Fleas - Aren't they amazing!

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2003
Posts
14,496
Location
Marlow
OK, we got a bit complacent with our cat, and about 6-7 weeks ago noticed we had some passengers on him.

Straight away we changed his flea collar and started putting 'Frontline Spot On' on him, and the little things start immediately dying.

7 weeks on there still with us, in less numbers... This is mainly because the eggs and pupa stage can take weeks/months to turn around. So although he's a walking flea death trap, there's still loads biding their time to hop back on him.

What amazes me about these little things is how complicated their little life cycle is:-
- Female lay sticky eggs
- Eggs dry out and fall off animal
- Eggs hatch into lavae which feed on organic matter, a lot of which is actually the dried blood left over from the adults currently feeding on the animal(s), which falls off to the ground.
- After metamorphosing thru 2-3 stages they cocoon themselves and can stay like this for days or weeks. Triggered to magically hatch by vibrations and Co2. They'll jump to their host within seconds of hatching after this trigger!
- They can then be feeding from the host within minutes.

I think the figure is - for an untreated animal - only 5% of the flea population are on the animal. The rest are elsewhere in the cycle.

Quite horribly amazing really :eek:


The other odd thing is the main reason we noticed he was infect was I got bitten. Infact I got bitten for probably about 2-3 weeks initally, and was the only person in the household to get bitten! My partner wasn't and neither of my kids were, but I had (at one point) over 30 bites on me! God I must taste good!


Bet you're scratching and itching now :)
 
Just over a year ago we found that the house we moved into had fleas. They were a bit of a pain to get rid of.

PK!
 
Schnippzle said:
Yep, when we had a cat and found freas on him we were advised to spray the whole house as they WILL spread and the only way of getting rid of them is to spray the whole house.
Click to expand...

Yeh... Spraying will kill them more immediately, but with two young kids in the house I don't really want to do that unless we have to.

I'm happy to keep using 'Frontline' for a couple of months (as long as no one is getting bitten, apart from me) until the cycle comes to and end. ie: I don't believe any new eggs are being layed because the adults are being killed on him...

Note: No product will kill the pupae I believe...
 
There's a cat/dog flea epidemic at the moment in UK, had a right job to get rid off our moggy, the fleas bite some humans if they can't find an animal & you need to let your cat into all the rooms of the house that your cat goes in after treating with Frontline so that hopefully they jump on him & then die. i got bitten around the ankles but not the wife, we also sprayed stuff over the carpets & upholstery & at last I think we have cracked it as the cat has not been scratching for over a week.

Get Frontline off the internet £17 for 6 pipettes
 
izzy eckerslike said:
i got bitten around the ankles but not the wife, we also sprayed stuff over the carpets & upholstery & at last I think we have cracked it as the cat has not been scratching for over a week.
Click to expand...

Strange how like me you were the only one bitten!

Was the stuff you sprayed people/kid friendly? Having two young kids I'd be worried about that!

izzy eckerslike said:
Get Frontline off the internet £17 for 6 pipettes
Click to expand...
Careful! If Overclockers sell it you'll be in trouble :)
 
I reckon its all the perfumes, soaps, and whatever else women wear, that causes the fleas not to recognise them as a living organism.
 
Fleas are a pain to get rid of! Had a dog 13 years and never had problems - Get a cat and within 6 months they are here. Been using all the differing Front Line treatments for about 3 months and they are finally dying off. But, they have eaten a fair bit of my leg on they're way out. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom