fleas in closet

Hi,

I was looking at your website and would like to ask what you would recommend for the flea problem I’m currently having.

I have 2 cats which spend some time in the backyard. This is a horrible season for fleas, as I’ve never experienced such a problem in the 15 years I’ve had my cats.

About a month ago, I began noticing my cats scratching more than usual and started seeing flea dirt around the house. I applied Frontline Plus to my cats and they seem to be doing ok…not scratching as much but I am experiencing a big problems with fleas in the house, of course, in the places they hang out which is my bedroom and the kitchen. I have been treating the kitchen which amounts to spraying 3-4 times (once a week). The flea dirt is much less but it’s not gone completely. The big problem is my bedroom. I’ve sprayed the floors in against the walls, in corners, even on my dresser. Seems better now. But, the biggest challenge is the closet. My cats have a habit of running into my closet which means that my closet and all it’s contents must be treated too. My closet is full of clothing, much of which requires dry cleaning only. There are also many boxes, shoes on the floor, etc. This is a nightmare. How can I rid my closet of fleas without having to take my clothing to the cleaners or having to wash every single item? What about my shoes? Please advise if there’s a painless way of handling this. Thanks so much, R.

If you take some time to review our FLEA CONTROL ARTICLE, you’ll learn the most important thing about controlling fleas is to get control of the flea cycle. More importantly still is being able to do this by treating the key area or areas where it’s happening. No doubt it’s been happening on the pets. At this time your treatments of the cats with Frontline should be helping. However, as our article explains, there is no doubt a problem anywhere your cats have had access to roam. This explains why you continue to see fleas on them. Everytime they enter areas where the fleas have been breeding, they’ll get new ones on them. Remember, the Frontline takes days to kill fleas so even though new fleas will die once they land on your pets, they’ll still be biten and have to endure the discomfort of the fleas presence until you rid them from your home and yard.  And though you feel the bedroom and closet are problem areas, I am 100% sure the entire home must be treated with equal diligence, along with the outside, if you wish to rid yourself of this pest.

Another important point you’ll learn in our article is that fleas don’t leave host pets. In other words, the thing that will infest your home is the flea eggs which fall off the pet and not the adult fleas since they don’t ever want to leave their home (which is on your cats). Doing this will result in their quick death (they’re not very mobile and do not migrate anywhere) so instead they try very hard to stay on the targeted host at all times. So how does your home get infested? It gets infested from all the eggs that are dropping off your cats as they walk around your property, both inside and outside, and these eggs can easily number in the thousands since one flea will lay hundreds of eggs. Once they hatch and go through their first 3 stages, they’ll lay in wait as flea pupae and hatch only when target animals (people and pets) come close enough to them. And since they can stay in this stage for upwards of a year, it can take a long time for the cycle to run it’s course. All the while these hatching pupae will be seen on you and your pets and the general feeling is that the infestation will never end but rest assured it can if you do the right treatments. And just what are the right treatments? Using products that will last long enough to control both new eggs and larvae as they are introduced in the flea environment.

The most important point I’m making here is that even if you did have fleas in your closet, they would be limited to living in the rug below all your clothes and shoes as explained in our article. And though you might think you need to treat these items, the real target of your treatments should be the carpeting. Based on the problem you’ve described and the information you’ve included, I’m confident for your home the best approach will be our ONCE A YEAR FLEA POWDER combined with 4-6 FLEA TRAPS placed throughout the entire home. No doubt this will solve the problem though it will take several weeks for all the pupae to hatch as our article explains. However, this is perfectly normal. As long as the powder is installed you’ll have something working continuously at killing the flea eggs and larvae which is paramount to solving the problem. Eventually the pupae will run out and since the powder will be stopping larvae from becoming pupae, the torture will finally end.

Lastly, in the yard, apply some BIFEN GRANULES followed up with some CYONARA RTS sprayed over the top. The granules will last a month or two providing long term control and the Cyonara will kill off anything that’s hatched our right now. I would recommend reapplying the granules every two months too till the problem is resolved.

Here are direct links to the products and information mentioned above:

Flea Control Artilce:  www.flea.net/flea-control

Once a Year Flea Powder:  www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page23.html

Flea Traps:  www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page22.html

Bifen Granules:  www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page242.html

Cyonara RTS:  www.bugspray.com/item/cyonara_rts.html