Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is the letter “F” for the a-z blogging challenge.
Fleas are the ultimate “F” word around here. Many of you may recall the flea fiasco we had last summer. It was a nightmare and took a couple of months to have them gone. It also cost over $500 for 3 months of flea treatments for 15 cats and flea bombs and sprays.
I couldn’t figure out how we had so many when we don’t let our kitties outside. I blamed my hubby because he is always outside, I also thought friends or family may have had them when they came in. I finally figured it out, we had taken Spooky in several months before. He had been treated with Frontline for many months before coming in, but I realize now that it wasn’t working. He had been spreading the fleas to all the other kitties for months before we finally realized it.
Spooky
I don’t like using flea products, but I don’t want to ever have this problem again. Being that it never happened before and I am pretty sure I know how the fleas arrived, I am thinking of not treating the kitties this year. Please let me know if you have indoor only cats and if you use flea treatment during the summer. Thanks for your input.
Don’t forget to comment to enter the giveaway for a Temptations Snacky Mouse- you can enter every day. Phoebe will announce the winner on Thursday.
Oh my…we have not had fleas in many years! Thank God. But, we do treat Stella (with something that repels, as well as kills them. We also treat the house, especially around the doors, windows, and perimeter. It is important to use something with IGR. I use a hand fogger. I also use it on bedding, furniture, etc. I have done it this way as a preventative, for many, many years. Just remember: Be careful!
That is a great idea to treat around the windows and doors. Thank you for your input.
So far, Binga and Boodie have gone without flea treatments for a few years. And I haven’t had one in one year (which is how old I am!). We’ll see how things go this summer. My human does not like flea treatments but will use them if necessary.
I agree with your human, I don’t like them either, but I do use them when needed too.
Oh wow, dat’s a lot of gween papers, and a lot of fleas. Weez not have fleas since mommy gave me meez furst baff. But hers duz tweat us year wound. We live where it never gets cold nuff to kill them. Altho’ she uses a cheaper mowe natural stwipe on usually. It’s like 10.00 – 12.00 fur 3 stwipes. Anyways, even tho’ nun of us go out very offen, they can get in da smallest of cwacks and hitch a wide on da ppants, shoes etc. of da outdoorsman. But of course at da end of da day it’s up to you. Dat’s a weally cute little mousey. Have a pawsum day.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
After this winter, all the fleas outside should have died. That is a great price and I like the idea that it is natural.
Thank Ceiling Cat I have not hadded fleas in a number of years, but wow, I and the kitties who came before did sometimes get bad infestations even though we are indoor kitties. F_ _ _ _ are the WORST! Hope you kids don’t have any more problems!! XOXOXOXO
I am glad you haven’t had fleas in years. Thanks for visiting us Spitty 🙂
Raven is 99% indoors but I occasionally take her in the back yard on her harness. She’s had a flea or two on two different occasions. The first time was a couple years ago and I suspect the pet sitter brought in a hitchhiker flea. The second time (last month) I suspect I may have brought in a flea from the yard, or she may have picked one up during her trip to the vet. I used Advantage and a couple days later I combed out one dead flea. I haven’t seen evidence of any others, so hopefully one treatment is all she’ll need. Fleas are a huge problem here this year because of the mild winter so I’ll probably give her a preventive treatment later this spring when we plan on having the pet sitter take care of her for a couple days. I always keep Advantage on hand just in case we need it. I use the dose for the smaller cats even though Raven is over 10 pounds, and box of 4 doses can last us a year or two so the cost isn’t a factor.
That is a great idea to use a smaller dose. Hopefully you won’t have anymore.
Our cat’s have never had fleas – they don’t know what they are! And, I really hope they never find out either.
I hope they never find out either 🙂
No fleas, please.
They drive us to our knees.
An if ya wanna ask us,
We’d rather do TBT’s taxes!
MOL!
🙂 Good one!
Strangely, although I do go outside from time to time, I’ve NEVER had fleas! Go figure (not that I’m complaining!)……my vet said some cats just seem to “naturally repel” fleas. Thank heavens I guess I’m one of them! Good luck with NO FLEAS this summer………..
Hugs, sammy
You are very lucky! Maybe there are no fleas in your yard. 🙂
Hi all…we are indoor kitties only and currently do not use any flea medications. *knock on wood* When we fostered a lot and were bringing in new kitties we treated everyone in the house with Revolution. Tanner would end up with a half dollar size bald spot where it was applied!
We wanted to stop by and say THANK YOU ever so much for Tanner’s birthday present! It was such a nice surprise yesterday to find that in the mail. As much as we love the crocheted toys, we appreciate the prayers you have been sending our way even more…they are working! We feel so blessed.
