I read this article about 6 weeks ago after fleas invaded our house. We allowed a stray dog to stay in our garage for a couple weeks while we searched for the owners and after that, both of our indoor cats had fleas. Not a whole lot, but enough to annoy me. Im not a big "poison" user either, so I researched flea control methods and learned about DE. I immediately purchased a 10 lb package of it along with a duster.
Here is a bit of info on our living situation to help paint a picture. We just moved to a new state and are borrowing my aunts vacation house for awhile until we can get settled into our own. Her water heater exploded and flooded the house about a year ago and most of the carpet has been removed. The ONLY carpet left in the house is about half a room full in one bedroom and a corner patch in another bedroom (why this was left like that, i have NO idea.) Both cats are strictly indoor cats, and never go outside. Since we only have our necessities here and the rest of our stuff is in storage, its not a problem for me to completely clear out the closets to vacuum.
Now, for the past 5 weeks in a row... EVERY WEEK... here is what I have done:
~ Removed ALL bedding, dirty laundry, pillows, stuffed animals from the house. Placed it all on the patio to be washed in hot water and brought in after that.
~ vacuumed every inch of the house; every baseboard, corner, windowsill, closet, every piece of fabric furniture, moved all furniture to vacuum thoroughly under and behind it. Emptied out the vacuum canister outside AND blew it out with an air compressor before bringing it back in and reattatching it.
~ put on a dust mask and dusted every inch of every surface in every room with Food Grade DE, thoroughly dusted both cats MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK with DE.
~ Set up "flea traps" in the main problem rooms every night. (Bright desk lamp with bowls of hot soapy water... no bubbles on top) I have never caught more than one or two in each bowl, yet still find them all over the house throughout the rest of the day.
Here are my results: Not only has the flea problem not gone away, it has gotten worse! One of my daughters is getting eaten alive by these little buggers. Poor thing has bites all up her feet and shins and all along her lower back and stomach where her waistband lies and she scratches herself bloody frequently. She is 6. My son and I (who were the ones dusting everything with the DE) have both developed respiratory issues. I now have a persistent cough deep in my chest and he now has inflammed sinuses and sneezes all the time. The cats have also developed issues, one sneezes all the time and has goop in his eyes and the other always wheezes and coughs. The amount of fleas that we find on the cats has easily tripled since we started this whole thing and are still ranging in all sizes, from giant adult to tiny new hatchling. I pick off at least 3 dozen in one sitting. We have even gone so far as to shave the longer haired cat so we can get the fleas off by hand easier. He looks ridiculous. After week 3 I caved and started giving them flea baths once a week, then after they dried, i contnued dusting them with the DE. As Im sitting here typing this, im watching their necks come alive with the fleas crawling around on them. Its disgusting.
My only other options are to flea dip the cats and flea bomb the house (what we always did when I was a kid, and I survived just fine) or get rid of the cats, which will devestate my daughters. I am physically and mentally exhausted from these weekly cleaning projects (we are a family of 5... thats a lot of rooms and a LOT of laundry.) I dont know what else to do but I can tell you right now that I am DONE with DE.
