betty asked 7 years ago
Hello,
I’ve been renting a room in a house where the owner has cats and the previous renter of the room allowed the cats into the room, so I have seen a flea in the room as well as gotten flea bites. I’ve treated the carpet in my room and living room with borax and vacuumed, a several times over the last couple of months. however, I don’t believe the owner of the cats has done anything to treat her room. I’m moving soon to a place that doesn’t have any pets and I don’t want to bring any fleas with me. I have two issues I’d greatly appreciate your help with. First, what do I have to do to prevent bringing any fleas with me for the stuff in my room (i.e. clothes, shoes, mattress, etc.) Also, I stored a bunch of my stuff in cardboard boxes, as well as a bike, in her garage where it’s dark and her cats spend a lot of time in. I know that her cats have rubbed up against the boxes and bike so do you think there’s a chance there could be fleas or eggs on the bike or boxes? Should I just get rid of everything or do you think if I put everything into new cardboard boxes that would prevent any fleas from being transported? It’s mostly just kitchen stuff that’s in the boxes so I’m not that attached to any of it. It’s also an old bike so although I would like to keep it, if I could potentially bring fleas to my new place on it, I’d rather toss it. Thanks for any advice! It’s greatly appreciated.
Adam Retzer Staff answered 7 years ago
Betty,
Sorry to hear about your flea issue. Luckily, I don’t think you should have too much to worry about in regards to bringing fleas with you to your new place. And even if you somehow did, without pets, the fleas wouldn’t be able to survive there.
Items of concern would be things that the infested cats could have rested on, and thus dropped eggs on. Common items (aside from carpeting) would be pet bedding, cat trees, area rugs, and upholstered furniture.
And even if eggs fell on your items, the larvae wouldn’t be able to survive without flea dirt (flea feces). The feces is deposited on animals along with eggs. It usually only gets dislodged and falls off during grooming. So, areas where pets groom have the most fleas, because both eggs and flea dirt accumulate there.
Developing fleas also need certain environmental conditions. They require warm, humid, dark environments. These conditions are kept constant in areas within carpets, rugs, and cracks in flooring. However, other items don’t usually offer these kinds of conditions.
Clothes shouldn’t have any fleas on them unless they were lying on the floor and the cats rested on them. Even then, laundering the garments will kill any potential fleas. Fleas don’t infest mattresses. If the cats were on the bed, eggs could fall on the surface of the sheets. Again, laundering the linens will kill any potential fleas. The bike wouldn’t be a suitable item for fleas to survive on.
If the cats spent time on your boxes, then it’s possible eggs fell there. Putting the items into new boxes wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, kitchen items wouldn’t be ideal things for fleas live on regardless.
I hope this helps!
Adam
Verna
replied 5 years ago I have a dog husky / german shepperd..
She is up to date on her flea and worming treatments i just moved to a bungalow and she had 2 cats now my poor dog is coverd in fleas thay are being treated and have spray the whole place is it possible the fleas came from her cats we both moved in each other places on the same day kingswood Regards
Adam RetzerIf the dog is up to date on treatments, then the infestation likely came from the cats. It is also highly possibly the fleas were from the previous tenant.