You’re very welcome. I will continue to pray for Tanner. My Sammy says hello to Scout Oliver.
Poor Tanner, must have been allergic to the Revolution. It does work better than Frontline.
guys…de F werd getz used round heer all de time tho de food gurls vershun & R vershun iza ……weeeee bit diffrunt !!
tell yur mom ta get sum diatomaceous earth; it bee 100 purr cent safe round familee memburrs, dogs, cats, kids, etc
pleez tell her ta chex out thiz linx
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Only-Natural-Pet-All-in-One-Flea-Remedy/999013.aspx
they all sew haz other flea rema deez, N we’ve got thiz treetment in R houz
rite now ♥♥♥
Thank you. I will check that out, I prefer something natural.
I have never had fleas, but because I go out in the garden and also out in the fields with my mum, I get Frontlined every month apart from the colder winter months. There are ticks in the fields too. I have only ever had one, but Eric seemed to attract them. The frontline helps against them also.
I am glad the Frontline works for you, the one they sell in the US is useless. Ticks are awful creatures like fleas.
When I adopted Annabelle in DEC of 2013 she was tearing herself up with scratching. I read on her adoption paperwork she had been given flea treatment in Nov. When I took her to the Vet we figured it was time again for her medication and because she was itching so badly she got the pill comfortis (do research on that before giving!). That stopped her from itching and that was when I discovered she is allergic to flea bites. So she got flea treatment monthly even though she is indoor only. So when she was due for her flea meds NOV 2014 I decided to not give it to her, Stopped in DEC, JAN, FEB and then towards the middle of MAR boom she began to itch. So I took out the flea meds and stopped that itching right away. My cats have access to outdoor screened in porch. My only thought is that the fleas are coming in that way. Or else we are bringing them in but our yard is treated so I don’t know … but I have to treat Annabelle, because she is allergic.
Poor Annabelle. I have a couple that had scabs all over as well and some of the kitties were crawling with them and not even cratching. Someone else suggested treating outdoor areas, maybe you should put something around the screened in porch so they can’t come in. They sure are a nightmare.
Uah! Sounds like horror!! I’m glad you found the reason for the fleas, and even better: it’s not a repeating one!
I’ll ask the shelter what treatments I should give them. They told me to make an annual appointment at the vet, so I’ll ask if I need to do something within the upcoming year.
Good idea, you certainly don’t want fleas in the house.
Fanks for the reminder…tomorrow is the day for my monthly Advantage flea application.
Even though I am 100% indoors we use it cause it is never cold enough here to get rid of the fleas and we were told humans can bring fleas in the house when working in the yard
hugs madi your bfff
Maybe my hubby does bring some in because he is outside a lot. He never did before though so I hope it was just Spooky. Advantage is good, I think that is the one I ended up using that worked.
We gotta use flea treatment here because Sister Zoe is highly allergic to fleas.
Poor Zoe, I have a couple kitties that get covered in scabs from fleas too.
Ugh, fleas are just horrible! We are sorry you had to go through all of that. We are all indoor kitties here, and we do not get treatments. No fleas to speak of, ever. knock on wood!
Flea is definitely the four-letter “F” word for cats!!! Sounds like you went through a nightmare last year and I can imagine you are pretty spooked.
The second summer I had Tara we had a horrific outbreak. I felt like burning the house down might have been the best solution! She was completely an indoor cat and I have no idea how it got so out of hand.
So far, so good with Truffles!
One Summer we had a ig infestation of fleas.
Mom had to use Advantage.
Last year we were not treated, but we did not have fleas either.
Just lucky we guess.
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure and JJ
Very lucky indeed 🙂
Admiral was NEVER outside (she came before me) but people and pet sitters brought them in. Mom said we had some ( a good four) severe infestations because of that. She got treated with Advantage during that time and mom vacuumed each day and she called in the carpet cleaners. So far I have not had any fleas. I am not treated each month even though it is recommended. It is an awful dose of chemicals.
I hope you don’t get any fleas ever. I don’t like to use chemicals if I don’t have to.
Hi Efurryone! So I am trying to get the Human to snap out of her funk and help me visit again! It is good to see efurrybuddy again! XOXOXOXO
Very nice to see you Spitty and I hope you can get your Mom out of her funk because everyone loves to see Spitty.
