Paracites ... there's no better way to get your house clean!
We've been busy around here lately.
It has been snowing all week. We've gotten a foot ... at first it was deeper than that, back when it was 10 degrees, but now it has been hitting 33 or 34, so the stuff has smooshed down a bit. Needless to say, I've been shoveling snow all week.
Then there's been the usual Thanksgiving preparations, and just generally trying to get my house cleaned up after one little person and one big person who live in it all day, and myself who lives in it on nights and weekends. A friend has been helping out, as she's trying to trade labor in to "buy" one of our old iPods. Her help has been invaluable, as I cannot keep up with this house by myself.
So, on top of just the general business, and Thanksgiving, and snow, we've been dealing with fleas. Ugh!
I've never dealt with the things before, but everyone has been telling me about how hard they are to get rid of. I'm hoping to do it as right as I can in the beginning, so maybe they'll actually go away. Our cats are indoor-only, but I figure it's not unheard of for fleas to come in on the clothing of humans.
daphyn and I spent yesterday vacuuming and drying as much as we could. Of course, there's still so much left to do. My child has so many stuffed animals, doll clothes, and blankets. We also vacuumed all but one room in the house, which is just too cluttered to properly clean. Today I need to move the sofa and vacuum there, pull out the hide-a-bed and vacuum it, and vacuum in the closets (especially needed because the cats have been in there, ugh), and vacuum along the edges of the walls with the wand. The dryer has been running practically nonstop all weekend. Thank goodness you only need 95 degrees to kill fleas; the dryer makes it very easy to massacre the things!
Today Kallisti and I ran out to the pet store, in search of Frontline. Apparently Petco does not carry the stuff. Apparently Petco does not carry any flea treatments over $20. But, they did carry a lot of products to treat your carpets with. So, we hopped back into the car and went out to Petsmart, where we found Frontline, as well as another treatment that was even more expensive. Amusingly, Petsmart did not have any of the carpet treatments, just animal-applied stuff and a bug bomb.
I'm so glad this has been a four day weekend, because we did our regular laundry on Friday and have been doing flea stuff every since. Of course, yesterday we bathed the cats, so a just-laundered pair of jeans got all wet and covered in who-knows-what-sort-of-flea-bits.
What I've been reading about fleas says 80% of the infestation is in the environment, and only 20% on the animal. Yesterday I shut the cats into the bathroom, and started cleaning the house. I'm really hoping I can get it clean enough. We don't think the cats had a very bad infestation, but I don't really know for certain. When I went back into the bathroom yesterday, the white toilet lid and white sink were covered with flea droppings. Of course, fleas eat like 16 times their bodyweight every day, so that's not necessarily any sort of indicator.
Last night I pulled out an old nit comb and tried it on the cats. I got several fleas off of Tumble, and one off of Boo. Of course, since you have to keep dipping the comb into soapy water if you don't just want the fleas to jump away, the cats started to get wet and the comb stopped wanting to slide through their fur, and the cats stopped wanting to cooperate.
Later, we gave the cats a bath. We just used regular cat shampoo, but the soap (which naturally breaks down exoskeletons) and water washed away quite a few fleas from Tumble, and only a couple from Boo. The poor things, but they were reasonably cooperative given the fact that they're cats and we were dousing them with water. This morning I got up and put flea treatment in the nape of each cat's neck. I'm not sure how long it will take to work around to their entire body; the area where I applied it is still greasy. While I was in there, I looked at the towel I had laid out for them to sleep on, and saw a number of little, white flea carcasses (or at least that's what I think they were).
The fleas haven't been bothering us at all, even though the cats have been sleeping on our bed. But while the cats have not been scratching too excessively, we can tell they've been feeling unwell, as they have been spending almost all of their time curled up on a chair in our bedroom. Usually they come out and visit with us and sleep in busier areas.
So, I'm hoping that by cleaning really well and using this flea treatment for the next three months on the cat, we'll get rid of the fleas. I'm hoping we can clean up most of the eggs that are hanging around the house, and that the treatment will continue to kill the fleas, larvae, and eggs on the cats themselves. I don't know for certain that's how this stuff works, but that's what I'm hoping.
Then there's the fact that fleas can lay dormant for upwards of a year, and suddenly hatch from their cocoons the moment something warm walks by. This is also why I'm hoping the flea treatment will continue to kill the fleas as time goes by. That way, the cats can coax any lingering fleas out from areas of the house, and then they can die upon the cat. Right?
The plan tonight is to finish cleaning what I can. I'm not sure how long before I let the cats out. I think I might, poor things, make them stay in the bathroom for a couple more days while the flea treatment works through their coats. We'll have to close off the one room we couldn't clean, until we can clean it (next weekend maybe? Might take more than that, it's SO cluttered). And, I don't think we'll be letting them into the bedroom for a while, because cleaning our bed and cleaning under our bed is not fun.
Of course, I'll have to keep vacuuming my whole house really well for a while too. And just so you know, I don't really enjoy vacuuming. :-P
I've been battling drowsiness all day, but now my cup of coffee is starting to kick in, so I shall go get back to work!
