Consult a Vet on the best flea deterrent. Don't take your cats to the clinic because the fleas will jump off and contaminate wherever the cats go. The fleas will transfer from the cats to you as well.

A common source of fleas in the wild is squirrels. I've seen the poor devils doing flip flops from flea bites.

Diatamaceous earth works, though it's a bit of work. My dd had this going on when the flea med didn't work on her dog--she and her roommate spread it all over the carpet then vacuumed it up in a couple of days. It was a mess to vacuum and stressed the vacuum; the advice was to leave it along the edges until they were sure all the fleas were gone. It did work. Good luck!

Make sure it's food-grade DE and not the kind meant for pool filters.

My parents had a really bad flea infestation last summer on there 2 indoor cats that have never stepped foot outside. I'm talking thousands of fleas. We used the liquid drops on the back of their neck but even that wasn't cutting it. We flea combed them twice a day and would get off hundreds of fleas at a time and we ended up having to bomb the house. Those poor cats! We think the fleas were brought in by the housekeepers from the apartment complex. We asked them to stop bringing their vacuum cleaner in and only use our vacuum cleaner and we would throw the bag out after each use. We finally got the problem under control and we check for fleas and haven't seen any since then. The foggers I used were made by Raid.

Our cats are indoor only, and even in the summer months we have to put Advantage on them for 3-4 months. Of course you should take them to the vet - he may want to check for tapeworms which come from swallowing flea eggs during grooming. A good vet decontaminates their premises as best they can but there is no getting away from fleas, especially during the summer. They are everywhere and it's difficult to control the environment. You can bring them in from outside on your clothing, or they get in through open doors and windows. Best way to control them is to keep them off your pets. If they are kept indoors, eventually the fleas will die off if they have nowhere to feed.

I had an infestation of fleas from an overnight stay at the vet; this happened three years ago and it was a nightmare. Took me four months to get rid of them. You don't mention if you have other pets; I have an elderly bird I had to deal with.

I used topical flea treatments but the buggers were resistant. I changed from Frontline to Advantage II and that got rid of them. Frontline is pretty worthless for fleas anymore. I sprayed the carpet and furniture with Zodiac Flea Spray and vacuumed daily. I would spray a room and vacuum within 30 minutes and then spray again. You have to break the life cycle and it can be difficult. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum!

DE is supposed to work well but I could not use it with my bird. I don't recommend those bombs because they leave an oily film on everything and they don't always kill the flea eggs.

I battled fleas several times. Once we went on a two week vacation and left the dog at a boarding place. When we walked in the door the fleas jumped all over us. Evidently they hatched while we were gone and were looking for their first meal. We had to have the house bombed, threw away some dense carpeting and had the dog flea dipped before returning him to the house. It was godawful.

On top of that the dog was allergic to the bites and had to be treated for a skin condition. It was all very expensive.

Then the dog was picked up by the dog catcher and put in dog jail where he got infested again. He had to go directly to the flea dipper.

I don!t think you can ever get rid of fleas entirely. All you can hope to do is keep them under control. Every time we went on vacation the last thing we'd do is set off the foggers. The dog died long ago so I no longer have them. I also switched from wall to wall carpets to wood floors and area rugs.

Good luck.

One more thing. After fogging, I would vacuum like crazy before the dog came back in.

I strongly recommend the use of an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) to help control fleas inside. That, along with frequent bathing of the animals, proper preventative medications, and vacuuming, may be the secret weapon in getting and keeping the flea population down.

The brand that I am personally familiar with is Precor.

As always, familiarize yourself with any product BEFORE using.

rhizo, how do you apply Precor? Even looking at it on Amazon, I'm still befuddled.

In all our years of owning a dog, I can't recall that we ever had a *real* flea problem. Once I found ONE flea while washing our dog. A flea ran up to his head ahead of the suds, so I was able to kill it. Our DS was a baby, and I freaked. I took the dog to the vet for a flea bath and bombed the house. One flea in fifty years. I had no idea this was a common problem.

We haven't had a big flea problem since moving to Colorado in 1981, but they were a problem for our dogs when we lived in California.

I don't think flea infestations are a common or recurring problem for most pet owners. Always possible, of course.

Fleas are common in our area but monthly treatment of pets with any of the various products (Frontline, Advantage) has always prevented infestations for us. Reason #57 to keep cats indoors.

I remember once having an uncharacteristic flea invasion in our back yard. I had it sprayed with one of the mammal-safe insecticides (don't remember which one) and the problem went away.

My dog and 3 cats had fleas last summer, all because I skipped a couple of months applying flea drops to my do. I think they irritated his skin. All 4 got flea drops for a couple of months and then flea season was over. This year I got a Seresta flea collar for my dog back in April It cost $50 but is good for 8 months. He doesn't mind it and my house and cats are flea free.

Rob, HERE'S the stuff that I used. It's mixed one ounce (one bottle) per gallon of water to cover 1500 sq.ft. I used a gallon of distilled water, poured a little out, and put the whole bottle in. From that gallon, I filled a good plant sprayer/mister....one with an adjustable nozzle.

Use a clean, new sprayer, one never used for anything else and dedicate it solely for this purpose.

Precor can be sprayed on carpets, furniture, bedding. If the bedding is washed, spray again. If the carpet is cleaned, spray again. There is no odor or residue or staining. Don't apply to the animal.

IGRs are not knock down chemicals. They work by disrupting the normal life cycle of the insect, usually in the larval stage. Again....use it in conjunction with the other medications and procedures.

Been missing you, Minnie! Glad to see you back :o)

linda, there are versions of the flea/tick stuff that dogs take orally, they eat them like a chewy treat. They must taste good, my dog enjoys them. Whether the same is available for cats I don't know.

Thanks rhizo, that helps. I don't know why I couldn't envision that? Now I get it.