Gosh. We have fleas. Or rather the kittens have fleas. Not many, I think, but I have seen a number of live ones. Killed them on sight, of course, but the thing about fleas is they jump. And when they’ve jumped, they’re gone.
Have therefore been on a super-detailed hoovering mission in the lounge and in my room. When the boyfriend comes home, he will find himself nagged into doing his room as well. Under the furniture. Not just around it. Every nook and cranny and all the cracks between the floor boards. Kittens acted kind of like if getting rid of them involved that sort of racket for hours on end, they would rather prefer the fleas, thank you.
I’ll do the rest of the house tomorrow and am considering a second dose of Frontline even if it hasn’t been four weeks yet since the last one…
I’m knackered now. What better in this situation than a tea that says GRAWRRRRR!!!!
I have even deliberately steeped it twice as long as I normally would have, and it does indeed both roar and growl.
Funnily enough, getting twice the steep has made it change character altoghether. Where’s the hay? Yunnans always taste heavily of hay, so why is the hay suddenly missing?
It’s drier now, more wood-y than hay-y, and it reminds me a bit of dark chocolate and not-too-strong coffee. It has never done that before. I think I quite prefer it this way.
(I’ll trade you all the fleas we’ve got for one piece of dark chocolate.)
Comments
Well I do have more than enough dark chocolate (if there is such a thing) and my current collection of fleas is not overly impressive. So from a supply in demand perspective this seems like a good trade, I can’t, however, shake this nagging feeling that I’d be getting screwed.
You can give a second dose of Frontline as long as it’s more than 7 days apart from the first dose. But I don’t think you want to give them a third dose within the same month. As for the fleas in the house, you have to fumigate, spray everything, and/or pour powder all over the carpet. The thing that worked best for me was a product called Flea Stoppers. Not sure if you can get it in Denmark, but it has a year money back guarantee and worked perfectly. Don’t just treat the kittens. You have to treat your house too or they’ll just keep coming back. Another good trick is to vacuum all the floors every single day for 30 days. Throw out the vacuum bag every day too ‘cause it’ll be full of fleas and their eggs. It’s a pain, but it usually has pretty good results. Good luck with the fleas. I understand how much of a nightmare it is. :(
We got a lot of fleas in our house after a possum had babies under our outbuilding in the backyard. I didn’t want to use pesticides because my godson is a frequent guest and he is autistic and we all keep a pretty “green” environment around him. We set up and light in the dark house at night with a bowl of water under it. The fleas hop to the light and fall in the water and drown. It took several nights, though, and we still did the uber-vacuuming.
For the yard, we spread diatomaceous earth to cut their little flea exoskeletons so they die of dehydration. We can’t use pesticides out there because we have a pen full of two kinds of box turtles! But it worked, hallelujah, because I HATE FLEAS! :). Best of luck getting rid of them!
The Flea Stoppers carpet powder may not be technically “green” but it’s left in the carpet for about a week. It doesn’t hurt you or your animals, and it works fast.
The flea problem isn’t very large, really, they’re not completely flea riddled. But I need to get rid of them now or it will become large. I shouldn’t think large amounts of toxins should be necessary at this point. Considering we haven’t had the kittens for more than a month or so, I imagine they must have brought a flea or two with them when they came which we didn’t see. Those have gone through a life cycle here now and we’re getting the next generation. Flea eggs and cocoons can hibernate and survive for years so I thought it’s also possible that they were already here when we moved in, but I expect if that was the case it would have been a much much bigger problem.
The box of Frontline says that I should wait four weeks, because apparently there’s very little safety documentation on the product or something like that. Very reassuring, when you think about it!
No carpets here, though, so I’ve only got the cracks between the floor boards to worry about. I have a (danish) lead on a spray which I will look into, but as we have very few internal doors, I can’t really use anything that is super-noxious, because we can’t seal off the rooms until the fumes are gone.
We have one of those bag-less hoovers, so at least changing the bag straight away is not a problem. I always empty the container after use anyway. (That thing has been saving me a FORTUNE on hoover bags since we moved in together! It’s awesome!)
I think the main difference is that Frontline is also protecting against ticks, which I gather from this review (http://www.epinions.com/review/Bayer_Advantage/content_70366367364) Advantage doesn’t.
