Urgent Advice Needed - Solution or friendly help needed :(

Hi everyone!

I've not been on here for a while but am in need of some advice or support regarding my situation with my little rabbit Freelo.

We have recently just moved into a new house (about a week ago) and have started to notice a lot of fleas, the house is infested! I am being bitten several times every night along with finding them constantly on our clothes and even in the kitchen cupboards. :shock:

We have had all the carpets changed and an exterminator round to spray the whole house before we moved any of our stuff into the house just to be safe as we had suspicions about fleas because of the last people having multi cats and a dog, living in fairly poor conditions.

So.. my reason for coming on here today is because i really need some advice about what to do with my rabbit Freelo, we're really worried about it catching them and have even had to start thinking about rehoming the poor thing as our house is getting out of hand and have been told that having pets e.g. Freelo won't help our situation. Which means it could go on for god know how long!

Please if someone can offer some advice i would really appriciate it as i don't want to rehome Freelo

Thank you!

That sounds an utter nightmare for you! Can Freelo not live outside for now although I suppose you''ve already thought of that. I have read on here that RIP Fleas is a good flea deterrent, you don't say what you are using. Can bunny go somewhere temporarily, it would be a shame to rehome him as hopefully you can get on top of the fleas soon.

Fleas are quite common indoors a the moment - but maybe not quite at the level you have them. You have my sympathies - nothing makes me squirm more than finding fleas on a furry.

Use something like this round the house, everywhere - particularly in the hard to get to area on the floor (behind units, radiators, curtains, under sofas, around beds, inside wardrobes, in the car). Vacuum daily, especially round the edges of the floor (carpets and hard floors). That will help to reduce the numbers as they hatch (if the spray hasn't got them first). It is supposed to last for months - I find I need to use it 2 or 3 times a year.

https://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?m...sult&search_in_description=1&keyword=staykill

Not sure what to use on rabbits - I've never had fleas go for them even if the other animals have brought some in. Grooming with a flea comb or zapping them with a battery operated one would be my first option, then ask a vet for recommendations on safe long-term treatments (eg a spot-on) - not all will be OK for rabbits or actually work.

http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Electronic-Head-lice-Comb-3-Years-Plus_47060/

I also wondered what the exterminator used as it doesn't seem to have been very effective. Do they have any guarantees?

Hi

I understand what a nightmare fleas are but your problem sounds like you have quite a few.

Im treating my rabbits right now and the house too. I have an exotics vet and have gone by their advice.

I bought a spray called Indorex. You take the pets out the way (including any fish etc) Vacuum first then spray -leave for as long as possible - at least 2.5 hours longer ifpossible and then once the spray has dried you can go back in. Close windows whilst spraying and when they spray has settled then you can start airing the room. Apparently it has something in it that adheres to surfaces and sticks there. Its fine for toddlers etc.

Now my vet said to do the above but before placing rabbits back in to hose down the hutches or wipe down any surfaces the rabbit might com into contact with...so a quick mop if the floor with plain water.

Ive treated my hutches and also my dining room. But was concerned that if I wiped everything down(which I did do) it would wipe away the Indorex too. So I have called the manufacturer and spoke to a vet technician who said no trials have been done on rabbits but as far as she was aware it did not need wiping down but she was going to look into it and possibly even contact my vet to enquire.

That was yesterday so Im waiting for her to email me - if Ive not heard by tomorrow i will ring them back .
I need to treat my lounge still etc. so need to hear about what they say.


Tesco: £13.46
http://www.tesco.com/direct/indorex-household-spray/669-9498.prd

UKvet: 500ml bottle £8.71 (inclu vat)
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-products-flea-treatments-household-flea-sprays-c-3_419/indorex-flea-spray-500ml-can-p-677

To treat your rabbit you go by weight. Below is the link for what you need to treat it if it is under 4 kg. in size. If your bunny i larger you need to get the one for over 4 kg.

You use 1 pipette right behind their neck as they cant get to that area themselves...just drop it between their fur onto the skin. It lasts 1 week for a rabbit so they need to be treated for 3 weeks in a row. The box comes with 4 pipettes. So enough for 3 weeks.


I paid £9.22 per box of Advantage spot on up to 4kg rabbits which has 4 pipettes in each box.
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/advantage-flea-control-advantage-for-cats-c-3_660_873/advantage-40-small-cats-small-dogs-and-rabbits-4-pipettes-p-1173

Vacuuming helps alot - dont forget if you can spray the Indorex into the vacuum cleaner so anything sucked up dies!
This spray ensures the eggs laid by the fleas do not mature into larvae or adults. It will kill any actual fleas it comes into contact with itself.

The spot on will work on the buns - the fleas will start dying and falling off...so vacuum alot and empty the vacuum cleaner too - dont leave inside sitting there if full up.

Its not a quick fix - you have to keep at it...I think it is working as since I have used it all here I have found 2 fleas.

