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Conference misery::feline_v1

Title:Meower Power is Valuing Differences
Notice:FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY
Moderator:MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO
Created:Sun Feb 09 1986
Last Modified:Tue Jan 11 1994
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5089
Total number of notes:60366

1960.0. "Touchy flea problem..." by CURIE::SADLER_TEMP () Fri Nov 11 1988 12:38

    UGH!!!  The fleas have hit!!
    
    I need help!!!  Ninja has fleas -bigtime-.  I am not one of those
    people who panics over fleas, but this situation may be difficult.
    
    Ninja is one of our two adopted kittens.  We've had him for a month
    now.  He really doesn't trust us, and is only *beginning* to let
    me pat him.  When we took these two to the vets for a health check,
    they FREAKED OUT MAJORLY.  They were good for the vet, but transporting
    them there and back was traumatic to them.  When they got home,
    they hid for an entire week behind the couch, hissing if we even
    looked at them.  They only came out at night.
    
    Now that their faith in us has been restored, I don't want to
    traumatize Ninja by bathing him or having him dipped.
    
    Ninja weighs about 17 lbs. (at least!) and has the thickest fur
    I have ever seen on a cat.  Just brushing is out of the question at this
    point.  The flea dirt in his fur is very bad.
    
    What would you do??  Has anyone tried the electronic flea collars?
    And, with one of those, what would prevent the fleas from laying
    more eggs before they fled?  Will the fleas be off the cat and into
    my rugs, etc. (The cats are strictly indoors)  Ninja is really *loaded*
    with fleas.  His sister isn't though...
    
    HELP!!
    
    Cathy
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
1960.1and another thing!!!CURIE::SADLER_TEMPFri Nov 11 1988 12:517
    Oops, I didn't mean to call Ninja a *kitten*. He is two years old,
    and HUGE.
    
    Also, with the collars--he hates them.  When I brought them home
    from the shelter, I got them collars immediately.  I had to take
    both of theirs off, because I fear he would have strangled himself
    trying to take it off (though it was a safety collar).
1960.2Fleas, yuck!STAR::BARTHFri Nov 11 1988 13:0812
    The fleas will definately lay eggs in bedding, carpet, etc.  The
    problem with the electronic collars is that it just keeps the
    fleas off the cat, but doesn't kill them, so they're still in
    the house.  I've never tried the electronic flea collars.  We
    found out that we had fleas a few weeks ago, after going
    all summer with none.  We put flea collars on the cats (the dogs
    already had them) and sprinkle flea powder on the carpet, bedding
    and furniture once a week to try to kill any that are there.  My
    question is how long till you know they're all dead?  We haven't
    seen any live fleas at all, just a little bit of flea dirt.
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.
1960.3AIMHI::OFFENFri Nov 11 1988 15:4612
    Yup, I thought I had the flea problem solved too until this week.
    Now they are coming back.  
    
    I am going to do the old paper plate with water and dish soap in
    all the rooms again.  I am going to buy a heavy duty flea spray
    for the carpets.  I am going to dust and wash the babies.  Etc.
    
    The paper plate/dish soap is a great idea.  It works !!!!!
    
    Sandi (Lightning, DejaVu & Thunder's mom)
1960.4Huh?STAR::BARTHFri Nov 11 1988 16:185
    I'm afraid I've missed something.  What's the old paper plate with
    water and dish soap method?
    
    Thanks,
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.
1960.5YOSMTE::CORDESBRO_JOFri Nov 11 1988 18:5519
    My mom swears by the paper plate, dish soap method.  It has never
    seemed to work for me.  She puts a dish of liquid soap and water
    in the middle of a paper plate and leaves that in the middle of
    the room.  The fleas (being attracked to the white paper plate)
    go to hop on and instead hop into the soapy water and the eminent
    demise.                                                       
    
    We have found that the best way to treat the flea problem is to
    treat the environment for fleas.  None of our cats go outside but
    we still have had great battles with fleas.  Thankfully, we have
    finally won the battle.  We used Ortho Home Pest Spray to treat
    the house (boarded the cats at the vets for the day) and then brought
    the cats back one at a time and bathed them immediately.  Since
    the Birmans are bathed about once a week anyway, it hasn't been
    too much of a problem to keep the house flea free.
    
    Good luck in the war against the fleas,
    
    Jo