We recently moved to a new house and I notice my cat has some fleas. My cat has dark furs so it’s hard to pick the fleas. I want to get lrid of his fleas with non-chemical way if possible. Or do I really need to use flea drops and thoroughly vacuum/clean the house to completely get rid of fleas.
Vacuuming is effective, as fleas cannot survive a trip through an upright vacuum cleaner.
As far as your cat, regular combing with a flea comb will expose the fleas your cat may have on it. Dark fur has no bearing on seeing fleas that are combed out. You then dip the flea comb in soapy water to kill them.
Once you get the number of fleas to a minimal level, you can try the old fashioned method of flea control. That is by adding brewer’s yeast to their diet. You find it at a health food store. Fleas don’t like the taste of blood of an animal that has ingested brewer’s yeast. My cats got to like it so much that I would only have to shake the bottle to get them to come running. It also improved their coats.
It sort has gone out of fashion with the newer treatments, but using a flea comb regularly, and giving brewer’s yeast is how I got rid of the fleas on my cats long ago. However, I also bombed the house as a final coup de gras to make sure there would be no more.
There are no non-chemical ways that will rid you of all of the fleas.
Before the chemicals, people who lived with animals simply had to live with their fleas too.
Here’s how I tell people to deal with fleas —
First get Frontline, Advantage, or Revolution from the vet to treat the cats. These products are intended to be used once a month to keep fleas off the cat.
Then, if you need to treat the house – which is often the case – use a product which not only kills adult fleas but also prevents eggs from hatching.
When we have bad flea years (haven’t had one in along time – knock on wood 🙂 we use Raid products for the house.
They make a fogger called Raid ® : Flea Killer Plus Foggerhttp://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_fkpf.as…
They also make an area spray called Raid ® : Flea Killer Plus Carpet & Room Sprayhttp://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_fk_pc_r…
We have had very good results with those products.
Remember, you want a product that not only kills adult fleas but also prevents eggs from hatching. If you use something that does not prevent the eggs from hatching, when they hatch you are back where you started.
There is a product, Capstar which is a pill you give the cat. It kills all of the fleas on the cat within about 5 hours.http://www.capstar.novartis.us/
It does not provide long lasting protection – it merely kills all the fleas on the cat.
You can use it to kill all the fleas on the cat and then treat the cat with Frontline, Advantage, or Revolution, and then treat the cat.
Ask your vet about Capstar and using it in combination with other products.
Capstar is available only by prescription.
We have used it to kill all the fleas on feral cats who we could not handle to apply something else. We transfer them to another cage or carrier, move them out of the room, fog the room, give them the Capstar in food, and then put them back in the main cage.
Capstar is like magic – it really will kill all of the fleas on a cat very quickly and it is safe enough that you could use it every day, if need be – though that would be an expensive way to control fleas, day to day.
Indoor cats can get fleas that people carry in on their clothes. If you think that might be happening, get an insecticide you can spray on the yard to kill fleas.
You will probably need to get a sprayer. The ones that attach to the end of a hose might be the type you could use.
Ask the people at a garden store, Lowes, or Home Depot, or similar store for help picking an insecticide and a sprayer.