Has anyone here used beneficial nematodes as part of their
flea control efforts? I would be very curious to hear any
experience with them, positive or negative.
We are being driven bonkers by
fleas and I suspect that part of the issue is that since we are basically in the woods surrounded by wildlife, our efforts to remove them from our cat and home don’t make much of a dent. I can’t exactly go dusting the coyotes, raccoons and possums with
DE, after all. Our cat is indoor/outdoor and I know from past attempts that she will not agree to be indoor only.
We have been endlessly vacuuming, washing bedding/fabric stuff, running a dehumidifier, flea combing, giving baths to the cat and eventually, had to resort to topical flea gick (advantage) out of desperation. Even with a couple months of warring against them thusly, we are still finding some fleas on her and getting bitten horribly in our bed. All the bedding on it has been washed numerous times. There had been a brief time where we thought the problem was managed, but in the last few days have gotten tons of bites at night.
Sadly, DE and essential oils are absolutely out of the question, seeing as our cat has asthma and has had an attack that became life threatening. We don’t want to use the gick, but are unsure what else to do given the aforementioned limiting factor.
The nematodes seem like they could help. They’re a bit pricey though and I wonder how effective they really are? After all, they do eat other insects, of which there are many. Who’s to say they’ll go after the fleas? I also wonder if they would end up getting poisoned since we had to resort to using the gick?
If they do work, I imagine the nematodes would still only be one part of the strategy. Are there any other solutions besides DE and essential oils I could try? I read through the
thread, but maybe I missed something else? Any solutions that have worked for kitties with asthma would be especially helpful. Thank you!