FLEAS! What works?? We've tried it all!

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been battling fleas all summer. For YEARS I've used Advantage, which was GREAT because I could get the "big dog" vials and dose it out for all my animals. However, that stopped working last year. We tried Frontline - didn't work. Tried the Costco version, didn't work. Got Activyl from the vet - worked a little - but not well enough to justify the expense - and if it only worked a little, I imagine it wont even do that for long.

More recently, I've tried dusting with food-grade diatomaceous earth. It seems to give about one day's relief.

My cats are indoor only, but my dogs do go outside - though they don't spend much time in grass, just on my brick patio. The dogs don't seem to have nearly as many fleas as the cats do, of course they're both shorthaired, so maybe they just bring them inside and then they decide the cats are better eatin'. :roll: The house has all hardwood/linoleum flooring - no carpet.

So... looking to find out what works. It seems that Advantage stopped working for pretty much everyone, based on reviews of flea products online. Everyone used to use Advantage or Frontline, but are trying new things because they stopped working.

I REALLY need to find something that I can buy a larger dose and divvy it up. With 4 cats, a small dog and a medium dog, I can't buy three different sizes each month or it's gonna cost me half a paycheck!

Would greatly appreciate any suggestions that have worked for you all. I'm completely open to homeopathic remedies if they work - in fact I'd prefer them. I am NOT however going to attempt to bathe my 4 cats. Two of them I can barely clip their nails without losing a limb. Hoppy and Tink COULD be bathed, but there's now way the other two could.

 

Other than burning your house down, one thing you haven't mentioned is what you have been doing to kill fleas in your yard. You need to do that too.

 

That's problematic. First, the dogs don't have access to much yard. When they go out, it's mostly on my patio. The yard is mostly garden, and what isn't is for the goats and chickens. I also have bees, so using any sort of "pest" control outside has it's issues. It would need to be strictly organic and not a danger to my bees, chickens or goats - or my veggies. Open for ideas there too. I do use a spray on my goats when they need it (goats tend to get mites or lice, not fleas - though it also repels mosquitos) - it's called EquiSect and is a citronella spray for horses. I only put it directly ON the goats, IN their barn and only as needed. The only thing I've applied elsewhere is diatomaceous earth - though I imagine that could also hurt my bees if they touched it (luckily they don't go in the barn, in my basement, etc).

 

Basement or crawl space?

If you have a crawl space treat for fleas under the house.

 

I've had success with Revolution in the past.

 

Really? I've bought a lot of products for my cat to get rid of her fleas but none have impressed me yet and saw Revolution last week but thought that id be the same. Might just give this one a try then.

 

Using several techniques combined may be necessary.

Plant members of the mum family where you can. They contain natural pyrethrins which may deter fleas.

Capstar can be given daily to knock out adult fleas; combined with the Advantage II or Frontline Plus, which have insect growth inhibitors, it may get the problem under more control. My local humane society does this.

Combine other options with using a flea comb and shake debris into soapy water.

Vacuum with a flea collar in the bag or container. This will kill anything in the vacuum.

Diatomaceous earth may be worked into bedding.

 

Which Advantage do you use? The uk version of Advantage Multi is working on Angel. The kittens had some kind of powder and they have fleas again, but Angel doesn't.
I'm going to ask my vet about Capstar, hadn't heard of it before but found out it's available in uk.

 

I was using Advantage II.

CapStar can be expensive if given daily; I cut up a large dog tablet into quarters as the safety profile at the FDA indicated that would not harm the cat.
See this post for more info.

 

To de-flea I use dandruff shampoo. It smothers them then you comb it through the fur, rinse the comb in very hot water after every stroke and then rinse the cat in warm water. It works for a day or two. At least while you look for a better solution.

Anita and Squeaker

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one with issues and Advantage. It used to work like a charm for my inside kids and I only had to treat about 4 times a year. I just did everybody (outside kids too) less than 3 weeks ago and we're no better off than we were before then.
I've had some luck using Adams Spray followed by a bath 30 minutes later with Adams shampoo but only with a few of them. The others are touch me not's and it takes hours to get a hold just to put Advantage on. I could never dream of trying to bathe them.
We recently took in a new "garage refugee" who was clearly allergic to fleas. He was neutered and declawed when he turned up here and after weeks of trying to find the owner, and doing everything we could to treat the fleas, we got him to our vet, clean bill of health, and brought him inside (flea free) to keep him away from them. Poor little dude... seems like we took him from the frying pan into the fire. Even though we dosed everyone with Advantage, they are all loaded again and I'm getting ready to try Capstar cause I just don't know what else to do.
Thanks for the tip on the larger dog dose, there are 6 inside and 3 (or more) outside and all of that stuff gets expensive.
Hugz,
Carol