It has been snowing all week. We've gotten a foot ... at first it was deeper than that, back when it was 10 degrees, but now it has been hitting 33 or 34, so the stuff has smooshed down a bit. Needless to say, I've been shoveling snow all week.
Then there's been the usual Thanksgiving preparations, and just generally trying to get my house cleaned up after one little person and one big person who live in it all day, and myself who lives in it on nights and weekends. A friend has been helping out, as she's trying to trade labor in to "buy" one of our old iPods. Her help has been invaluable, as I cannot keep up with this house by myself.
So, on top of just the general business, and Thanksgiving, and snow, we've been dealing with fleas. Ugh!
I've never dealt with the things before, but everyone has been telling me about how hard they are to get rid of. I'm hoping to do it as right as I can in the beginning, so maybe they'll actually go away. Our cats are indoor-only, but I figure it's not unheard of for fleas to come in on the clothing of humans.
daphyn and I spent yesterday vacuuming and drying as much as we could. Of course, there's still so much left to do. My child has so many stuffed animals, doll clothes, and blankets. We also vacuumed all but one room in the house, which is just too cluttered to properly clean. Today I need to move the sofa and vacuum there, pull out the hide-a-bed and vacuum it, and vacuum in the closets (especially needed because the cats have been in there, ugh), and vacuum along the edges of the walls with the wand. The dryer has been running practically nonstop all weekend. Thank goodness you only need 95 degrees to kill fleas; the dryer makes it very easy to massacre the things!
Today Kallisti and I ran out to the pet store, in search of Frontline. Apparently Petco does not carry the stuff. Apparently Petco does not carry any flea treatments over $20. But, they did carry a lot of products to treat your carpets with. So, we hopped back into the car and went out to Petsmart, where we found Frontline, as well as another treatment that was even more expensive. Amusingly, Petsmart did not have any of the carpet treatments, just animal-applied stuff and a bug bomb.
I'm so glad this has been a four day weekend, because we did our regular laundry on Friday and have been doing flea stuff every since. Of course, yesterday we bathed the cats, so a just-laundered pair of jeans got all wet and covered in who-knows-what-sort-of-flea-bits.
What I've been reading about fleas says 80% of the infestation is in the environment, and only 20% on the animal. Yesterday I shut the cats into the bathroom, and started cleaning the house. I'm really hoping I can get it clean enough. We don't think the cats had a very bad infestation, but I don't really know for certain. When I went back into the bathroom yesterday, the white toilet lid and white sink were covered with flea droppings. Of course, fleas eat like 16 times their bodyweight every day, so that's not necessarily any sort of indicator.
Last night I pulled out an old nit comb and tried it on the cats. I got several fleas off of Tumble, and one off of Boo. Of course, since you have to keep dipping the comb into soapy water if you don't just want the fleas to jump away, the cats started to get wet and the comb stopped wanting to slide through their fur, and the cats stopped wanting to cooperate.
Later, we gave the cats a bath. We just used regular cat shampoo, but the soap (which naturally breaks down exoskeletons) and water washed away quite a few fleas from Tumble, and only a couple from Boo. The poor things, but they were reasonably cooperative given the fact that they're cats and we were dousing them with water. This morning I got up and put flea treatment in the nape of each cat's neck. I'm not sure how long it will take to work around to their entire body; the area where I applied it is still greasy. While I was in there, I looked at the towel I had laid out for them to sleep on, and saw a number of little, white flea carcasses (or at least that's what I think they were).
The fleas haven't been bothering us at all, even though the cats have been sleeping on our bed. But while the cats have not been scratching too excessively, we can tell they've been feeling unwell, as they have been spending almost all of their time curled up on a chair in our bedroom. Usually they come out and visit with us and sleep in busier areas.
So, I'm hoping that by cleaning really well and using this flea treatment for the next three months on the cat, we'll get rid of the fleas. I'm hoping we can clean up most of the eggs that are hanging around the house, and that the treatment will continue to kill the fleas, larvae, and eggs on the cats themselves. I don't know for certain that's how this stuff works, but that's what I'm hoping.
Then there's the fact that fleas can lay dormant for upwards of a year, and suddenly hatch from their cocoons the moment something warm walks by. This is also why I'm hoping the flea treatment will continue to kill the fleas as time goes by. That way, the cats can coax any lingering fleas out from areas of the house, and then they can die upon the cat. Right?
The plan tonight is to finish cleaning what I can. I'm not sure how long before I let the cats out. I think I might, poor things, make them stay in the bathroom for a couple more days while the flea treatment works through their coats. We'll have to close off the one room we couldn't clean, until we can clean it (next weekend maybe? Might take more than that, it's SO cluttered). And, I don't think we'll be letting them into the bedroom for a while, because cleaning our bed and cleaning under our bed is not fun.
Of course, I'll have to keep vacuuming my whole house really well for a while too. And just so you know, I don't really enjoy vacuuming. :-P
I've been battling drowsiness all day, but now my cup of coffee is starting to kick in, so I shall go get back to work!