Getting Rid of Fleas

Having a flea problem can sometimes feel like you are fighting a losing battle. After several fogger treatments, cans of flea powder, and a bottle of flea spray, it was beginning to feel like a better solution was to just move. Winning the battle over fleas will take time, patience, and commitment.

Our flea problem began with our cats. They stayed in a part of the house that we seldom visited, so we had a bunch of fleas without even realizing it. The first step was to treat the cats. We began with a cat bath and then a nice dousing a flea spray. That helped some but the cats still had fleas, so we moved to the once a month drop treatment. You place the drops on their neck. The oil then gets into their skin and is suppose to keep new fleas from tagging along on your cat. A local veterinarian had suggested that if the flea problem is really bad to use another treatment two weeks after the first one. We decided the cats would be happier outside, so we bought flea collars. They have adjusted well and seem to be flea free.

Our next problem was ridding the house of fleas. I began to vacuum at least once a day for a few weeks. I also sprinkled salt onto the carpet since I had heard that they will eat the salt and dry out, then die. I'm not so sure the fleas know that is what they are suppose to do, but it makes me feel better to have something not toxic on the carpet that my baby walks around on.

I won't say that we are 100% flea free, but we're getting close. To date we have fogged the home on three different occasions. We have also sprinkled flea carpet killer, salt, and baby powder onto the carpet. The laundry room seems to be their favorite hideout, so we try to keep clothes off the floor(not easy for us recovering slobs) and wash our sheets every few days.

Some other flea fighting tips I have picked up during this whole ordeal include buying a flea collar for your vacuum cleaner. Apparently fleas can live in the worse conditions for a very long time. While you may have picked them up with the vacuum cleaner, there they sit - waiting for the vacuum bag to be changed to make their escape. A flea collar in the bag will help to kill that flea morale and put the fear of God in them. Use a light mosquito repellant spray indoors if you find fleas like to munch on you. For flea bites, an antihistamine cream works wonders to make the itch go away.

Fighting a flea infestation is hard work. Sometimes even all the measures you take just aren't enough, and you may need to call in the experts. I thought that by doing it ourselves we would save money; however, after buying 15 foggers, flea spray, and flea powder, I'm not so sure anymore.