There are fleas in the house :(

I regularly frontline the cats and they also have those flea repelling collars on, I use the anti flea powder on my carpet regularly and Tilly was frontlined 1 week ago but there are still fleas in the house.

I just removed 5 from Tilly and I spotted one in my bed this morning :( (the animals are not allowed in the bedroom although the cats sometimes sneak in)

I don't know what else to do. I dont think I can frontline all the animals again as its too soon but I dont want the animals or us in distress over flea bites

Any suggestions?

Acclaim and RIP are very good household flea sprays, which i'd use over any powder in the house.
As for the cats i'd also use Advantage and not Frontline in that most fleas now appear to be immune to it.

Are the cats catching small rodents and others animals to keep picking up the fleas?

Also adding garlic to the animals food is helpful to combating the fight against fleas, they don't like them..

I use oral flea products, as I'd far rather treat with a tablet than put pesticides on the dogs (which everyone in the house is then exposed to).  (I will use spot-ons, I'm not that much of a health-nut, but only if we are going somewhere with risk of ticks - not for fleas.)

So, I use Capstar when I see fleas.  This is a tablet which kills all adult fleas pretty immediately.  If I remember right, I give one Capstar a day for a few days, and then I begin Program.  Program is a tablet which kills flea eggs and larvae (but not adult fleas).  It needs to be given monthly on the same day each month.  If I had a stubborn flea problem, I'd use Program for 2-3 months so everything is flea-free again.  You can get Program Suspension for cats, too.  I'm not sure if Capstar has a cat equivalent.

These 2 products work well together - if you just use Capstar alone, you're not dealing with the immature fleas and the problem will just come back.  If you use Program alone, it will work, but it will take a while longer because it doesn't affect the adult fleas.  Using both together deals with immature and mature fleas without nasty pesticides.  So:  Capstar to bazooka the problem and Program to maintain that.

Also worth a mention too is to hot wash all bedding; human and dog! :)

In my part of the world flea infestation seems to be a very common ocurrence, mainly due to heat and humidity.
I've been lucky so far and only ever found a couple of adult fleas on one of my dogs after he'd been running in the garden.
I didn't know whether he'd picked them up from the grass or had them prior.
So as I'm a paranoid Mum about bugs and beasties (since living in Qld!!) I had all the dogs bedding into the wash, sprayed beds and carpetted areas of the house with a flea spray, and gave both dogs a capstar tablet (only one, as they'd already been spot-on treated).

Fingers crossed, touch wood and all that superstitious stuff, we haven't had any since.

Neither do we have roaming cats (illegal in this state!), so they're one less flea carrier to worry about!  Just got the possums and 'roos to think of!

hi,rabid-can you tell me how program works,please?Idont like spot ons much either,but what IS program?Is it like wormers,which are poison enough to kill the worms but not the dog?I had a friend who swore by it,didnt seem to do his dogs any harm,but Ive never used it.

The leaflet that comes with Program says:

"To prevent flea infestations, Program should be administered at monthly intervals...Program does not kill adult fleas.  The product works by preventing the development of flea larvae.  If the dog is already infested with fleas, no viable flea eggs are produced from 24 hrs after first administration.  The speed of elimination of a pre-existing infestation is dependent on the number of flea larvae and pupae in the environment...  If dogs have a high level of flea infestation at the start of treatment, it is necessary to apply a product that is recommended for use against adult fleas during the first one to two months [this is what I use CAPSTAR for].

Contraindictions:  None.  The product is compatible with other flea control products.

Program contains lufenuron, a benzoylurea derivative... The low excretion rate assures an effective concentration of the active ingredient in the blood for one month.  Fleas take up the active ingredient through the blood and transfer it to their eggs.  The formation of laval chitin structures, a process typical to insects, is blocked and the development of their numerous offspring is stopped."

You can get it without prescription from many online pet pharmacies.  (I got mine from www.petdrugsonline.co.uk )

When I had a problem last year I found washing the dogs with an insecticidal shampoo really helped - along with all the usual suggestions of hoovering, washing beds, spraying house etc.  This year the problem is ticks, but I think that´s because I´ve been away for 3 weeks and the flea/tick stuff had run out.  (Going to get some more tomorrow when the vet opens).

thankyou for that,rabid,it sounds very interesting,I appreciate that!

hope you get this sorted soon...

Hi

We had the same problem when we removed a new cat.  Unfortunately I went down the Frontline route which didn't work - I went back to the Vet and got a spray for the house - Indorex and another flea treatment called Advantage.  This did work thank god and all fleas were gone pretty quickly.  Also hoovering entire house every day for 2 weeks! 

Vet said that Frontline has been around for so long now that the flea's are becoming resistant to it - eekkk!