How to kill flea infestation without killing cats

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Awrrr
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#2164279 20-Jan-2019 15:34

networkn:

I like cats, we have 2, lovely animals except for the plaintive meowing... It's understandable to your desire to feed cats due to your affection of them, but I don't think it's reasonable to say doing so isn't having an impact or isn't a risk to native life in your area.

Glad you like cats. Like I said, there is also a personal issue involved that I am not prepared to go into. I don't doubt the cats do have an impact. So do lots of other things. What is the lifespan of a sparrow, anyway?

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MadEngineer

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#2164294 20-Jan-2019 15:46

Rikkitic:
I am not interested in pursuing this. There are other threads for that. The topic here is fleas.

We do not live in a bush area. We are surrounded by paddocks filled with cows and sheep. The runoff from excrement, fertiliser and pesticides turned our stream into a dead pool years ago. It used to be full of crayfish and eels. I haven't seen one for a very long time.

fair call but you’ll need to do something about the cats for sure.

On topic, I’ve had success with the carpet powder flea treatment for one flat that I was staying at that suddenly had a flea infestation. Required two applications of covering every floor surface of the house.

Perhaps that could work for you but you’d need to keep the powder on the carpet indefinitely - reapplying it as soon as you’ve vacuumed the last dose

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sootyandsweep

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#2164341 20-Jan-2019 17:07

We have the same problem with our 4. Happens to us as soon as the weather turns hot and humid in summer otherwise we never have issues. My method of eradicating:

Day 1 -

Flea bomb rooms cats like to hang out/sleep in.

Change any soft furnishings and bedding that's been slept on and wash. Leave on line for a day or so for the sun to really do its thing.

Serious vacuum including under everything I can - couches, rugs etc.

Capstar the cats - kills all fleas on them within a few hours.

Day 2 -

Change and wash any bedding, soft furnishings that were slept on overnight. With the Capstar killing spree some may have escaped.

Treat cats with a spot on solution like Broadline or Frontline. With fleas its likely cats have worms as well so pays to get one that does both.

Put up with mad cats....

Vacuum the whole house.

Day 3 -

Setup flea traps - use a plug in nightlight and a bowl of water on the floor. Some say add dish wash but we dont as cats like to drink from any water source they find. Have the light on every night for as long as you want to keep water bowls out. Fleas are attracted to the light at night and hop right into the water and drown.

Added bonus you can count your kills each morning :-)

Ongoing - Vacuuming and regular spot on treatments.

Shout out to Capstar though - best thing ever for instant killing and giving cats some relief.

networkn

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#2164423 20-Jan-2019 19:33

sootyandsweep:

We have the same problem with our 4. Happens to us as soon as the weather turns hot and humid in summer otherwise we never have issues. My method of eradicating:

Day 1 -

Flea bomb rooms cats like to hang out/sleep in.

Change any soft furnishings and bedding that's been slept on and wash. Leave on line for a day or so for the sun to really do its thing.

Serious vacuum including under everything I can - couches, rugs etc.

Capstar the cats - kills all fleas on them within a few hours.

Day 2 -

Change and wash any bedding, soft furnishings that were slept on overnight. With the Capstar killing spree some may have escaped.

Treat cats with a spot on solution like Broadline or Frontline. With fleas its likely cats have worms as well so pays to get one that does both.

Put up with mad cats....

Vacuum the whole house.

Day 3 -

Setup flea traps - use a plug in nightlight and a bowl of water on the floor. Some say add dish wash but we dont as cats like to drink from any water source they find. Have the light on every night for as long as you want to keep water bowls out. Fleas are attracted to the light at night and hop right into the water and drown.

Added bonus you can count your kills each morning :-)

Ongoing - Vacuuming and regular spot on treatments.

Shout out to Capstar though - best thing ever for instant killing and giving cats some relief.

Haha I just had to share when I saw your forum name, that our two cats, now heading toward 15 as were brothers in the same litter are called Sooty and Sweep!

TwoSeven

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#2164424 20-Jan-2019 19:37

Rikkitic:
They are not feral. They would be classed as strays. Because we feed them they tend to stay near the house. If we didn't they would spread out and do far more damage to local wildlife. As pointed out above by @Fred99, people do a hell of a lot more damage to native species than cats ever will. Take your indignation somewhere else.

Not quite I think.

A feral cat (different from a wild cat) is one that is not socialised with humans so to speak. A stray cat will over time become feral as it forgets how to socialise with people.

I have said this in other threads - cats are sapient - they have the ability to acumulate wisdom and make decisions based on that wisdom. I would suggest there are a couple of key traits in sapient animals - the ability to have and show independence and the ability to form social communities.

A social community of cats is called a clowder, and it does not have to include just cats.

Cats are not full apex preditors, so they have a natural fear of open spaces. Their primary food is ground based animals (rats, worms etc), plants and bugs/insects (and bowls of cat food) these tend to be more prevalent in built up areas.

One technique for catching the cats is to socialise them. For the last wild one we had neutered and vaxed it was a matter of just shoving him in the cat cage when he was eating.

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blakamin

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#2164425 20-Jan-2019 19:40

Rikkitic:

blakamin:

That's what happens to them around here.

And how is that working out for you? Lots of bandicoots bouncing around?

Absolutely brilliantly! Thanks for asking!

Heaps of big lizards like blue tongues and shingle-backs, little skinks, willy wagtails that have a nest in my pergola, welcome swallows that have a nest on my spotlight sensor, there's superb fairy wrens everywhere, honeyeaters, magpies, crows, red wattlebirds (they're great for keeping snakes away), spikey pigeons.

