Fleas

[Vet]

  true, but such a rapid and major infestation?     As I mentioned in a previous post, I noticed a few fleas on Tad after I brought him home.  No treatment was given to him, and they were gone on their own and without infesting the other 3 dogs (and 2 ferrets!) in the house.  And I have never used any flea prevention methods of any kind. 

In my opinion you got very lucky.  I've seen fleas literally explode in my own house---I was working at a humane society and I think I brought them home on my clothing.    Within a period of 2 weeks, I had 5 dogs a cat and a rabbit that were infested with fleas.  Depending on environmental conditions, fleas can progress from egg to egg laying adult within two weeks.  This means if your pet is exposed to a gravid female, who lays eggs within a few hours of entering your house, you can literally have 100's of gravid females in your house in a very, very short period of time.  The typical flemale flea can lay up to 30 eggs per day and over 600 in their lifetime.  Eggs can hatch in as fast as 36 hours after being layed under the correct environmental conditions.     


The other thing to consider is flea movement.  Fleas will crawl under doors in an apartment building and infest the neighbors.   This can cause very, very rapid infestations in a very short period of time.   

[knny187]

I believe that fleas feed on 'certain' animals more than others.


I had 3 cats one time.  One was fat, one was sickish, & one was healthy.



The sick one was always infested, the fat one had some..but not as many as the sick one.  The fat one also had a undercoat & the fleas would get caught up in it.  The healthy one....always seemed to stay flea free.

It was weird, if we treated the sick one...the fat one would get some...the healthy one never got any.  The rest would die off eventually.

When fleas came back around again so many months down the road...the sick one always got them first.

Mind you...these were all indoor cats.

[~flower~]

The sick one was always infested, the fat one had some..but not as many as the sick one.  The fat one also had a undercoat & the fleas would get caught up in it.  The healthy one....always seemed to stay flea free.

  interesting      

[Euro-monster]

Most fleas on dogs are actually cat fleas anyway so Flower make sure your house is cat free!!....

[Butterbean]

I wonder if hedgeapples would work 

STella?

(from hedgeapple.com)

Can you tell me if hedgeapples are toxic to pets?

Hedgeapples are not toxic. They are similar to orange peels.  Although, many cattle have died from hedgeapples because they get lodge in their throats and they suffocate.  Your cat or dog will turn there nose away from hedgeapples. 



Am very interested in your product specifically to repel fleas. Is this as effective with fleas? Also, we have cats and was wondering if this product is harmful to them? We live on a farm and are prone to flea problems during the summer months.

Please check the results from the hedgeapple.com survey. Most people have indicated success when they use hedgeapples for fleas. Mr. Hedgeapple has not had a flea problem. Started using hedgeapples 3 years ago. You can find the results from the survey at: http://hedgeapple.com/survey/re_table.htm . The data is in raw form just as I receive it. You will have to interpret it.  They will not bother your cats.      They are non-toxic and your cats wouldn't touch them as well.



Here is the survey table link:  http://www.hedgeapple.com/survey.html

[~flower~]

  Hedgeapples are huge!!!  STella, you can move them?   

[Butterbean]

  Hedgeapples are huge!!!  STella, you can move them?   

Of course!  Don't you know I used to post here as !Wow Strong Arms!