[LouiseG]

long story but could anyone shed some light 
A week last Sunday (8days) my parents came for lunch. My father went home and on Monday afternoon complained he had some flea bites around his ankles. He has continued to be bitten all week and blames my dog and cat. They have no pets at there house but do have occasional visiting dogs.


My dog recently had a new bravecto flea tablet from the vet and I confess the cat did have fleas a couple of weeks ago, which I speedily treated with Advocate again from the vets. My father never went in the part of the house were the cat resides (dog and cat keep well clear of each other)
Neither myself or my partner have any bites, and trust me we would have reacted to them by now if we had.


He refuses to visit again as says we gave them to him. Did we?


Any advice greatly received. 

[Womble]

Yuk! You've got me itching just reading this!

My father never went in the part of the house were the cat resides

I once rented a room in a house with cats and started to get flea bites. The landlord said that was ridiculous, and how could I possibly blame little Nermal and Fluffy (and no, I have not changed the names!). However, it transpired that the reason I was being bitten was because the fleas were in the carpet in my room, but I had kept the cats out, so the only thing they had to munch in my room was me!  In the rest of the house they preferred cats to humans, and hence I was the only one who got bitten.

I don't know of course, but is it possible that's what's happened to you Louise? 

[cloddopper]

The flea bites will be cat fleas  for some reason they like older folk .
 This humid weather has seen an explosion of them . It can take a couple of years of dedicated  attack to clear your home of all eggs as flea eggs can exist in carpets , skirting board cracks etc for seven or so years.  You also have to regularly worm the cats & dogs to help prevent a cyclic reinfection as well as give the flea treatments .

Over the counter supermarket product like the Bob Martins stuff is not as good as stuff from the vet but is is cheaper ..yer pays yer money and makes yer choice on that one.

The best stuff is from the licenced sellers of veterinary products unfortunately .

[adamhfc]

Funny you posting this I have 2 cats 1 dog and 2 weeks ago I woke to 3 bites on my ankle never been bitten before or since and dog and cat are all up to date on treatments have also never seen one on any of the animals and only one that gets in room is dog but never on bed

To add am 30 male and partners never been bitten and was not that night ether strange

[Possum]

This is maddening isn't it? But Clodhopper is right. You have treated your pets so all the fleas have hopped off them into the surrounding environment. Just waiting for a new host to walk in!


Not sure why you have not been bitten but I think it is something to do with sensory familiarity. Your vet will be able to explain it better than me. You might need to go back to the vet and agree on a way of eradicating fleas etc. on a long term basis.

[adamhfc]

Where your dad's all on same ankle mine where all on my left ankle on the inside

[nutterly_uts]

DO NOT USE BOB MARTIN ON CATS

Sorry for shouting but despite it being licensed, it is linked to huge numbers of fitting cats - usually if someone has put a small dog one on a cat, but I've personally nursed 3 cats who were treated with the cat version and ended up fitting for  days - only one made it.

[adamhfc]

Al front line here after one of mine started fitting after having bob martain flea tablets

[devonlady]

There is a spray (for the house only, not to be used on animals!!) called 4fleas which is very effective. You close all windows, take a deep breath, hold it, spray around the room and rush out, closing the door. Leave the room closed for a couple of hours then open windows to air.
One of my grand-daughters is a target for fleas, a house can have fleas and no-one gets bitten (so you don't know they're there) but, if Phoebe goes in ,within minutes she is covered in flea bites. So, if you're not bitten doesn't mean fleas are not present, they're just waiting for Mr. Right, in this case your Dad!
Anti-histamine cream is good for bites. Hugs are good for miffed Dads!

[Q]

He refuses to visit again .....

In my case its the grandchildren that bite.....   

A few flea bites wouldn't keep me from visiting family.

[Me]

Dont blame him, he is likely right. If you have treated the animals but not the environment then you are waiting for the fleas to jump on your animals before they die and obviously more eggs are hatching in the environment, carpets, sofas etc as time goes by. As regards fleas in non-animal areas - I hear they can jump

[pharnorth]

I understand it is not so much that fleas on,y bite some people but more that the reaction is more obvious on some people, hence why your Father seems to be covered in bites and you are not.

[LouiseG]

Thank you all for your help and advice, it's taken 6 months to get him to come visit me four miles down the road, I shall buy a can of flea spray for the house this morning, I really thought I had started to make headway with him, I shall try and look at this as a small set back.
I wish a hug could make things better  .

[john and helen]

After years of carpet fitting and floor laying, i can assure you many many homes have fleas, even the cleanest of clean…especially if they have pets,

we treat kai with frontline 1 month the avocet the next, seeing as he is a working dog, you will be gobsmacked on how many fleas are on a wild rabbit…

a good test is to put a piece of white paper down on the floor near a skirting board…..

[shygirl]

years ago when we took in flea ridden rescue dogs, our carpeted house became riddled with fleas. we had to fumigate the entire house repeatedly with spray from the vet. prevention is much better than cure. we have wooden floors now so never had a problem up here. we also don't suffer from ticks, but I put that down to where we live aswell.
I have fond memories of fleas jumping into my ex-husbands roast dinner. rofl   ha ha  ha there is a god.