Years ago when flea powder was so popular, I used to get up to a whole nest of fleas on my side of the bed. My little dachshund had picked up fleas and they had started multiplying in the carpet. With a two year old, I could not afford to have an infestation. So I got the same flea powder that I could use on the dog and sprinkled it into my carpet. I left it there for a few hours then vacuumed it up. It worked. If I noticed fleas again, I just did it again. Usually when I noticed the "nits" had just hatched so it was easy to get rid of them. I don't know if powers are worse or better than in the seventies. I am so thankful to be living in the desert with no grass. Our dogs do not know what fleas are.
Susie: Be very careful with the "bombs"! The stuff goes everywhere including in your foods, open pots and your dishes, unless you seal all cabinets! Read the instructions carefully. With all of the washing and spraying, daily vacuuming and using Front-line, you should have done enough already. You don't want to get too much of the pesticide on your pet, otherwise it will get sick.
Just one suggestion: I tried Front-line on my pets (I have 7) and it did not help with the flea problem. I suggest you talk to your Vet and let him prescribe Advantage Plus for your animals. It's fantastic, and it also prevents heart-worms and intestinal worms.
I have used both Frontline and Frontline plus and it works very well for me. The Frontline plus contains a product that renders flea eggs incapable of hatching and flea larva are prevented from metamorphosing into adult fleas. You can use the relatively non-toxic borax powder in your carpets which will kill flea larva, but not the eggs or adults. It kills the larva because it is abrasive and causes microscopic wounds on the larva and they dehydrate and die.
If you don't have a resistant population, the Frontline will kill the fleas on your dogs within 24 hours. It is not a repellant and if more fleas are in the environment, they will jump on the dog. If you have one or two specific places that are particularly badly infested, you can use the flea's affinity for light and white to trap them. Place a white shallow sided container (like a roasting pan) on the floor with about an inch of water in which you have swished some dish detergent. Set a strong light over it, but take care it can't get knocked into the water. If you don't have a white container, take a clear pyrex baking dish and place a piece of white paper under it. The fleas will be attracted to the light and the white color and will jump towards it and will drown in the water.
The dish detergent you use to bathe the dog can be drying, so pay careful attention to her skin. If she gets flaky and itchy, you can use a gentle shampoo and follow that up with a coat dressing that adds moisture to the skin. Gentle grooming and massage will help stimulate the hair follicles to produce the protective oils that lubricate the skin.
Fleas are horrible. They easily survive the laundry cycle, unless you wash in HOT water, and that is not always possible. Washing your dog's bedding will rid it of flea eggs. While I absolutely do not recommend the use of flea collars on animals, you can buy one, cut it up and vacuum it up. This way, the fleas you vacuum up will be killed in the vacuum cleaner bag. If you don't want to do that, then dispose of the vacuum cleaner bag outside in a garbage can as soon as you are done vacuuming, otherwise, they will just crawl out of the vacuum when you are finished vacuuming.
Fleas lay about 50 eggs a day, and the eggs can remain viable for a long time. The eggs are not sticky, so they will fall off your dog anywhere she travels. They will hatch when conditions are favorable. The larvae go through several stages of changes, eating flea excrement, skin cells and other organic debris in their environment. They spin little cocoons and can remain in those cocoons for more than a year. There is no pesticide that will kill them in the cocoons.
Nutrition may play a role in helping your dog repel fleas. Apple cider vinegar, wheat germ and garlic added to dog food are suggested to play a role in making the dog less attractive to fleas. There is a some disagreement among researchers whether garlic is harmful to dogs, so if you do use that, speak to your vet first. Adding a teaspoon or so of oil high in Omega 6 fatty acids, like safflower oil, will help produce healthy skin and coat in your dog.
By diligent cleaning, and picking off fleas that you find on the dog, and using the relatively non-toxic methods available to you, you should be able to eradicate the nasty critters. I wish you a speedy flea recovery!
I know exactly how you feel! I, too, have had a major flea problem this year. I've tried all kinds of topical flea medications, but none have worked well enough for me. My husband has a flea allergy and the fleas will leave a dog to get on him. I also have young grandchildren that come over often.
I put my big dogs on Comfortis, a prescription flea medication taken by mouth. I couldn't afford to buy another pack for the Basset, but used Advantix on her instead. Frontline had little or no effect on the flea problem, maybe because they have become immune.
I have called an exterminator to treat my yard and house. I don't have carpet so treating will be easier. I had rather not use pesticides but I feel that, at this time, I don't have a choice with hubby being eaten alive!
Collieflower has a lot of good suggestions and had suggested in another message, the use of nemotodes for the yard. Winter will be here in the south sooner or later and I don't want my investment in nemotodes to die during a freeze, but I would like to purchase them in the spring and treat my yard. I am hopeful that a combination of these actions will help eradicate the flea problem.
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diatomaceous earth works well also - you can sprinkle it in carpet, then vaccuum it after a while - but be careful not to inhale any of it, nor do you want your pets to inhale any of it. I bought some to use in the backyard, but haven't put it out yet. I'm not having problems with fleas, but I do see a tick now and then. I'd rather not have either one!
Thank you all for your tips and suggestions. Soon (I hope) we'll have a deep freeze in Maryland and those outside fleas will die off. Then I still have the inside of the home to contend with. Even though I continue to vacumm every day...I've yet to actually see them anywhere (other than my dog). And even though I'm using medication on her...I found more on her today..so back into the shower using my Lemon Joy dish detergent. She's been such a champ with all this fussing I've been doing with her. Next week she'll be professionally groomed...all that long hair will be shaved away and she'll look like a skinned rat..but at least I'll be able to detect any of those little flea buggers on her. I will do anything I need to do NOT to set off those flea foggers in my home...I don't like putting that garbage in the air that I breathe. Hopefully sometimes in 2010 I will be able to replace the carpeting (at least in the LR and DR areas) with hardwood flooring...so that will be a few less places those critters can populate.
Again..thank you all. Our pets are like our children..and we don't want them to be uncomfortable and eaten alive by fleas.