Tip - 1 large pressurized can should do a 3 bedroom house...well i used one can on:
Dining room & two 6X6X2 hutches and then ran out. So depending on your home size I would buy a few cans and just keep them if required....I had to order more...which was annoying half way through.

Good luck!

That kind of situation is common where I live because of the warm climate, especially if you have pets and lots of neighborhood cats and dogs and wild animals around as we do. The main thing that works is just vacuuming a lot. And that should be really easy in your situation since you just moved in - I assume there's not yet a lot of furniture and stuff to have to vacuum under/around.

What also helps is:
- Wash any bedding every 3 days or so.

- Don't leave clothes or any other cloth materials on the ground where fleas can get to them, unless you're going to wash them every 3 days.

- It helps not wearing fuzzy slippers because then they hitch a ride and get brought around the house. They can also hitch a ride on your pants legs etc of course but slippers in my experience are their favorite. It's best to just not wear socks or shoes at all until the infestation is better.

- Keep things clean. The flea larvae don't drink blood, obviously. They need organic matter (their favorite is adult flea poop) to survive and grow. If they can't eat, they don't grow into adults, and if they don't grow into adults they can't breed and lay eggs.

I'd just flea comb your rabbit everyday to ensure he doesn't get fleas. Rabbits don't always get fleas, even when there's an infestation. If he does, then you can put one of the relatively safe spot on treatments on him, like Advantage. Don't rehome him over fleas. That's a major overreaction, tbh. I get that it sucks to have a flea infestation, believe me, I've been through it a lot. But it's not the end of the world and if you take the proper steps they'll be gone in no time.

I'm probably in the minority here but I have to wonder what planet people are living on where they think it's a good idea to spray their house with pesticides. Makes me cringe every time I hear it. You couldn't pay me to do that. I could MAYBE understand if it's a last resort, but it never is, people just immediately freak out over nothing and think 'how do I get rid of fleas? spray the whole house, I guess!' without even trying to use safe methods :?

It's not even like fleas reproduce in the blink of an eye or something. Seriously, look up a flea's life cycle and read a bit about them so you have a better understanding of them. That'll help a lot. Almost no one seems to know anything about fleas which is just craziness to me. You have to know your enemy. It'd be like trying to prevent fly strike in rabbits but not having a clue on flies. You can't effectively prevent or stop things you don't understand.

That's really interesting William not having to spray the whole house. I would definitely hate doing that.

Thanks for all your replies, it has been reassuring.

So my infestation sounds bad? .

I have had the council come around 8 days ago for £50, they sprayed the whole house carpets, and told me not to hoover or mop for 2 weeks while the pesticide is active. This seems a little funny, as in this topic I am being told vacuuming helps a lot? He said there is no other precautions I need to take as when the eggs hatch, they will die in the treatment. I have another free treatment which I using that tomorrow.

How long should things be taking before I start to notice noticeable results? And how long before that have gone?

Is it normal I am still seeing the odd flea? Its been around 4 days and I haven't seen any fleas, but today I seen a couple of adult fleas. They have definitely gone down a lot but it still concerns me that I am still seeing them. I am even seeing adult ones, how are they surviving? The council have sprayed the carpets twice, and I have sprayed the carpets myself a couple of times with Indorex. How are adults still alive with all the carpets sprayed!?

My second question is, I have put Advantage on 3LO, and I seen an adult flea on him today. Again, why isn't Advantage working?

That's another reason I don't like chemicals. On top of being dangerous they often just don't work.

I'm not sure what to suggest though since i don't know anything about those chemicals and how fast or effective they should be and since the council people said not to vacuum. Although, you could set up some soapy traps - just use bowls of water mixed with soap. They're attracted to the water, jump in, and the soap prevents them from being able to swim so they drown. I *think* any soap should work, but I always use Dawn soap since it kills them on contact.

The Advantage should be working though. It's probably just that they aren't biting him. If they don't bite him and ingest the chemical then they won't die.

They won't be able to reproduce unless they feed on blood, and if they bite Freelo they should be killed by the Advantage. They could feed on your blood instead though.

So how long should I be seeing the adult fleas for?

I have been treating carpets for 2 weeks now.. I have however not hovered yet as the council told me not to with the spray they used. Maybe I should just hoover now everyday? Afterall the indorex I use says hoover everyday.

I feel for you. I moved into a house that previously had a dog living there. Two months down the line all the eggs hatched and the house was riddled with fleas. I had 2 cats at the time and one of them was driven to distraction. I used Indorex and that did the trick, but I did hoover a lot too. Round the edge of the carpets is where the fleas seem to lay eggs so I would certainly go round there. Good luck.

I can't remember the name of the spray we used but we used it and sprayed the whole house and moved the bunnies outside till the house was chemical free, while they were outside I got some flea treatment from the vets for them. It was a horrendous battle, but we won, in end. You have to keep on top of it till the cycle breaks, the adults die then get at it again when the eggs hatch and babies are around. It's a nightmare this time of year. My cat is a house cat and we still ended up with fleas a couple of months ago and that was because he got out for about and hour and then come home