My wife’s sister claims the cats have fleas because she says she is always getting bitten by fleas in either her bedroom or the den. But the cats are in mostly every room and no one else complains about possible fleas. I remember when I was growing up, our cats had fleas and we had to get the home bombed to get rid of them. The fleas were so bad that if you put your face near the floor, they would jump all over your face. We could also see the fleas on the cats very easily.
However, in our current house, we can not see any fleas on the cats or the dog that is living here and there is no flea jumping like described either.
So can fleas just bother one person and not be seen or felt by anyone else in the house?
Don’t suggest keeping the cats out of those two rooms. It is possible to keep them out of the bedroom, but impossible to keep them out of the den.
If your cat has fleas so does your whole entire home
There’s no “invisible barrier” keeping fleas from other rooms in your home. If they’re in one carpeted area, trust me, they’ll be in every carpeted area eventually.
If your cat has fleas you would be able to see them on him also they do not stay in only certain rooms of the house. I was told if you wear white socks it is easy to see the fleas if they jump on you. They have good flea products for cats at the pet store.
Fleas may be concentrated in just a couple of rooms, if those rooms have some unique attraction. Are the rooms you mentioned carpeted while all the other rooms are tiled (fleas can breed in a tight carpet)? What could be different about those rooms?
To get rid of fleas you can sprinkle Borax (yes, the powdered soap) liberally on any carpets and in the upholstery, lift the cushions and get it down into the cracks in the chairs and sofas. This will dry the fleas and their eggs out – breaking the reproductive cycle. Keep the application down for several months. Read up on the use of Borax to control fleas – cheap and easy!!
If a cat has fleas and comes into the house – the whole house should have fleas – but at different concentrations – its hard for fleas to live in a kitchen floor without carpet, but in a bed or den, where people spend a large amount of time and with carpet, the fleas have a higher chance of getting on a person.
As for Sister in Law – I’m wondering if she has some other non-cat infestation of bugs, such as bedbugs, or some sort of mite (I’m not sure what kind of species).
But, if your dog goes inside and outside, he can get fleas and transfer them to the cats – so better to frontline or advantage all your pets.
And flea collars only work on the neck area.
I’ve never heard of fleas only bothering one person or them being only in one room. I doubt keeping the cats out of the rooms will help any. Give them flea baths. I put borax (20 mule team borax) on my carpeting left it there for 5 – 10 minutes then vacuumed it up (like you would with carpet cleaner). It seemed to work. Go to your vet and get them put on Advantage. Or you could buy flea collars as well and keep them on the cats.
Is she sure that she’s being bitten by fleas? They could be bedbugs…or maybe she’s so paranoid about the fleas she could be imagining things.
Get some frontline for the cats from the vet. You will need to vacuum and clean your entire house every day for at least a month, depending upon how bad it is.
You could get it bombed but I haven’t heard good results from it.
When I had to deal with fleas, I did the above and it went away. I caught it early so maybe that’s why I didn’t have a problem getting rid of them. But it’s worth a shot.