I've read through 13 pages of results, and all but three are sites of people selling it. The other three are weight loss information sites saying that it has no effect whatsoever for weight loss, but they don't address any of it's other claims.
black_cat1
10-16-2004, 06:39 PM
I may have the timeframe wrong, it was years ago that I used it, I just remember it working very quickly. Are you feeding the mix to the animals too? Or do you not have animals? In order to get rid of the fleas both you and the animals need to drink the stuff. I'd say just give it time, it's an inexpensive solution, and it really should work, I've known a lot of people, including myself, that had success with this.
Kista
10-30-2004, 06:07 AM
When I lived in the country I had 3 indoor/outdoor dogs so I had to deal with fleas constantly. To make matters worse, my german shepard was allergic to them so I had to be diligent.
The only thing I found that really made a difference was a 120 day carpet spray. I was a little nervous about the residual but I was desparate.
My skin is terribly sensitive to chemicals. I have to use all unscented, hypoallergenic, etc. products and I can tell you I didn't notice any problems stemming from this product, and neither did my dogs.
The stuff you apply behind the ears smells terrible, fyi.
The only thing I found that really made a difference was a 120 day carpet spray. I was a little nervous about the residual but I was desparate.
My skin is terribly sensitive to chemicals. I have to use all unscented, hypoallergenic, etc. products and I can tell you I didn't notice any problems stemming from this product, and neither did my dogs.
The stuff you apply behind the ears smells terrible, fyi.