[sacramento]

I have five cats and a dog, who HAD fleas and are now clean! However, the fleas are now all over my house, especially in the bathroom sink. What can be done to get rid of these critters without hurting my pets? :eek:

[twinkiedooter]

Well, for starters your pets are shortly all going to have fleas again if you still have fleas in your home. The fleas jump on the pets for a snack and then jump off after they've eaten and live in the carpeting, bedding, couch, etc. The best thing I have found is 20 Mule Team Borax. I sprinkle around my house on the carpeting (and take my foot and kind of mash it into the carpeting) and on any surface that I know has the fleas. I would put it around the baseboards in the bathroom if you have no carpeting there. Leave the borax for a few days and then vacuum it up. Then sprinkle down new borax. Repeat for at least 2 weeks. In the meantime while you are doing this take some borax in your hand and gently massage into the coat of your animal. You want to do the back and the tail and neck area. You don't have to use a whole lot either. It is safe for the animal even if they lick it off. I use this method and have done so for years. I lived in South Florida where the flea infestations in homes with animals is ferocious. I had a tenant who had a dog who moved out. I went into the apt and was literally mauled by a bazillion hungry fleas! I had to use several boxes of borax and within one week there were no fleas in that apt.

[sacramento]

Sounds almost too easy to be true but I do know how it gets in South Florida so I will try your suggestion. Thank you very much!

[WVHiflyer]

The 2 best weapons against fleas are vacuum cleaner & A/C - 1st picks them up, the 2nd keeps them from hatching (they need right temp & humidity). Twinkiedoodle's borax abrades them and helps dry them out. Vac EVERYTHING - bare flrs & carpets, baseboards, bed rails, window sills... then immediately wrap bag in plastic, seal and dispose. Bug bombs aren't impossible even w/ all those critters. I did my house in 2 days - shut up critters in one room (made sure door had good seal - towel under) & bombed one area, then switched f/ next day. If you do bomb, choose one for fleas w/ growth hormone (prevents fleas from maturing) and don't overdo.