As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been dealing with the most irritating little problem for the last three weeks.
Sadie has fleas. And as I’ve learned from my intensive research on the subject, that means that only about 15% are actually on her and the other 85% are in the apartment. Which is blows big time.
Y’all I have done so much research on getting rid of fleas on your pet/home that I could probably write a whole book on the subject. But since I don’t have the time nor the desire to write a whole book, I decided to share my frustrations and successes with you all.
So here we go.
When I first noticed that Sadie had fleas. I thought to myself, no big deal. I’ll just bath her, put some flea stuff on her, and slap a flea collar on her and boom the problem will be solved. Then I was wearing white socks in the house and happened to glance down and saw little black dots on them. I got a closer look and saw that weren’t lint like I had thought when I first glanced down. They were fleas. My roommate also said that she saw a few in the bathroom.
I decided to hit up Google and see what were some good ways to get rid of fleas. That’s when I learned the numbers I mentioned at the beginning of the post. So I thought ok, I’ll vacuum the crap out the apartment and buy some spray or powder. Off I went to Walmart. Where I bought the following:
-Hartz Flea and Tick Carpet Powder
-Hartz Ultra Guard Pro
-Hartz Flea and Tick Collar
Oh I also bought the Hartz brand Flea Shampoo for cats. First I gave Sadie a bath, then when she was dry I put the drops on her, and finally when that had dried I put the flea collar on her. Then I spent an entire afternoon with that carpet powder and my vacuum. Unfortunately noon of the above worked.
During the 5k weekend, I was talking about my problem with my best friends uncle and aunt and they suggested using tea tree oil. It’s what your supposed to use to get rid of lice so I figured what the hell.
I’ll give it a try.
I put it in an old spray bottle and diluted it with water. I put about 10 drops in hot water, shake the bottle really well, and then spray the crap out of the apartment. I spray it everywhere: the couch, my room, the kitchen, the bathroom, my closet, the roommates bedrooms, and even the porch. The nice thing is it smells really good!
So I did and it was working pretty well! I saw about half as many fleas, but they were still there. Plus I was still finding them on my poor kitty. She was miserable. She itched all day and night. She was very subdued and her personality had completely changed from the playful kitten I had pre-fleas.
That’s when I decided to bit the bullet and not be so cheap. I kept researching online and everyone raves about Advantage II for cats. That stuff isn’t cheap y’all. But I told myself that if it got rid of the few fleas that were left it would be worth it. I also called three different veterinarians and all recommend Advantage. I had wanted to take her in to get her dipped but apparently that’s not really done anymore. The vets all said that they would just give her Advantage so I didn’t even need to bring her in.
So I headed to Petco for the Advantage. I had also read that using a flea comb helps immensely so I bought one of those too. And finally I decided that I should probably flea bomb the apartment. Most of the people I had talked to said that they had to do this and it worked.
On Friday night I ran the flea comb through Sadie and it worked wonders! I had completely underestimated just how many fleas she had. I also realized that all I had done to her the previous week and half, hadn’t worked AT ALL. When I put the Advantage on her. And for good measure, after it dried I threw a new flea collar on her.
Saturday rolled around and I put Sadie on the porch, vacuumed and set off the bombs. I put one in the living room and one in my room. Then I disappeared for about 3 hours, came back and aired out the apartment, and thankfully have only seen one or two fleas since.
I’m probably going to bomb the apartment one more time for good measure, I’ll be vacuuming like a crazy person still and Sadie will be brushed daily with the flea comb and on the Advantage from now on.
Thankfully, after just a few days Sadie is back to her old self. She’s playful again, sleeping again, and not scratching anymore.
Y’all this has been the most stressful thing EVER. We don’t have fleas very bad in the part of Texas I’m from. So I had zero idea on what to do. I’ve cried, got angry, and cried some more over it. I think I finally have it under control. But it’s going to take a lot of up keep from now on.
Getting rid of fleas is no laughing matter, it take patience and consistency. Not to mention it’s expensive. So if you have a flea problem and are at a loss of what to do, feel free to ask yours truly.
Cuz I’m an expert on all things fleas now. Yay me!
Places I Will Go 