General Discussion

the real world issue is not government or war, it's fleas. (sarcasm)

but seriously, i hate the things with a passion. i just got done bombing my house, and i'm still seeing them everywhere. bathed my dog for about three hours, and they're still there.

please, share your hatred of fleas with me (and maybe advice on getting rid of them?)

on a side note, this song is making my life worth living.

I can't remember what caused it (Probably the fact we adopted a stray cat), but at some point a few years ago our house was crawling with fleas, you'd walk around and get them all over your legs. Unfortunately I can't remember how exactly we got rid of them, but whatever it was it worked.

Strangely, since moving to the country, we haven't had any problems with fleas. One of the cats escaped the house for a week, yet came home without a single one.

But no matter how much I hate fleas, nothing compares to ticks. They're disgusting.

@Enigmadoodles i've never had to deal with ticks where i live, but i've heard so much horrible stuff about them, gross. i brought in a stray cat too! found them in a river C:
pretty sure that was what brought them in. it wasn't worth it.
we're gonna try some powder ordered all the way from australia on the carpets, fingers crossed :D

@Chantric

Ticks aren't too common here, but I've dealt with them enough to know I never want to deal with them again. I will though, it's inevitable. What are you saying, cats are always worth it.

If I remember right, I think we ended up using some sort of powder too, so maybe it's the same thing. Either way, good luck with your flea extermination!

At my dads we have 12 kittens.. and about 8 lived in the shed because the mother was stupid so we had to get them inside and they were covered in fleas, I ended up going back to my house because there was so many fleas, they're a huge pain honestly.

We joked in our family that the only way to get rid of the fleas that plagued our backyard would be to drop a nuke on our property...and then we'd just have radioactive fleas.

Flea collars on all our pets. A variety of flea-killing medicines. Bathing. Flea bombing. Everything short of a chunk of uranium and some high-end explosives. The fleas would not leave.

It was the worst in the summer. But they always mysteriously vanished in the winter months, so we had a few months of reprieve until they came back With A Vengeance, probably to avenge the millions of brothers who died in the Great K-9 Advantix Bombing on the Hills of Dogbelly.

Then my dad got these flea collars off Amazon or something and we haven't really had a flea problem since, so long as we replace them every six months. Can't remember the brand...

Vet tech here. Hoo boy fleas *cracks knuckles*

Best thing is to speak with your vet for the best flea prevention choices for your area and your dog. They will know which products do not work well for the fleas in your area, and will know if any medications may be contraindicated for your dog and circumstances. Don't just go grab the cheapest stuff off the shelf at Wal-Mart. It doesn't work and more than likely it's highly toxic to you and the dog. For the love of everything, stay away from Hartz, Sentry, and Sergeant products. Don't bother with 'natural' or 'holistic' etc stuff, you will just drag your flea battle out foreeeeever. Flea baths will kill what's on your dog now and will give him immediate relief, but will do nothing for any fleas in the house/yard that he keeps picking up. THOSE are the fleas that you're truly battling.

No matter what products you use, it's going to be at least a three-month ordeal, simply based off the flea life cycle and the fact that there is no product that can kill fleas in all their life stages. It's going to be obnoxious but you need to see it through to the end or else you'll keep getting flea outbreaks.

See what your vet advises, there's a lot of good products out there, but when dealing with a flea infestation their application will be slightly different than the normal monthly schedule (which imho all animals should be on year-round, fleas are getting tougher and tougher to kill once infestation occurs and they don't die off in the winter).

Wash your dog's bedding and any couch cushions/carpets/blankets/whatever he sleeps on, because that's where the eggs are dropping off. Vacuum the entire house, daily is ideal, but weekly at the very minimum. Make sure to vacuum underneath furniture! The flea larvae like to hide in dark areas, like under couches. And yes, you need to vacuum hard floors too, not just carpet. Throw out the vacuum bag or dump out the canister after EVERY vacuum or else the fleas will hatch in the vacuum and get back into the house. Spray down your house with safe stuff (ask your vet what kinds), you may need repeated applications especially in areas where the dog spends a lot of time. If your dog goes outside, you may need to treat your yard too, especially if you have a lot of wildlife in your area.

If you have any other dogs or cats, whether indoors or out, every single animal MUST be on flea prevention or you will never, ever see the end of this. It does absolutely no good to treat just one animal.

Seriously though fleas need to die. >:(

@Enigmadoodles i think i heard a story about someone who was deathly afraid of ticks. one night, their dog started scratching, so they ended up finding a tick on the dog's stomach, in the dark. so, he panics, and tries pulling it off with tweezers. turns out it's his dog's nipple. probably got some details wrong, but yeah. ticks.
and thanks! i think they'll go away eventually c':

@Eternality oh wow, that's a lot of kittens. yeah, i agree. superrrrr hard to get rid of. plus it only takes like, six months to make a gazillion children from one flea.

@MonsieurGalahad that's exactly what i did, ended up having to give the kitten away (after giving it three flea baths) so that we could actually start fixing the house. never actually had bed bugs though, oddly enough.

@iammarqueisdead lol, i'm pretty sure it got to a borderline burn-down-the-house situation, but they've gone away. some. it was winter at its worst too, which is weird. but maybe not really because it's seventy degrees year round here. i've killed maybe, three bathtubs full of fleas by now. they must be very angry with the deaths of their comrades.

@Dinogrrl oh! thank you so very much for the advice! it's super nice of you c: we've actually been using hartz, oh no???? the vet put my dog on medication, so the fleas are anger-y and leaving her alone. she looks like a possum from how much she's been scratching herself. i've gotten recommendations for some stuff that has to be ordered from australia, so that's on its way. we got a vacuum a while back because of a previous flea infestation that is meant for hard floors, and that's been running non-stop. there's not a huge risk of getting fleas from outside in my area, so once they're gone, they're gone.
the world would be a better place if fleas stopped existing. and mosquitoes. don't forget mosquitoes.