I need your best advice please

We have been fighting a difficult battle with fleas this summer. The Advantix no longer works at all. Frontline Plus is good for maybe 3 weeks - if supplemented wth some Frontline spray.

I've been pretty good through the summer about emptyng vacume bags outside and about keeping the dog bedding laundered. But there are a couple of chairs that one of the dogs favors and there is some carpeting favored by anbother dog that I fear have some potential for flea infestation.

Now that summer is coming to an end I want to treat the house and furniture to insure there are none of the little beasties living inside my home. I haven't seen evidence of the beasts inside but I have little doubt they have been carried in throughout the summer. I figure it is just a matter of time before they multiply. We have had such a difficult time fighting the little beasts that I am nearly certain that they have invaded - and I just have not yet observed their presence.

What products do you recommend to treat carpet and furniture?

Thanks in advance.

My house got infected with fleas when I lived waaaay out in the country. It was a brand new house, just built when we moved in and we had fleas so bad it was almost like living in a popcorn popper. Had to get an exterminator to treat the ground under the house. Don't know if that's your problem or not, I just flashed on that memory when I read your post.

I don't think that's a problem. There really is very little evidence of fleas being present in the house. But I have seen the occasional flea from time to time. Not surprising given the problems I've had this summer with the dogs.

We've had very mild winters for the past few years and my backyard is surrounded by yards which are not treated for fleas - and haven't been for years. As a result, my own efforts are somewhat futile. My two small little dogs have long hair and thick coats. While they do not spend a great deal of time outdoors in warm weather it is admittedly difficult to be sure there are not a few stray flea buggies hidden in their coats. The Advantix has repeatedly failed to be the least bit effective this summer and the Frontline Plus has required supplementation with Frontline spray. Because I have had so much trouble keeping the dogs flea free this summer I want to take the extra step and treat the inside of the house.

Definitely time to think ahead to the winter. :hi:

I am fortunate to live in an area that doesn't really have fleas, so I don't have much experience with them. Good luck, though and keep us posted. I would imagine that the fleas have built up a tolerance for the Advantix and Frontline.

Honest! I used to live in Southern California, the flea capital of the world. I had my house treated for fleas to the tune of some $200 (and that was back about 10 years ago), then my vet told me to use 20 Mule Team Borax. It costs a couple bucks a box. You spread it and then work it into the carpet with a broom. For upholstery you would need to work it into all of the corners, etc. Not easy and takes awhile, but the fleas were GONE in about a week.

Why does it work? I guess fleas can not reproduce in a dry environment (I live in Phoenix now and can attest to that). According to my vet at the time, the treatment is non-toxic and I can tell you personally that it works.

Good luck!

I like the idea of avoiding toxins. I have some chemical sensitivity and there is also a bird that lives in the house. I'm going to try this in at least one area of the house. Thanks.

I also spent the $200 to have my house treated by an outfit called Fleabusters. It was the BEST money I ever spent. They use Boric acid powder, which is what I believe 20 Mule Team Borax is. The Fleabuster formula is now available online at www.fleabuster.com. It's non-toxic and it works better than anything I've ever found.

My cat got infested when we moved into an apartment for a short time where an outdoor kitty had been. Then my little furry one carried the fleas to our new house. I went crazy until I had the fleabuster treatment. Good luck.

animals (inside and out). I try to keep up their monthly flea treatments but am not all that consistant. Perhaps it helps that I have wood and stained concrete floors with just a few rugs (rather than wall to wall carpet).

I'm surprised that the monthly flea treatments don't work.

I would consult with my vet to see if there is a way to handle it without using a lot of poisons.
If you get an infestation it's very difficult to get rid of them. That much I know.

Here's a good website that might be of help:

http://www.stopthefleas.com/

that's a great resource. I think I'm going to try several of their suggestions. I notice they also mention the use of 20 Mule Team Borax. Who knew?

at that site too, which looks like it might be a good organic solution:
http://www.cedarcidestore.com/catalog/item/3580888/5108340.htm

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes. :hi:

Diatomaceous Earth is an organic certified earth friendly insecticide. You can use it for fleas and a wide variety of other insects. You can dust it on your animals, use it on your carpets, etc. You can also feed it to your pets for internal parasite control.

Go to http://www.perma-guard.com to read up on it. That site also sells it, but you can often find it cheaper on eBay.

crawl over it. I have used diatomaceous earth and boric acid for ants and cockroaches.

and then turn to chemical warfare, flea bomb the house twice, a week apart. That will get rid of all live fleas and the eggs that will hatch up to a week later.

Trust me, it's the only way.

This is from somebody who's lived in the same house for 12 years and used insecticide exactly once.

Actually, I get it combined with the heartworm treatment for the dogs (Sentinel tabs), but it's an injection for the cat.

We too have flea-bearing yards and critters around us, so just killing them is fighting a losing battle. Lufenuron is "birth control" for fleas - it prevents their eggs from hatching. It circulates in the animal's blood, and the flea ingests it when they bite the animal. My dogs may bring in a flea or two, but they don't breed more, so the house stays clear - as long as they don't bite ME, because I have no Lufenuron in my system! But that hasn't been a big problem, because most fleas will stay on the host animal until they die, rather than jump to another host (like ME or my husband).

You should start with a flea treatment that kills both adults and larvae, though, before you start them on the Program. (Using just the Program will work eventually, but why suffer while you're waiting for all the fleas currently in the house to die?)