What Next?

Miss B asked 7 years ago

So we noticed fleas a few months ago. We immediately started to work on it. I got a few capstar pills for each cat, gave them a bath which was very fun by the way, applied drops and vacuumed my house like a mad woman. While I saw a decrease it wasn’t enough. Since I have both 2 legged and 4 legged children I was trying to avoid chemicals in the home. That didn’t last. I used a home and carpet spray that’s said to last 7 months and sprayed and continued to vacuum. We have 1 cat who seemed to become agitated again even with the 4 month of continuous monthly treatment again. He seems to have that FCD or whatever  it is cause he has bad bumps and kicks a lot.  So I wanted to try another method of keeping them off him. I switched to the Bio collars. And tonight after just 2 days I had a flea jump on me while on the couch with him. I plan on treating the home again this weekend 2 months earlier then scheduled but I’m concerned now he’s laying on the bathroom floor and even hopped on top of the fridge last night. Any suggestions would be helpful 

1 Answers
Adam Retzer Staff answered 6 years ago

Miss B,

It sounds like you’ve taken all the correct steps. Some parts of your question are a little vague though. How long have you been dealing with this infestation? 4 months? Is the infestation still bad, or is it greatly diminished? Are you still using the flea drops, and if so which kind? Or did you switch completely to the collars? Generally flea drops are more effective than collars.

The carpet spray you used contains an insect growth regulator that prevents re-infestation for 7 months. It works by mimicking natural insect hormones that regulate development. It may not kill all the fleas currently in the environment, but it will prevent any future generations from developing. Because of this, I think you may be dealing with the last fleas from the current generation.

It sounds like you don’t have many fleas left, is this accurate? You may just be experiencing the last remnants of the infestation. After pupating, cocooned adults can enter into a dormant-like state for up to 5 months while waiting for a host. Heat and pressure trigger them to wake up and emerge within seconds. Perhaps you are seeing the last of this problem stage emerging?

Let me know if you have further comments or questions.

Warm regards,
Adam

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