Pesky fleas

Blooberry

Blooberry

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
268
Reaction score
143
Points
340
Location
Lancaster
Despite using a spot on treatment on our cat Kiki we have recently noticed one or two fleas in our house! 😩The vet has recommended RIP flea household spray and keeping piggies / hamsters / cat out of the house for 3-4 hrs after use. I am really concerned about using a very toxic product. Anyone used this or can advise on keeping piggies safe. Need to get rid of those pesky fleas ASAP.
 
I wouldn't recommend using the spray. I have used it before (before having piggies) and it takes ages for the smell to go. I have hypothyroidism and I had a bad reaction to it and had to avoid going in any of the rooms it had been sprayed in for few weeks after and had to sleep on the dining room floor, so I can't imagine how little piggies would cope with it, especially as it is toxic to them. If you have to use it just don't spray in the room that your piggies and hamster live in and instead hoover daily.
 
I remember years ago when we had this problem putting a capsule flea killer in the hoover to kill any that were sucked into there. I don't know if you can still get them? The fleas where we lived got immune to the spot on, in the end we got a professional pest controller to smoke bomb the house. The piggies lived the garage and didn't come into the house for a week to make sure they would be safe.
 
Lily & Rose said:
I wouldn't recommend using the spray. I have used it before (before having piggies) and it takes ages for the smell to go. I have hypothyroidism and I had a bad reaction to it and had to avoid going in any of the rooms it had been sprayed in for few weeks after and had to sleep on the dining room floor, so I can't imagine how little piggies would cope with it, especially as it is toxic to them. If you have to use it just don't spray in the room that your piggies and hamster live in and instead hoover daily.
Click to expand...
Thanks Lily & Rose. That sounds awful. I guess this applies to all household flea sprays, not just RIP? Can we get on top of it by just hoovering daily? Sorry to hear about impact on your health. Vet is recommending it so I’m a bit nonplussed.
 
piggieminder said:
I remember years ago when we had this problem putting a capsule flea killer in the hoover to kill any that were sucked into there. I don't know if you can still get them? The fleas where we lived got immune to the spot on, in the end we got a professional pest controller to smoke bomb the house. The piggies lived the garage and didn't come into the house for a week to make sure they would be safe.
Click to expand...
Thanks Piggieminder. I’ve never heard of that for a Hoover. Did the smoke bomb work?
 
Betsy said:
Remember to empty the hoover when you use it each time and give it a thorough clean out too.
Click to expand...
Thanks Betsy - what a nuisance this is. I don’t like putting the spot on treatments on the cat but nothing else seems to work - although lots of people are realising that some of these products no longer work (fleas have become resistant) and our warmer weather just feeds the problem. Bravecto is the new treatment and lasts for 3mths so goodness knows what it does to the animal.
 
Yes the smoke bomb worked really well, we never found a live flea in the house again, although we found dead ones for years, they turned up in strange places like under pictures! My vets used to swap between spot ons, this was in the days before you could buy them over the counter. Changing the spot on every few months apparently helped stop the fleas becoming immune.
 
We used to use frontline spot on for our cats but changed to advantage as the fleas became immune. I would hoover regularly and change the spot on. Hope that works.
 
Blooberry said:
Thanks Lily & Rose. That sounds awful. I guess this applies to all household flea sprays, not just RIP? Can we get on top of it by just hoovering daily? Sorry to hear about impact on your health. Vet is recommending it so I’m a bit nonplussed.
Click to expand...
Hoovering twice daily should help alongside the spot-on treatment. After a couple of weeks you could hoover just once daily. Yes all of the flea sprays contain the same toxic ingredients. In between spot-on treatments you could use a vinegar-water solution in a spray bottle and spray it on your cat as fleas hate it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top