Flea invasion and my wallet is seriously wounded!!!

This year with the hot dry weather we have been invaded with FLEAS!!! We have been using Frontline and a soap that says it kills the fleas. The fleas where gaining on us. the cats really where getting loaded with them. One of our Persians gets sick when he gets too many fleas on him. He is allergic to the flea saliva the Vet says. One of our old female cats loses a lot of weight when she gets loaded with them. She is 16 years old right now.

So I had the wife go to the Vets and get some of the stuff I saw posted on here. Now we treated 8 cats (three indoor and five outdoors) and nine dogs (five puppies that are going to be sold/gifted soon). I wanted to really hit the whole gang all at once. The inside and outside animals all mix as the indoor ones go out side too.

So we started with the Capstar pills for immediate control. Then we used Vectra instead of the Front-line. Also we sprayed all of the carpets with CedarCide natural spray. Giving the cats the Capstar pill was real FUN but better than the spray we had been using. I really liked the applicator on the Vectra. It is much more used friendly than the Front line one. The more sensitive cats seemed not to be bothered by the Vectra as much as the Front line. The Front line seems to burn two of them. The Vertra did not seem to bother them at all. The Vet said he had better luck with the Vectra over the Frontline lately. I was worried because there are some reviews on line about problems with Vertra but all seems well right now.

The animals all seem to be much more comfortable. They are not digging much at all now. The cats have tons of dead fleas on them. The wife has been combing them all evening. She was doing it in the utility room. It has a white tile floor. You could see thousands of dead fleas after she combed them out. Even the outside cats let her comb them too. Which is very rare. Two of the dogs will bring you the brush to work on them with. LOL

The only issue is the total cost. The Capstar and Vectra was $360 at the Vets. The CedarCide was over $50 for the quart bottle we got. I don't mind that cost this first time as we really had a invasion. I just don't want to do this every month. I know the five pups will be gone but we will still have 4 dogs and the eight cats.

So I need to know if any of you know of a more generic Capstar. I am not going to try anything different than the Vectra for a few months to see if we are really getting that much better control. If we are then I will just cough up the money for the brand name product. I think Nancy Howell said she bought a generic Capstar online.

i feel your pain! even with just two little dogs in the house it's a pain, and fleas like me too
my mom just got me started on "natural chemstry ED Flea shampoo" It kills on contact so no scrubbing for 10mins like some other brands,

for contunual protection the outside dog 80+pounds we give him 1cc of Ivamec and a few drops on his back

. the inside dogs have "ashley's green products NO FLEA" you put one tablespoon to one quart of their drinking water. it contains garlic and vinager the fleas don't like garlic and won't stay on them


i've been spreading yard granuals too , but you gotta have rain for it to activate/dissolveclick for link

Was told to mix cider vinegar in their drinking water. My dogs never had fleas. We put one tablespoon per gal. water.

Bad year for bugs. I've got scorpions and spiders on my side of the county while over towards Kerens my friend is covered up in fleas. I'll pass on the cider vinegar idea, but I suggested to him to get some Tempo to spray around the house and porches where the dogs hang around. We'll see if it works on them here shortly. It does pretty good for me in contolly the other bugs so far.
If you do try some Tempo, mix it just like it says. I've heard mixing it strong is just a waste. It strong stuff as it is and a little bottle should last you a while.

If your dog will not drink the apple cider vinegar in his water you can mix it 50/50 and spray it on the coat.

I'd had a real battle here too. 3 cats inside and 2 outside plus an undetermined number of outside transients. Frontline just didnt seem to be keeping ahead of them, about half way through the treatment they'd be digging again. I got Revolution from the vet. 70 bucks a month for 5 cats but the flea problems seem to have evaporated.

Those damned things will break the bank, I am thankful to have not dealt with em in over 20 years.

When I was younger and starting my path through this life, low paying jobs were always involved.

I worked at a lumber yard, I earned my class 1 license, now CDL A, and had a truss delivery up in the mountains over in Vermont. The owner convinced me, ( and I should not have) to go up this icy driveway so the bundles could be dropped near the job, vs they would have to skid or move by hand. Well I got that done, but could not steer backing down and got the trailer pinned against a tree.

To call for a wrecker, I had to ride into town with the new building owner, who had this death warmed over looking black lab in the car whose lower eyelids projected like tea cup saucers, all red and the dog stunk to high heaven. He was so darned old and such a disgusting mess, the car reeked horribly too, some people and hygene ! Rode back with the wrecker, he set up a snatch block and winched the trailer over, and I go back to the yard and home.

Few days later I wake up and itch, see these little things all over, !!$$#@!@*&^%!!!!! arrgghhh !!!! The ensuing tasks of getting my apt cleaned, all my clothing, carpet cleaned of them broke the darned bank, I had them call this S.O.B. and send him the bill for the wrecker and my fleas, was a few hundred and I did not make that in a week, get soaked for just showing up to work, what a sequence of events LOL !!!!!!

Probably get somebody lynched now, but my father used to take whatever garden dust he had, put it in a bag, add cat, shake well. Cat's head was sticking out, and yes he wore heavy gloves.

I can't answer your question, but when we rescued our little dog from the pound she was covered with fleas and too young for most of the flea shampoos and treatments. The guy at the pound told us to wash her in Dawn dish washing soap. It killed the fleas. Don't know how well it would work with a severe infestation, but for one little dog it worked well.

I am just about ready to call in a Napalm strike for my yard. I swear I can hear the fleas laughing at me when I spray the yard

When you could still get Chlordane I would put a teaspoon in a gallon of water. Then would wet the fur on the dogs. This controlled the ticks and fleas. Our old Vet told me how to do it. It really worked. I would rub the mix into thier coat with my bare hands. Did not even think about the chemical in the mix. It is a wonder that we all did not croak in the 1950s and 1960s. The chemicals where in use and no one knew that they could be dangerous. A good friend had a HI-boy and he sprayed a lot of corn for corn bores. He never even thought of a mask or anything else. He died in his mid 40s. I have since wondered if the chemicals got him.

Get away from Frontline, THAT is your problem. The fleas have gotten imune to it. We buy Advantage II, extra large dog, over 55 lbs, and use it on our cats. Do an internet search on how much per cat size, but 2 tubes does our 11 cats for a month, and the stuff works great. We also, lost a cat to the flea problem, and that is how we found out that the fleas have gotten imune to Frontline.

By buying it at 6 tubes at a time on ebay, my last buy was last week, and it cost me $45.15, for the 6 pack, with shipping. You will not always get it that cheap though.