My dog scratches all the time and doesn't even have fleas. Our vet has examined her and says it's just hyper-sensitive skin. There's no treatment. We keep her nails short.

My cats had terrible fleas last summer--which surprised me, because it was the first time ever that my 19 year old cat had had them.

I was able to get a handle on them by: daily flea combing, daily vacuuming the carpets, weekly flea powder and shampooing the carpets every couple of weeks.

You do have to keep up with the treatments for a while, because there are eggs in your home--the treatments generally kill the live pests, but then in a few weeks, the new ones hatch and have to be dealt with.

There is a powder to use on your carpets that's supposed to be very effective, but it's expensive. Can't recall the name of it. But it's supposed to be a good choice if you can't get ahead of the little guys. Good luck.

My grand-dog takes something orally, but I'm not sure of the name. I can ask if you wish. Are you seeing the fleas, or just scratching? Are you being careful to administer the Advantage the exact number of days it says to do it, not longer?

I sympathize, fleas are just horrible and so miserable for pets. Good luck, don't give up.

When we did have fleas in the house I used the drops on the animals just once... but salted the entire downstairs. Moved the animals down there once that was vacuumed up, then did the upstairs. I've did this twice years apart and both times it worked for me.

By salting I mean liberally using table salt on all your carpet, leave it on over night and then vacuum up the next day. I also washed any rugs and throws plus vacuumed all the upholstered furniture.

Yes, not only do you have to treat the animals, you have to treat your house when you have an infestation.

All the above! And bathe em in Dawn liquid detergent.

We are currently fighting them here in the house and on the cats. We use advantage on both of them and I am taking equal parts of baking soda and salt..sprinkling it on the carpets, letting it sit for a while and then vacuuming it up. We have also used the bowl of water/light to catch as many as we can that way. We are on our second month of flea fighting and I think we are winning the battle.

Despite using Frontline May 15 I have seen a few. Bathed the dogs yesterday and tomorrow will do another dose of Frontline Plus on all of them. I'm leery since my little cat Lily died five days after putting it on her last month and she wasn't sick up till the day before she died. I hate the fleas and my one cat is allergic to them.

use mule team borax on your carpets and anywhere you need to use it that the pets will be including pet bedding. The borax will kill fleas and other pests but wont't bother your carpet or pets unless they tried to eat a bunch of it.

We have not had fleas in years since my little one is strictly indoors but when we did I would get some dip from my vet that he recommended and we would take one day and dip all the animals after each got a good bath, that really helped get it under control, then we would use the drops on the neck can not remember if it was frontline or advantage it was which ever one my vet suggested.

If you do not want to dip your cats what my vet had suggested to us was soak a towel with the dip water and wrap the cat in the towel with it's face sticking out and just hold it that way for a while, that will kill a lot of them, in fact you will see the fleas rushing to the face of the cat, I would have a cotton ball soaked in flea spray and just dab it on the face, you can also have a vacuum hose ready and vacuum them up, be sure you have a paper towel saturated with flea spray in your vacuum though to kill them as they go in there.

Use Borax to Kill Fleas

I hate using chemicals on animals but do it reluctantly for fleas.

One cat gets Frontline once a month in the summer (though he hates it) and the other cat gets a half pill of Capstar 2-3 times a week mixed in food, also just during the summer months. (I rarely see fleas around here in winter, just during warm weather.)

That combination seems to work fine.

I use K9 Advantix on my dogs. It Repels & Kills All Life Stages of Fleas, Repels & Kills Mosquitoes, Repels & Kills Ticks, Repels Biting Flies, Kills Chewing Lice and it's Waterproof. I have found it work very well. I also like Advantage II. It kills larvae, eggs and live fleas and they make it for cats and dogs.

If you have fleas in the carpeting, the best thing to do is keep the cats out of the house for four hours and set off some flea bombs. As long as the fleas are in the house, they will keep re-infesting the cats.

Thanks! I used Borax years ago and had forgot about that! Bought a box today. Gonna bathe the dogs tomorrow (too late tonight). I think after I do all that, I'll get Andy to run the steam cleaner over the carpet.

RavenCajun..is it safe for the cat and dogs to walk on the carpet if it has Borax on it?

Do everything you can to clear your house of fleas and eggs, and keep dosing your pet Advantage or Frontline. If you've done that I'd be really surprised if you had fleas on the animal or in the house. Have you looked for or seen fleas?

Consider adding some fish oil caplets to the dog's diet. Our husky mix was very itchy, even after flea treatments, and the vet prescribed something. I honestly forget the name, but it was basically fish oil. I now give Daisy the same fish oil (1 caplet 1200 mg per day) that we use. OMG, she LOVES it! It's her gumdrop treat every morning. (It's also cheaper than the vet prescription.)

If I call out "Daisy, gummy", that dog is right there, eager for it. She pops that gummy capsule with her teeth, and gets a look of such concentration while chewing it. She doesn't scratch herself raw anymore, either.

So, if you have cleared the house of fleas, start with some fish oil. Your dog may just be itchy with hypersensitive skin.

yes it will not hurt them they would have to actually eat some for it to hurt them, the small amount they would get off of their feet would be pretty negligible. I have used it in the past with no problems.

You have a loosing battle on your hands if your pets are getting re-infected from a source on your property. Suppose your pets have the free run of your back yard and something else does too. Squirrels are known to have flea infestations at times. Watch the squirrels when they visit your bird feeding area. Do they suddently scratch themselves furiously? I've seen squirrels mvoing along the ground in a normal fashion and then takea a sudden leap upward spmetimes almost turning a flip - that's when a flea bites. Other furry animals such as opposums, racoons, and ground hogs can become flea infested as well.

One summer (another) dog we owned was boarded at a kennel. Came home with fleas. I tried washing her in the sink in my basement. They were jumping off her. Hubby had bites on his ankles-he insisted they were living in our carpet. Took dog and my 2 cats to the vet to be "dipped" in flea bath. Simultaneously set off flea bombs in all floors of our house. We spent the night at our in laws. That summer we had very little bugs and spiders in the house. Pets were okay. Don't bother with hartz Mountain collars sprays and powders. They didn't work. Now I use Advantage drops on my pets.

10 Cats and we're big borax and baking soda fans. We don't let ours outside but fleas can come in with packages and other people so we maintain with equal parts borax and baking soda. I usually put it down when the cats go to bed at 9:30, walk it into the carpets and leave overnight. I vacuum it up before the cats come out for the day. We have turquoise carpets and this keeps them looking and smelling fresh. The borax helps to brighten the carpets as well.

I've always used the Advantage Multi for Jaggs. I don't think he's ever had a flea! Once a month through the season and he's good! It always protects against Heartworm and other parasites.

I did Frontline on May 15. Do you think it's safe to apply another dose today? I saw a flea or two and I know there are more out there. Dogs get Sentinel year round and Frontline.

just a warning the Harts neck drops have been known to severely injure and kill animals, my vet warned me never ever to use that product and after doing some reading on google search about it wow really scary stuff.
hartz flea drops
Hartz Syndrome - Hartz Flea & Tick products can HARM OR KILL your loved one.

I've heard some horror stories about Hartz products. ButI have a friend that used the Adams drops on her little dog..and it almost died! They ended up with a pretty hefty Vet bill. Andy went last year and got a bottle of the Admas Flea Spray for Abby and he got it at Petco. They also carry the same spray at Walmart, but I had a man tell me the other day that the Adams spray at Petco is a bit different from the Adams spray at Walmart.

Also noticed yesterday that one of our Walmarts now stocks Advantage!