Were fleas worse this year?

GeorgeK · Dec 13, 2011

Almost everyone that I've talked to this summer/fall has said that fleas were worse this year. Maybe this is a local phenomenon, but seeing as a big die off of rats lead to fleas bringing the Black Death to people many generations ago, I thought I'd ask.

GeorgeK · Dec 13, 2011

Sorry, the poll question is supposed to be about fleas, not fas

firedrake · Dec 13, 2011

Yes, they were here.

We've had a real problem with them this year. I took one cat to the vets last week for a free flea check (so we could get the better flea stuff on prescription) and the vet said that a lot of people have had flea issues with their pets this year. (We're in the UK)

GeorgeK · Dec 13, 2011

Even across the pond? I did not exspect that. What's killing the rats?

Ari Meermans · Dec 13, 2011

The drought here was so bad this year that the fleas were almost non-existent. That made for a very nice change—the bloodsuckers usually make life miserable.

Haggis · Dec 13, 2011

*scratch*

I haven't...

*scratch, scritch*

noticed any difference.

Puma · Dec 13, 2011

Definitely much worse in Ohio. We had a much wetter than normal summer. Puma

firedrake · Dec 13, 2011

GeorgeK said:
Even across the pond? I did not exspect that. What's killing the rats?

There's still plenty of rats around. My husband works with young race horses and the boss has a rat man who sets traps and visits the yard pretty much every day. Last time I was up there he was strolling across the yard carrying a dead rat that was roughly the size of a cat. :Wha:

We had a mild year, the mild weather hung around until well into November which helped the fleas. Touch wood, now that it's finally colder, the fleas seem to have gone into sleep mode. I'm about to blitz the house with the vacuum cleaner and killer spray.

GeorgeK · Dec 13, 2011

firedrake said:
Touch wood....

Touch wood...

Not knock on wood.

Now I'm wondering if Torchwood is a play on woods that is lost on us Americans?

KTC · Dec 13, 2011

I have not seen a single flea up here in Ontario. Then again, I really don't see any any year.

I don't know how we escape them every year. We go to an off leash dog park with lots of woods and fields and lots and lots of dogs! And my Franny is allergic to the stuff the vet uses for flea prevention. I can't recall it's name, but it's the one you spread their fur and squirt onto their skin on their back. We put it on her ONCE and she foamed at the mouth and got cold and started to heave...almost immediately. I tossed her in the tub faster than she could say RUFF! We have never used anything again for fleas and for 7 years we have never seen a one. I think they must be allergic to Franny. (-:

areteus · Dec 13, 2011

No fleas noticed here. But in the absence of any empirical data such as peer reviewed study on flea populations in different parts of the world in different time periods, I would not like to comment...

Of course, Eddie rarely gets fleas because not only does he have regular flea treatments he also has a high garlic diet and regular bathing and brushing...

oarsman · Dec 13, 2011

I haven't seen too many at my location.

You can check out the flea activity for your area (U.S. only) on weather.com: http://www.weather.com/activities/homeandgarden/pets/fleaactivity.html

The data is based on past history and not a forecast from what I understand. I'd hate to be the person that had to count the fleas.

Haggis · Dec 13, 2011

One thing we had this year in Michigan that was unusual was the gallinipper mosquito. This sucker is huge and I've never seen it before in the 30 plus years I've lived here. I don't care to see it again either.

Carlene · Dec 13, 2011

Never had fleas on any of my dogs either in California or here in Oregon. We put Advantix on them - and now there's a new one that combines flea preventive with heart worm preventive. It's very handy - one application per month - no fleas, no heart worm.

Carlene

GeorgeK · Dec 14, 2011

areteus said:
he also has a high garlic diet
..

Hmm....we buy minced garlic by the quart..

lbender · Dec 14, 2011

areteus said:
Of course, Eddie rarely gets fleas because not only does he have regular flea treatments he also has a high garlic diet and regular bathing and brushing...

A client of mine, years ago, did research on why garlic seems to repel insects in people. Apparently, it causes a repellent aroma to be excreted in the sweat glands. Dogs don't sweat, so garlic has no insect repelling effect. I can't speak to whether it still repels vampires, though.

tjwriter · Dec 14, 2011

Garlic can be toxic for dogs, also.

We have seen a slight uptick in fleas around here.

James Ebersole · Dec 14, 2011

The fleas and I have been at war for a good portion of the year. I hear Borax Powder is a good way to kill fleas and eggs in carpet.

Puma · Dec 14, 2011

Check and double check before thinking of using Borax any place your pets will be. We use it for ants and it has to be in places the pets can't get to. Puma

GeorgeK · Dec 18, 2011

tjwriter said:
Garlic can be toxic for dogs, also.

We have seen a slight uptick in fleas around here.

I hadn't read about a problem with garlic. We ahve a lot of wild garlic in the fields. The dogs eat it all the time. Hmmm, it might really be a type of onion that tastes like garlic.

shawkins · Dec 18, 2011

Yeah, I thought it was a really bad year. I'd speculate that it has to do with the fact that over the last two years the longstanding Atlanta drought has abated, but I don't really know.

As far as boric acid, I've had REALLY good results with that on carpet. I get some stuff called Flea Busters that I've been told is "safe enough to eat." It's sort of pricey and you have to get it off the internet. I think the main difference is that it's granulated instead of powdered, but I have no idea why that would make a difference. It does though. In 1995 I was living in an apartment with my first dog and the fleas were absolutely godawful, much worse than this year. I tried everything. Nothing helped for more than a day or so until a vet suggested this stuff. Highly recommended.

Tepelus · Dec 18, 2011

The fleas haven't been as bad this year for us as they usually are. In fact, we haven't put any flea meds on any of the animals since about June, and summer is always the worst time for them. They haven't been scratching either. The cats stay indoors for the most part, the dog does go in and out of the house. The only exception is our outdoor stray cat. He has fleas and we need to get some meds on him, the poor guy. And we have had a wetter than normal year. To me, it seems the opposite of what others say. Wet years fewer fleas and dry years more fleas.

oarsman · Dec 18, 2011

There is a lot of debate about garlic and dogs. If you are interested, visit this link:
http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/garlic_for_dogs.html

slcboston · Dec 24, 2011

areteus said:
Of course, Eddie rarely gets fleas because not only does he have regular flea treatments he also has a high garlic diet and regular bathing and brushing...

Will garlic fend them off?

I've been trying to figure out if there is some sort of natural repellent I could put in my cat's food, and thought about garlic but hadn't looked into it enough to find out.

I know it can work for people with other biting things, but....

And yes, the fleas were a lot worse here in PA, from what I have heard and unfortunately now experienced. My indoor-only cat was flea free until we moved into the new apartment... were the previous owners had problems, it seems. Landlord did his best to get rid of them, but they are persistent little buggers.

Jessianodel · Dec 24, 2011

Fleas were pretty bad for a little while (especially on our puppy because he gets allergies on top of the bites - poor baby was so itchy and red!) but it didn't last very long as far as I could tell. In fact they left pretty quick for us when they normally stick around and refuse to die for a while.

But no, I didn't notice anything lol.

Were fleas worse this year?

were fleas worse this year?

yes, the fleas were significantly worse

no, haven't noticed anything

I/we don't have pets

Sorry, Orlando Bloom just walked by my window

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