cats, fleas, and toddlers

Bomb it. No, really. Get a flea bomb, take the cats to a sitter, let it off and take the day to enjoy it away from home with your kids.

Some natural flea repellents from various websites:



Citrus is a natural flea deterrent. Pour a cup of boiling water over a sliced lemon. Include the lemon skin, scored to release more citrus oil. Let this mixture soak overnight, and sponge on your dog to kill fleas instantly.
Add brewer's yeast and garlic, or apple cider vinegar, to your pets' food. However, it is not advisable to use raw garlic as a food supplement for cats.

Cedar shampoo, cedar oil and cedar-filled sleeping mats are commercially available. Cedar repells many insects including fleas.
Fleas in the carpet? The carpet should be thoroughly vacuumed especially in low traffic areas, under furniture, etc. Put flea powder in the vacuum cleaner bag to kill any fleas that you vacuum up, and put the bag in an outdoor garbage bin.

Trap fleas in your home using a wide, shallow pan half-filled with soapy water. Place it on the floor and shine a lamp over the water. Fleas will jump to the heat of the lamp and land in the water. The detergent breaks the surface tension, preventing the flea from bouncing out.


Eucalyptus leaves. You can get them at any craft store. For some reason the fleas don't like the smell of it.

Borax is great for fleas. It is not toxic and you can sprinkle it on your carpet. Let it sit for a few days and then vacuum it up. You can sprinkle it around the fence of your yard too.

Take Bella Dea's advice. Fleas are miserable critters, and they can live in the carpet for an extended period of time. Lice are species specific, but fleas don't at all care what they live on, as long as it's a warm body. That includes not only your daughters, but you. Clear out of the house, and bomb the place. Don't settle for milder alternatives, unless you want to make pets of the fleas instead of the cats.

I went to a flea circus once. Really. 1962 it was, in a semi trailer in Miami, Fla. They had tight rope walkers, chariot racers, and a football game. Whatever the admission was, it was a bit high relative to the overhead, but for such a singular experience, money well spend.

No intention to hijack a serious thread, but fleas as pets kind of brought back the memory.

Oh man, I feel for you. My last apartment was infested with them when I first moved in and since I didn't have any animals in the house at the time, they made me their dinner. They were in my bed sheets and everything, it seemed like everywhere I looked, there was another flea jumping around! Anyway, I tried bombing the apartment twice and it didn't work. I ended up calling my landlord and an exterminator came in and with one treatment they were gone. You would probably have to leave for a few days though, so maybe it would be a nice time for a mini-vacation?? Good luck!

With toddlers I have mixed feelings about bombing and exterminators. If that becomes the only solution I think you should send the kids to grandma's for a couple of days, and after the poison settles clean every single surface to get rid of residues. Toddlers put everything in their mouth, including their hands that touch everything.

If possible, get rid of any wall to wall carpeting, it's a flea breeding ground. Area carpets are easier to clean and fleas don't like wood or vinyl flooring.

Instead of putting the cats out I suggest you keep them in - permanently. They will have less exposure to fleas (once you get rid of yours) and it's better for the cats and the environment.

Give the frontline another week to really get them all. I seem to remember that fleas were becoming resistent to the stuff.

Witch is right - if you do bomb, let it all settle for a couple days and then clean everything: walls, floors, bedding, clothing, wet-vac rugs, etc.