Flea invasion! Help!

[Cl4rkyPH]

Just moved into a new house and after a few days, our dog (11yo Cockapoo) started scratching. The next day we found him covered in fleas!

He is well groomed and flea’d appropriately with “Itch”, which we’ve used for years, so we instantly blamed the house.

The house we moved into was disgusting, so when he started scratching we inspected the carpets and sure enough the carpets contained fleas.

We were so upset and started desperately trying to get rid of them ASAP.

We got all the carpets thoroughly washed by a professional carpet cleaning company, we’ve been mopping all the hard floors with boiling hot water, dish soap and bleach, sprayed everywhere with various flea killing sprays, had our dog take additional flea killing tablets, and we’ve been going through him daily with a flea comb.

We thought we had solved the problem as we hadn’t seen any alive fleas in the carpets or the dog for a few days, but tonight we have found a live one on the dog, and we are devastated. We have not yet found any in the carpets.

What other options do we have? My thoughts are below:

1) Heat treatment by an exterminator. We’ve been quoted £1500 so would rather not eat into our house funds unless absolutely necessary.

2) Rip the carpets out (they all need changing anyway) and hope they will go with the carpets.

3) Carry on with our thorough hoovering and cleaning regime but move the dog to a relative (with hard floors!) for several weeks (based on our understanding that with the dog here, it is causing a vicious circle, as he is a feeding source).

Does anyone else have some things we can try before we lose our minds?

We are now starting to itch ourselves, we can’t tell if it’s in our heads or if we are being bitten!

Please help!

[dimots]

The fleas can stay dormant for months in carpets. They’ll all pop out when the heating comes on. They’ll keep appearing for a while but won’t find a host. As long as the dog is treated they should die off in time.

Cheapest way to treat things is with borax. Buy a kilo off Amazon and sprinkle it everywhere, leave as long as you can bear it then hoover up.

Edit: just checked my own advice and borax is banned now! There’s a substitute you can buy instead.

Edited by dimots on Friday 4th November 00:29

[PHZero]

Treat the dog. Rip the carpets out. Stay elsewhere for a few days whilst you get the place fumigated. Best of luck.

[bmwmike]

They can be a nightmare to shift.

Definitely rip out any carpets you can possibly live without.

There is a powder you can put down which dries out the larvae. Get it in corners and under couches etc.

Also get multiple combinations of flea killer. We had an outbreak and I captured a couple and experimented on the fkers with various sprays etc, some more effective than others. Some literally did nothing. Combination seemed to work.

[dxg]

To monitor the situation, a table lamp suspended over a dinner plate of soapy water and left on overnight will give an idea of how many remain.

I ripped out carpets and washed every fabric thing as hot as I dared.

And the neighbour's cats haven't been allowed in the house since. That taught me.

[Waitforme]

I’d get rid of carpets as has been said, treat the dog but then treat the rooms with something like this rather than pay to get it professionally done, if it fails then you can always resort to the pros.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Johnsons-4Fleas-Room-Flea...

[Thevet]

Spray the carpets/furnishings with Indorex spray, lasts 6 months but can easily be repeated more often, treat dog regularly with a suitable flea product from your own vet, for once someone else is more expensive than us vitneries, £1500 for a "fumigation" is daft. Fleas are obligate parasites on dogs/cats so treat the animals such that any flea in contact the dies and doesn't lay eggs to continue the cycle. Keep vacuuming the carpets and soft surfaces to catch any eggs/larvae that youy can.
As long as no new fleas are brought in, you will win, but ALL soft surfaces need treating with suitable product such as Indorex.
HTH (been there, done that and got the house clear eventually)

[jmsgld]

"Itch" is a generic Frontline plus, anecdotally it does not seem to work very well when challenged.

With the level of infestation you have in the house I would consider having the house fumigated professinally, but it shouldn't cost anything like £1500. Some providers offer a free second treatment if needed, which it usually is.

Vacuum at least every other day, and remember to empty the vacuum straight into the bin outside.

If doing it yourself, Indorex as has been mentioned is the spray to use (poisonous to birds, reptiles fish etc also). Pay particular attention to any nooks / crannies, corners etc. 1 tin does approx 120 m2 IIRC so you may need more than one tin. Indorex Defence is slightly better. Wash all dog bedding.

You will need to use a flea treatment that actually works for at least the next couple of years or so on the dog. You can get a written prescription from your vet if cost is a concern.

If you rip up the carpets you can spray underneath as well.

Realistically it will be months before it is competely under control, but shouldn't take long to reduce numbers to a level that isn't causing a problem. You will always miss some eggs and so will have sporadic low numbers when the house warms up for the next couple of years.

[jmsgld]

To add - the "flea killing tablets" , if these are over the counter then they will be Capstar or generic. These do work, quite dramatically, in that all the live fleas on the animal drop down dead within a couple of hours. They have no residual action.

BUT when you are trying to get an infestation under control they are completely pointless, as 95% of the fleas are in the house and the ones that have just died will be instantly replaced. As there is no residual action these tablets achieve nothing and are unnecessary.

The only products that you need are Indorex and a POM product for the dog / any animals in the house.

[Kes Arevo]

There is an interior insecticide people use over here which works really well.

It's called Icon10CS.

You can spray it indoors, on patios, windows, doors, etc, to keep insects at bay, and kill any inside. I use it every year to keep mosquitoes, ladybirds, and those annoying stink bug things from invading.

Might be worth a shot.

https://imaginecare.co.ke/i-used-icon-10-cs-insect...

[Lotobear]

We've had a long term problem with our two terriers - daughter's dog brought them in when she visited (her dog goes to a dog minder and mixes with loads of other dogs).

Even though both were treated monthly with the spot on stuff from Pets and Home it made no difference (it's totally unfit for purpose IME).

We bit the bullet early last week and treated them both to Seresto flea collars - expensive but supposed to last for 8 months. Within 12 hours both were totally free from evidence of active fleas.

We realise it will take a long time to break the cycle but in the meantime the dogs are comfortable and flea free.

....I could not recommend this solution more highly.

[Cl4rkyPH]

Thanks so much to everyone for their replies.

My other half has just been amazing, has exhausted herself steaming the hard floors and hoovering carpets twice a day, the fleas stopped about 2 weeks ago, but she is still going bless her.

We went away for a bit so having not hoovered for 5 days and doing a big hoover today, we found no fleas in the hoover or any of the traps, as such, we believe we’ve got them all, or at least to a negligible level.

We will continue to hoover and clean thoroughly, but we feel a lot happier now.

Thanks again to everyone.

[Kes Arevo]

The fleas have gone because all the rats ate them.

[Golfgtimk28v]

I just bought some industrial strength flea killer from France, got one of those sprayers, did whole hose for less than 40 quid. Fleas all gone.