[neilep]

....just a thought, once you do get rid of the fleas keep on treating your furnishings and carpets, cat bed and cat cos as John says, the little buggers like to come back cos the eggys can last quite a while and the critters lay at least one an hour !!!.....I'm Scratching Now !!!!!

Flea links which might help http://www.pestproducts.com/flea-egg.htm

http://cats.about.com/cs/parasiticdisease/a/fleas.htm

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[Tann San (OP)]

Yay, success!  5 mins in the microwave got rid of the fleas for good :¬)  kidding kidding, would never do that...mostly... hehe.  I'm going to get more spray and meds for them this weekend, its hard to get stuff since I work 9.30-6 and that doesnt count travelling so places are always closed.  I'll definately be more carefull with the spray now, sounds worse than I thought.  Last night I bombed my bedroom and my bed (it says no to bedding) and shut the door.  I was going to leave it for an hour till I remembered I had loads of work to do so I ended up sitting in a really misty room about 10 minutes after unleashing the gas.  Guess I wont be doing that again...wait didnt I say I'd stop going on about my cats?  ok so now I'll shut up :¬)

[Broca]

The Vet told me to put Advantex <liquid flea killer> on the dog, rub it in using rubber gloves as it is absorbed into your skin just like the dogs. It kills fleas within 12 hours.It keeps killing for 30 days. It is safe enough to use everyday though. He then told me to NOT use any sprays or powders as they do not work. Let the dog into all his usual areas and as the dead skin falls off his body any fleas in the room or carpet will eat the treated skin. Those fleas will then die and the whole problem will be over. I think it works better in theory than in actuality. The active ingredient is it Imidacloprid.
 By the way...I had a cat that loved to swim and take showers. weird.

[Donnah]

Something doesn't add up here.  If the flea powder is safe for dogs, whose bodies are generally much smaller than ours, then why are people supposed to wear rubber gloves to protect us from absorbing it the way dogs do?

That sounds like the amalgam issue.  Amalgam in the dentist's office is handled by stringent guidelines for handling toxic material.  Scrap amalgam is handled as toxic waste.  So we are supposed to believe that the only place amalgam is "safely" stored is in our mouths???  Absurd.

[Broca]

http://www.holisticmed.com/dental/amalgam/
http://www.algonet.se/~leif/AmFAQigr.html

Donnah...how are ya....check those 2 sites out..it isn't safe in our mouths either.

[Ians Daddy]

I had a buddy that had a horrible flea infestation. The ones that he couldn't train for circus life [)] had to be killed, and killed fast. He was a vegan/ozone/peta type, so he didn't like the idea of chemicals. So, he set out to find a home remedy type evacuation of un-trainable fleas.

First, set the television set on the floor. Second, set a shallow caserole dish in front of it. Third, fill the dish with soapy water. Finaly, put the telly on the blank snow channel overnight.
After a few days, the pan would start filling up with drowned fleas. They jump to the screen and bounce into the pan and drown. I thought that was pretty cool.

On the subject of cats, I heard the other day that Tylenol / acitomenaphin (sp) in any amount will KILL [xx(] a cat of any size. Is this true?

Just a [}:)] thought

Ronnie

[moses lawn]

I have had the priviledge of owning cats all my life, and the study of cat behaviour is a particular interest of mine.

I believe that their 'fear' of water is a part of a cat's general dislike/fear of anything that is foreign to it. My cats will allow themselves to be shampooed, but only if they are introduced to the warm water shower very gradually, and restrained until they are used to the feel of it. They then relax and appear to quite enjoy the experience. I use either a specialist cat shampoo or a very mild baby shampoo, diluting it first with warm water before applying it.

Another fear when the hairdryer starts, but again they relax after a time and allow the drier to dry their fur.  As they are long haired cats, they look wonderfully fluffy after their shampoo, and I believe they really appreciate their fur being so clean, albeit the smell of the fur will be foreign to them for a while.

[moses lawn]

By the way, special anti-flea cat shampoos seem to be quite effective, but in my experience, the preparations that are applied as drops to the back of the cat's neck and spread themselves over its body are the most effective anti-flea treatments of all.

