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gets wet. This quick-acting product prevents the laying of new eggs by the fleas that are already on the animal. Humans do not absorb Advantage, and it is safe on animals 8 weeks and older. Again, be sure to treat all of your
animals. * Advantage is a good
product but it some areas have fleas that now appear to be much
more resistant to this brand. One of the cheapest and easiest
flea shampoo we've found is Dawn Dishwashing Soap. I always use an
oatmeal shampoo directly after to soften the coat and help the
skin from becoming dry but Dawn works great to kill the fleas if
you lather and let set for about 3-4 minutes. My current cat,
Cleo, does not do shampoo's or baths so I use a flea comb and a
spray bottle with Dawn and water to squirt on the fleas to kill
them! We've found the vacuuming every other day for about two weeks, and if necessary, even shampooing the carpets with soapy water will kill all the fleas. For hard surface floors you can use hot soapy water. For furniture and other areas you can use the Flea Spray recommended below. Be sure to do a small out of site test area first if you are concerned about staining. Fleas in South Texas Now
Resist All Commercial The product below, Natural Flea Spry for Cats, is made by a company called Natural Chemistry out of Connecticut. No China syndrome here, it's American made (China has had quite a few bad food products for cats and dogs lately). This is what I use for both my cats and dogs. Both Advantage II, Frontline, and Revolution do not work around my area of Texas. They did forever and then stopped working about 2 years ago. Can't tell you why but both the dogs and the cats started picking up fleas that were not repelled or even bothered by any of our prior go to products. We went nuts and could not keep the fleas off of our pets until we found this product. It is carried by PetCo at most locations but if you don't have one close you can get it below from Amazon. They also make a shampoo but our cats don't do shampoo =8~). This is an instant killer of fleas and so is the shampoo product.
**It's not a great repellent. We use a lemon and water solution for that and it seems to work better than any commercial product. We throw a couple of sliced lemons in big sauce pan of boiling water, turn off the heat and let them simmer for 60 minutes. Then we dilute with water and use this in a spray bottle and wet down our cat brushing against the fir to let it adsorb. You can also do this with a one to one mixture of white vinegar and water too but the lemons smell better and our cats don't mind it at all. We do this at least every 3-5 days. But don't over do it. We have never had an issue with lemon water but I have read of some people who went overboard and caused some allergic reactions in their cat or dog. Too much citric acid is not a good thing for people or animals. The best non poison yard and house flea treatment we've found is DE powder (Diatomaceous Earth). But be careful since there are two general types, the one you would use for a swimming pool filter and the Food Grade version. You want to use the Food Grade version of course. It will clearly state on the label which is which and you can usually find the right version DE where they sell pest control stuff. Be careful to get the right DE, use the natural found in Garden departments - not the version made for swimming pool filters! And no matter which you choose to use, do not breath the power nor let your cat breath it since it's not a good thing for your lungs and use gloves when handling to be on the safe side! Just sprinkle the area of yard or house and keep animals out of the are for an hour or two to let it settle in out of the air. these both work well to kill many insects and are one of the safest method of pest control. Some people even sprinkle on their pets, being careful not to let them inhale it. If you can't find it, it is available at Amazon too.
Our pets are valuable members of our families, and we hate to see them struggle with fleas. A cat fleas problem is relatively easy to solve with the right combinations of ingredients and products. For the safest, most effective treatment of your animal, be sure to consult your vet. Cat Fleas And HumansI get asked a lot about cat fleas on humans. Yes, a cat flea will definitely bite any human. Fleas are attracted by rapid movement, carbon dioxide and heat. Cat fleas on humans are very common if your cat has a flea problem. These fleas are quite greedy too and will bite multiple times. And just like cats, some humans are allergic to the flea bites and these flea bites can get infected by scratching too much. Here's the best flea bite treatments we've found:
Best Flea Repellents For HumansYou best way to keep fleas off of you to begin with is the lemon water mentioned above or any insect repellent that contains 15% of Deet. These two are the most effective we've personally used. The easiest and most effective way to keep the fleas out of your house is to make sure you vacuum carpets and mop any hard surface floors with hot soapy water as mentioned often. Some people swear by regular old table salt and baking soda spread generously on carpets and other surfaces. Avoid the areas for about 4-5 hours and then come back and vacuum and wash any hard surfaces. The salt dehydrates the fleas (and most other bugs too). If you have any questions, just shoot us an email and we'll find out if we don't already know the answer. Send emails too fleas @ freecathelathtips.com (notice that we put an extra space on each side of the @ symbol - you will need to take that out when you send us email - that keeps the spammers at bay).
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