How to get rid of a flea infestation

This article is directly taken from Elm Vet Group.

A very informative piece of information.

FACT = there are 4 stages in the flea lifecycle, eggs, larvae, pupae and adult fleas.

Only adult fleas live on the pet – the rest live in your home and garden environment.

Correctly apply a pipette of FRONTLINE Combo* to all cats and dogs in your care. Make sure it is the correct dose size for each animal’s weight. The product will kill adult fleas on the pet within 24 hours. It will kill any more that jump on and also sterilise the female fleas so any eggs she lays will not hatch.

FACT = female fleas can lay up to 50 eggs a day.

Vacuum the home thoroughly, ensuring you move and vacuum under all furniture and in all the nooks and crannies. Do this even if you have wooden or laminate flooring. This will mechanically remove some of the eggs, larvae and pupae in the home environment.

FACT = flea larvae move away from light.
FACT = flea larvae can live between cracks in floorboards.

Wash pets bedding at 60C to remove some of the immature stages.

Thoroughly spray all floor space in the home with a household spray – this may require more than one can (you need to apply it everywhere the pet goes – remember the car) This will kill the eggs and larvae in the home that come into contact with the spray. Remember to move furniture and spray underneath.

FACT = insecticidal home sprays do not kill the pupai stage.

Encourage the pupai stage of the life cycle to hatch out into new adult fleas, so they will jump onto your treated pet and die. This can be done by giving them warmth, vibration, CO2 and humidity. To provide these stimuli:
Turn up the heating in the home.
Place wet towels on warm radiators/bowls of hot water on the floor/and boil the kettle in the rooms of your home.
Vacuuming will generate warmth and vibration and encourage pupae to hatch.

When new adult fleas emerge from the pupae they will jump onto the pet which has been treated with FRONTLINE Combo and be killed within 24 hours. These fleas will be seen on the pet before they die.

FACT = Eradicating the pupae from the home can take several months. Therefore it is normal to continue to see live fleas on pets for this period.

Thoroughly vacuum the home again 2 days after application of the household spray including all the places you do not normally get to (under the sofa, between sofa cushions etc).

FACT = Regular vacuuming will help speed up removal of eggs, larvae and pupae from the environment.

Ensure your pets have their usual run of the house. As the adult fleas emerge from the pupae they want to jump onto your pet to feed. If the pets are not around the fleas will jump on to and bite you instead.

It may take several months to remove all the life stages from your home. Until the environment is free of healthy eggs, larvae and pupae you will still see fleas on your pet as they emerge from pupae.

It is essential that you keep up treatment with FRONTLINE Combo all year. For treatment of a current flea infestation use FRONTLINE Combo on all the cats and dogs every 4 weeks.

Don’t forget…
It can take months to rid your home of fleas – a single treatment will not be sufficient.
FRONTLINE Combo affects the flea nervous system, causing hyperexcitation before they are killed. This can make them even more visible in your pet’s coat.
Treat all the areas your pets frequent such as the car, outdoor buildings, dog kennels etc.
For effective flea prevention (once the initial infestation is eliminated), you should continue treatment all year round with FRONTLINE Combo; dogs every 8 weeks and cats every 6 weeks.
Fleas can live and breed all year in your home.
Prevention is always better than cure.
Any breaks in treatment will mean your pets are at risk of picking up fleas again.
Once on your pet they will start rapidly breeding and laying eggs (50 per day) which will infest your home.

If you fail to keep up with regular treatments your home and pet are at risk of re-infestation!!!

FRONTLINE Combo can be prescribed by any of our veterinary team, please make an appointment now to ensure that: a) your pet b) your family and c) your house – get the very best protection against a flea infestation.

Fleas Infested

Last sunday, Ain was playing with Maru@Manja, when she discovered something unusual about Maru. She gave him a bath and showed me Maru when he was wet. We were shocked to discover Maru covered in fleas. After removing the fleas from Maru's body, we gave Ben a bath as well. Like Maru, Ben was also infested with fleas. Now I understand why I was itching like mad woman. The fleas have jumped on me for blood! You bloody fleas. Wait till I get my hands on YOU!

I gave all 3 kitties another flea bath on Monday and Tuesday morning, and the fleas were still up and about. Urghhhh I started to google and was speechless to find 1001 new things about fleas infestation in my home.

I also sprayed them with Troy Spray but this did not seem to work. Come Wednesday, I made lemon spray for my household. I boiled 2 cups of water, add a lemon which I sliced and add about a third cup of dried rosemary.  I left the solution to cool and sprayed on my carpet and sofa. I wanted to buy the flea bomb but it's not sold in Malaysia. Still, there was no signs of the fleas dead. Off to Dr Juliana, my vet for some advice. She reckoned that I took all 3 cats to her clinic but I thought I will flea busting my own way.

On Friday night, I gave all 3 kitties Frontline combo which I bought from Petmaster, Taman Universiti (at RM20 each pippet) which is supposed to kill the ticks, fleas, larvae, and eggs and keep them in their cage.

Key Benefits:
Elimination of fleas (Ctenocephalides spp.) and insecticidal efficacy against new infestations with adult fleas persists for 4 weeks.
Prevention of the multiplication of fleas by inhibiting the development of eggs (ovicidal activity), larvae and pupae (larvicidal activity) originating from eggs laid by adult fleas for 6 weeks after application.
Elimination of ticks (Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor variabilis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus). The product has a persistent acaricidal efficacy for up to 2 weeks against ticks (based on experimental data).
Elimination of biting lice (Felicola subrostratus).Nasri helped me to jump up and down in our living area so that their eggs in my living room would hatch and it would be easier to kill them on Saturday. Besides these, I made another lemon solution before I went to sleep. This time, I used 2 lemon with 4 cups of boiling water.

Come Saturday morning, I cleaned the kitties' cage. Locked them in the toilet this time to ensure they were confined in one area. I used boiling water to kill all the germs, bacteria and sprayed the cage with lemon solution. Then I sprayed the area with Dr. Clauder's spray which I bought from my vet.

Ingredients: jojoba oil, mink oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil derivatives, essential oils

Nourishing oils keep the skin and coat soft and increase the body's defenses against negativity. Spraying this will lead to pests and their eggs be affected. So the skin is clean and free from contamination by pests. 

Beneficial effects on pest infestation. Aromatic oils will change animal smell. Sun vermin is also kept away preventively. All of ingredients are all natural and non-toxic.

By dehydration and eggs and larvae can be prevented.

I seriously have no clue why my vet recommended I spray this on my environment. I thought this should be sprayed on my kitties. But, my vet knows best, so I headed her advice. Let's see if it works.

I vacuumed my home, cleaned up the vacuum bag and sprayed lemon solution on my sofa, carpet, curtains whatever I could think of. Again, I sprayed my home with Dr. Clauder's spray. Fingers crossed, hoping that my effort would work. At this time, my 3 kitties are still not allowed to leave their territory, and I am still scratching like mad woman.