[Broca]

o.k.  I just want to do the t.v. / soap dish thing for the fun of it. <laughing> sounds funny!

[neilep]

Me luff cats.... ....every cat I've had did not like bathy time...however, one cat was happy to drink from the sink......but...cats are actually pretty good swimmers....(sorry if that has already been mentioned)



'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[roberth]

quote:Originally posted by Donnah

Something doesn't add up here.  If the flea powder is safe for dogs, whose bodies are generally much smaller than ours, then why are people supposed to wear rubber gloves to protect us from absorbing it the way dogs do?

That sounds like the amalgam issue.  Amalgam in the dentist's office is handled by stringent guidelines for handling toxic material.  Scrap amalgam is handled as toxic waste.  So we are supposed to believe that the only place amalgam is "safely" stored is in our mouths???  Absurd.

I agree with you, Donnah. I asked the vet once about Frontline. It travels subcutaneously around your pet and hangs around under their skin for 30 or so days. I refused to use it after that. He said he wouldn't use it either.

My dogs don't come inside the house, so a few fleas on them aren't really a problem. Providing you can get your dog (or cat, I guess) used to the fleas, without scratching or biting, they enjoy a simbiotic relationship. After all, fleas and animals were together a long time before we started covering the animals in chemicals and killing them with cancers. It's not like they can complain, either.

[Tann San (OP)]

Its funny you should mention the tv thing as I was in maplins the other day and decided to take a tech approach.  I got a pitch emitting thing that you carry around / leave lieing around.  Its supposed to be a repelant.  Dont really know how effective it is as I did another house bomb yesterday as well.  Gave them the killer pills and then did that thing like with the dog, rubbing the repelant in with gloves.  Locked them in as well and made them trapse around each room.  I think its just a case of patience now as I've already picked a couple o fleas off myself just typing this.  I dont think theres that much more I can do at the moment as I've used quite a range of products.  I'd love to stick my tv on the floor and leave it on but its broke so thats not really an option at the moment.  I like the cat trying to get the duck image, it reminded me that I wanted to try something similar :¬)

"After all, fleas and animals were together a long time before we started covering the animals in chemicals and killing them with cancers. It's not like they can complain, either."

me me me! - try sleeping with the suckers crawling on you all night.  I've had to try getting used to it so I can actually get some sleep and then when I get up I've got a fresh batch of lovely bleeding bites...nice :¬<

[roberth]

Yeah, I can see your point. Your house is probably filled with eggs anyway, and the bombs will only wipe out the live ones, so they'll be back. With the problems you're having, you need professional help. Talk to a pest controller. Even better, talk to a real estate agent. Find a new house.

[tweener]

Some of the bombs will kill the eggs too.  Just read the label.

If you go for the new house approach, you also need to go for a whole new set of furniture and personal belongings.  

A good fire is the ultimate solution.

----
John - The Eternal Pessimist.

[Ians Daddy]

Remind me to never ask you guys how to get rid of crabs!

[neilep]

You could also move to the next County and replace every member of your family, friends and pets.

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[roberth]

Crabs, eh. Boiling water with salt. Best cooked live...oh, not that type. A razor and a tomahawk.

[tweener]

I bet a good fire would get rid of crabs too. []

----
John - The Eternal Pessimist.

[Tann San (OP)]

Well, my girly went to the vets on my behalf yesterday, said the receptionist was a bit dumb.  Eventually she got some interesting info though.  If the fleas swarm the kitties faces then theres a good chance their not cat fleas but rabbit fleas and require different measures to kill.  This is the fun part, I can take the kitties to the vets for a free apointment to check whether they have fleas!  Apparantly I need a vets approval or something to get frontline and programme (program?).   Guess a trip to the vets is my next call, hope they have some flea meds for me as well since I've got almost as many fleas as my kitties :¬(

[neilep]

At this particular time, I would not recommend a Naked Scientist group hugfest !! (no offence Tann Sann)...but good luck[]

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'