Good luck with your flea slaughter! I’m battling what I hope is a small infestation from the lousy neighbor cat who rolls all over the door mat outside. My indoor cats have no idea what to think right now!
Ours are indoor cats too, but where we got them from they had been allowed to go outside. I don’t dare let them do that here, I’m to afraid they’ll get hurt in traffic. So, once we get rid of this lot, we shouldn’t have the problem ever again, hopefully. At least we don’t have to check them for ticks. :)
Well I do have more than enough dark chocolate (if there is such a thing) and my current collection of fleas is not overly impressive. So from a supply in demand perspective this seems like a good trade, I can’t, however, shake this nagging feeling that I’d be getting screwed.
By me??? Would this face lie? :D
You can give a second dose of Frontline as long as it’s more than 7 days apart from the first dose. But I don’t think you want to give them a third dose within the same month. As for the fleas in the house, you have to fumigate, spray everything, and/or pour powder all over the carpet. The thing that worked best for me was a product called Flea Stoppers. Not sure if you can get it in Denmark, but it has a year money back guarantee and worked perfectly. Don’t just treat the kittens. You have to treat your house too or they’ll just keep coming back. Another good trick is to vacuum all the floors every single day for 30 days. Throw out the vacuum bag every day too ‘cause it’ll be full of fleas and their eggs. It’s a pain, but it usually has pretty good results. Good luck with the fleas. I understand how much of a nightmare it is. :(
We got a lot of fleas in our house after a possum had babies under our outbuilding in the backyard. I didn’t want to use pesticides because my godson is a frequent guest and he is autistic and we all keep a pretty “green” environment around him. We set up and light in the dark house at night with a bowl of water under it. The fleas hop to the light and fall in the water and drown. It took several nights, though, and we still did the uber-vacuuming.
For the yard, we spread diatomaceous earth to cut their little flea exoskeletons so they die of dehydration. We can’t use pesticides out there because we have a pen full of two kinds of box turtles! But it worked, hallelujah, because I HATE FLEAS! :). Best of luck getting rid of them!
The Flea Stoppers carpet powder may not be technically “green” but it’s left in the carpet for about a week. It doesn’t hurt you or your animals, and it works fast.
I used a flea powder that I’m not sure killed the fleas, but did kill a vacuum cleaner!
The flea problem isn’t very large, really, they’re not completely flea riddled. But I need to get rid of them now or it will become large. I shouldn’t think large amounts of toxins should be necessary at this point. Considering we haven’t had the kittens for more than a month or so, I imagine they must have brought a flea or two with them when they came which we didn’t see. Those have gone through a life cycle here now and we’re getting the next generation. Flea eggs and cocoons can hibernate and survive for years so I thought it’s also possible that they were already here when we moved in, but I expect if that was the case it would have been a much much bigger problem.
The box of Frontline says that I should wait four weeks, because apparently there’s very little safety documentation on the product or something like that. Very reassuring, when you think about it!
No carpets here, though, so I’ve only got the cracks between the floor boards to worry about. I have a (danish) lead on a spray which I will look into, but as we have very few internal doors, I can’t really use anything that is super-noxious, because we can’t seal off the rooms until the fumes are gone.
We have one of those bag-less hoovers, so at least changing the bag straight away is not a problem. I always empty the container after use anyway. (That thing has been saving me a FORTUNE on hoover bags since we moved in together! It’s awesome!)
Advantage! That stuff works and is safe on kittens.
Frontline is more or less the same thing. It’s just a different brand.
I think the main difference is that Frontline is also protecting against ticks, which I gather from this review (http://www.epinions.com/review/Bayer_Advantage/content_70366367364) Advantage doesn’t.
Good luck with your flea slaughter! I’m battling what I hope is a small infestation from the lousy neighbor cat who rolls all over the door mat outside. My indoor cats have no idea what to think right now!
Ours are indoor cats too, but where we got them from they had been allowed to go outside. I don’t dare let them do that here, I’m to afraid they’ll get hurt in traffic. So, once we get rid of this lot, we shouldn’t have the problem ever again, hopefully. At least we don’t have to check them for ticks. :)