So I just got my boy about a week ago, and he started itching, so I checked him out, and he has fleas! I bought him a capstar to kill them! Now should I spray the whole house/yard, or just vacuum, and wash everything? If I should spray the house, what is a good brand to use to spray? He's going to get a bath tomorrow, so I'm gonna use the capstar before his bath, so the fleas come out during it!

Capstar only works for 24 hours. If you have flea eggs anywhere in your home, they can live 2-3 years and can hatch whenever they feel vibration. They're insane. They usually end up in cracks, hard to reach places, and under woodwork. We've gone from Frontline to The Program to Comfortis and have not had fleas for years. They are difficult to get rid of once you get them, and they'll make your dog miserable usually. We have cats and small children, so we avoided bombing our house and still got rid of the fleas. They like to live in carpet too. We ripped all of the carpet out of this house and installed hardwood floors as a preventative measure. I was at war with fleas when we lived in a rental house in Virginia that had carpet. Fleas will drive you mad, so you have to stay on top of the situation and then never give in.

What are you currently giving your dogs?

You might sprinkle all the carpet and furniture with food grade diatomaceous earth before doing your whole house vacuum and wash to help kill the fleas. You can also sprinkle it in the yard too to get them out of your yard at the same time.

Huskyluv, can I use the garden grade?

Axel23 wrote:

What are you currently giving your dogs?

We trust our holistic vet, so they're prescribing Comfortis. We don't have ticks here in our part of Oregon, so we don't need an all-in-one or Heartgard. When we lived in VA, we were using a Frontline and Heartgard combo. If you have a good vet, then trust your vet and go with what they recommend.

At one point, the fleas got so bad that we had to give Frontline every 3 weeks and Capstar every 3 days. It was crazy. I HATE FLEAS!!! And I hate pumping chemicals into my dogs. But we've been flea-free for years now and it's been great.

I also second the diatomaceous earth (DE) food grade. Never heard of garden grade. Probably is the same thing. We bought a 50lb bulk bag and coated the yard and carpet with it. Just remember that the DE powder, if put into the air, can harm those who breath it. If you're putting it down, you have to keep your pets away and possibly wear a mask so you don't inhale it. We add DE to our dog's raw food as a natural, internal worm/parasite killer. They feed DE to horses too. Read up on it. It's an amazing thing. Just don't get the DE they use in swimming pool filters, as that will kill your dog.

http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-1&storeId=10702&catalogId=10051&productId=3276739&store=0138&view=detail

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Safer-Brand-4-lb-Diatomaceous-Earth-Ant-and-Crawling-Insect-Killer-51702/202743025/

I was gonna go get one of these!

I have found that frontline doesn't work well with fleas but K9 Advantix works great.

I have always used Frontline Plus and Heartgard Plus on all my dogs. I have never had either a tick or a flea on any dog!

Frontline worked for us initially, but over time seemed to stop working.

Axel23 wrote:

http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-1&storeId=10702&catalogId=10051&productId=3276739&store=0138&view=detail

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Safer-Brand-4-lb-Diatomaceous-Earth-Ant-and-Crawling-Insect-Killer-51702/202743025/

I was gonna go get one of these!

The DE I was using was pure DE. I noticed the one image said "contains DE" so not sure if that's pure DE, or some blend of chemicals plus DE. You just have to read the bags up close and see if either are pure DE. I wouldn't want to put down any crazy chemicals in areas that my dog is going to sleep, play or eat/drink. DE by itself is harmless (unless inhaled), so I'd look for pure DE.

These said 87% silicon dioxide, and 23% other ingredients.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_18?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=diatomaceous+earth+food+grade+powder&sprefix=diatomaceous+earth%2Caps%2C388

This is the one I got and 10 lbs is a whole lot it will take me for ever to use.

We really don't have fleas but want to use it for the spiders we have it is suppose to work on all insects.

Make sure it is food grade and not anything else. The other ones are not the same thing, and can be dangerous. Garden grade is used in pool filters and is actually toxic. Check this out, it gives some good information on the differences:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-differences-between-diatomaceous-earth-grades.htm

ljelgin wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_18?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=diatomaceous+earth+food+grade+powder&sprefix=diatomaceous+earth%2Caps%2C388

This is the one I got and 10 lbs is a whole lot it will take me for ever to use.

We really don't have fleas but want to use it for the spiders we have it is suppose to work on all insects.

I actually bought a pound of it tonight! I hope it ends up being enough!

As has been said, do NOT use garden grade. Use food grade DE only if you are going to use it.

I ordered the food grade from amazon!