Then there's the raptors like the whistling kite, nankeen kestrel, and the peregrine falcons that circle and hover over the "swamp" over the road.

And the pelicans, White Ibis in their natural habitat (not Sydney)... So many water birds I can't even keep track of them all.

And the roos... I wonder what else is out there?

All can be watched from my lounge room window.

Edit: Nearly forgot the turtles and frogs in the channels. Can see turtles but only hear the frogs at night.

Because the farmers here shoot cats (and foxes).

JaseNZ

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#2164427 20-Jan-2019 19:50

Remove cats from house , burn house to ground collect insurance and build new house, put cat's in new house kick back and enjoy life.

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mattwnz

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#2164428 20-Jan-2019 19:53

If moving into a new house, it is also a good idea to make sure the cats don't have fleas before moving them in. I guess the best way to avoid fleas, is to have them as inside cats.

MikeB4

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#2164440 20-Jan-2019 20:46

Mortein spray boms will do the trick for killing the live Fleas they will not deal with eggs however. You will need to stay out of the home for atleast two hours then it will be safe for you and pets to re-enter. To be sure stay out for say four hours. If you have carpet use a high power commercial vacuum cleaner to get up the eggs. If possible empty the cleaners outside and burn the material. For a long term solution you maybe should consider removing the carpets permanently. The house will be healthier without them.

You will have to treat the home atleast every three months.

Geektastic

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#2164457 20-Jan-2019 21:41

blakamin:
Rikkitic:

blakamin:

That's what happens to them around here.

And how is that working out for you? Lots of bandicoots bouncing around?

Absolutely brilliantly! Thanks for asking!

Heaps of big lizards like blue tongues and shingle-backs, little skinks, willy wagtails that have a nest in my pergola, welcome swallows that have a nest on my spotlight sensor, there's superb fairy wrens everywhere, honeyeaters, magpies, crows, red wattlebirds (they're great for keeping snakes away), spikey pigeons.

Then there's the raptors like the whistling kite, nankeen kestrel, and the peregrine falcons that circle and hover over the "swamp" over the road.

And the pelicans, White Ibis in their natural habitat (not Sydney)... So many water birds I can't even keep track of them all.

And the roos... I wonder what else is out there?

All can be watched from my lounge room window.

Edit: Nearly forgot the turtles and frogs in the channels. Can see turtles but only hear the frogs at night.

Because the farmers here shoot cats (and foxes).

Australia certainly got less dull brown birds, that's for sure!

mattwnz

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#2164461 20-Jan-2019 22:07

MikeB4:

Mortein spray boms will do the trick for killing the live Fleas they will not deal with eggs however. You will need to stay out of the home for atleast two hours then it will be safe for you and pets to re-enter. To be sure stay out for say four hours. If you have carpet use a high power commercial vacuum cleaner to get up the eggs. If possible empty the cleaners outside and burn the material. For a long term solution you maybe should consider removing the carpets permanently. The house will be healthier without them.

You will have to treat the home atleast every three months.

What about those vacuums that have power heads? They seem to suck up a lot of stuff compared to a regular vacuum.

allio

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#2164555 21-Jan-2019 09:32

afe66: If you have a reservoir fleas in form of semi wild cats, I imagine you will have a never end battle with reinfestation.

Maybe will end up having to have fleas..

Sadly I have to agree. They pick them up so quickly from the wider environment that there is literally nothing you can do to the very small part of the environment that you control that will make any difference.

We have one cat who roams a very small territory in suburban Auckland, during the day only. We treat her with Revolution once a month. In the summer, without exception, by day 29 or 30, as the treatment wears off, she will immediately acquire a new set of fleas. The reality is any cat who goes outside is constantly being bitten by fleas, and unless you turn them into a walking flea-bomb with something systemic they will keep bringing them (alive) into your house.

elbrownos

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#2164580 21-Jan-2019 10:06

Interesting how the more anti-cat someone is, the more they supposedly know about the hunting habits of cats.

networkn

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#2164582 21-Jan-2019 10:09

elbrownos:

Interesting how the more anti-cat someone is, the more they supposedly know about the hunting habits of cats.

That rubs both ways.

I find it amazing the number of cat lovers who will forgive behaviours/outcomes they are otherwise utterly opposed to if it doesn't involve cats.

I like cats, but I can't support feeding strays/ferals. I don't actually support feeding animals that aren't your "own" (and I mean designated pets). We had real trouble with both our cats with weight. Cost us a fortune. Turned out the nice lady next door was feeding them too. I asked nicely, explained multiple times, talked about the costs of weight gain and health repurcussions and still she wouldn't stop (she couldn't say no, they are so cute and meow because they are hungry apparently). So I went over one evening with a bag of food and nicely said to her, either please stop feeding our cats, or here is a bag of food, you can take over feeding them primarily. Finally she stopped.

None of those comments are directed at the OP, and are generalized comments.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
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#2164600 21-Jan-2019 10:30

Feeding stray cats and letting them breed are two separate things. Although matters have not got out of hand so far, I am aware that they could and I would prefer to prevent it if there was a manageable (for me) way to do it. I did some quick research and was intrigued to discover that there are cat contraceptives that seem to work well and can be given to any cats in any amounts in their food with no ill effects. I had no idea such a thing existed. Does anyone know any more about this, and the availability of it in New Zealand? Although cats can breed any time, our fertile ones seem only to do it in the spring, and so far we have had only a few kittens, some of which haven't survived.

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