We do treat all the kitties, but only a couple times a year. We use Advantage. Giulietta picked up a few fleas a couple months ago, and we have no idea from where. Of course, that meant treating everybody. It can get very costly. Mom says that she would treat all your kids at least once in early summer. Please enter us for a snacky mouse. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
You are entered again 🙂 Thatis a good idea to treat once in early summer. 🙂
The cats here have never had fleas but one dog has! We have been lucky because it has only happened once and it was Duffy who had them. No one else!
We think the pet sitter brought them in since it happened shortly after she took care of the animals. I decided not treat everyone because I really don’t like to give them chemicals as I am afraid of the long term effects and I didn’t see fleas on anyone but Duffy. Luckily no one else ended up getting them so the problem was resolved very quickly! I was freaked out though because we have so many “kids” and I knew it could potentially get out of hand if the others got them. We used Advantage on Duffy and it was excellent. I won’t treat them again unless I see a f*** on someone in the future!!! ;p So far so lucky!!
the critters in the cottage xo
I hope the good luck keeps up for you 🙂
I once had flees in my TARDIS, I can tell you it was not funny. One of the stories in my book is about that flee invasion.
Fortunate it has been years ago since I had flees,the bad dog from the neighbors had flees and they walked over the carpet into our appartement that way we got them.
Shivers…
I didn’t realize you had a book- I must read it 🙂 Fleas are worst than the Dalek.
It will come out in October so you still have to wait a bit
OK-just let us know and we will buy it 🙂
The peeps used to dose Nicky and Autumn cos they had the yard and the fleas could come in through the window screen but hasn’t in the condo even though we have dogs running in and out on the rug outside. Gsp. How was that for a sentence?
That was a long sentence 🙂 I hope you never get fleas.
Fleas are so mean to bite kitties…and other critters too…YUCK.
Ticks are far worse…but thankfurly not as frequent at least here.
We treat only Minko if needed, because Pipo is allergic to the spot ons, be they OTC or Script…sicne they share bedding the vet says some of the flea killing/repelling properties will transfer to the bedding or a closely bonded pair of snuggle kitties.
We have to treat dog-guy regularly because he goes all ovfur the place and who knows what hitchhikers he deposits inside the den.
That mousie looks like he is singing, MOL!
That mousie does look like he is singing 🙂 I do worry about spot on treatments being harsh.
*scratchy scratchy* mee getss itchee just finkin bout fleass Purrincess Phoebe an Lady Ellen.
Wee have sumfing called Zodiac here an there iss a Spot-On treetmint LadyMum iss going to start on mee next month. It doess not hert the vie-tall organss which iss grate!!
Spooky kat let yur Mumma treet you; them fleass are nastee 😉
**nose bumpss** Siddhartha Henry xXx
Zodiac sounds like a good product. I have never seen it in the US. XO
Fleas are so challenging!! I don’t want to use harsh chemicals on my dog Joey, but I don’t want all the problems that fleas bring. Great post! Happy A-to-Z blogging!
Fleas are awful and a bigger problem for dogs because they all go outside. Thanks for visiting us.
Oh my gosh. I had the WORST trouble last summer too! I’ve lived in my house for 10 years and haven’t had to treat for fleas except once when a foster came with fleas. But other than that…never. Then last year hit. I spent a fortune too and it was just awful.
What do yall use now for your guys? I’m probably going to treat this Summer. I can’t imagine going through that again. 2 of mine had bad reactions and overgroomed and were near bald from it.
Anna @ herding cats & burning soup
I will go with Revolution or Advantage, but never Frontline again and no collars from the pet store either. Good luck- lets hope or a flea free summer 🙂
Well, a family member’s cat used to be indoor/outdoor, and they had a HUGE flea problem (in Florida) in the house–they were so bad here, a neighbour had their house bombed. The family member was just beside themselves with the problem. We didn’t want to have to bomb the house, so they started keeping the cat indoors. Advantage and other flea stuff lost effectiveness as the fleas seemingly adapted to it. So, we fell back on an old-fashioned remedy–regular bathings with pine tar soap (the shampoo didn’t seem to be as effective). http://packerspine.com/, and then we sprinkles food-grade diatomaceous earth all around the outside and inside (along the walls) of the house. http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/defaq.html.
Also, these flea control products from Vet’s Best seemed to work. They have outdoor and indoor flea sprays. http://www.vetsbest.com/products/dog-flea-tick.php We sprayed the outdoor stuff all around the home’s entryways and around the porch. After using these, we finally got the flea infestation under control. No more fleas! (and, I would know because my indoor cat gets flea allergy dermatitis if fleas are present.) Good luck!
Thank you for this information. I think I will have my hubby spray around the house. I am going to cross my fingers that e don;t get them inside, if e do, I will try one of your recommendations.