I literally cannot deal with this any longer.
The dogs have had fleas for almost a year now. Ok before anyone starts thinking I have tortured my dogs and not tried to do anything about it no they have not been covered in fleas for the past 12 months. Yes I have been doing everything possible to treat them for the fleas and in the beginning ticks as well. We have had months when for the most part the dogs had many a flea or two on them if you looked hard enough. I thought we had finally tackled the issues and were done with it. Then there were months when I thought they were gone for good like the middle of December into January. But the cold didn't last for long enough stretches here in Miami this winter so they never died off completely.
I follow the direction on the Flea and Tick Medication, I vacuum the floors, I bath the dogs in salty water to kill the fleas between applications. Nothing helps. I was able to get rid of the ticks that was unbelievably nasty but the fleas are killing me. Every single time I think I have gotten rid of the fleas I walk back into the house and they jump on me. And it doesn't take long for the dogs to be covered again.
They are now in almost every room of the house. I vacuum and it makes the fleas angry they literally are hoping all over after I vacuum. I have looked at all the products you make for the floor and house but they take two weeks to work. Ok I could live with just two more weeks of torture but I can't live with the poison on the floors where the dogs would be breathing it in since they are so close to the floor. Other products only work if it gets onto the flea itself great how many buckets do I need to make sure I get every flea and most of those don't kill eggs. Great so now I have dead fleas but if I turn on the vacuum it hatches the eggs and now I have fleas again.
I can literally see them crawling on Davinia and Indiana. The poor dogs are itchy and so uncomfortable. They can't sleep at night which is keeping me awake. They cry in their crate to be let out because they can't scratch and roll around to ease the itchiness.
Indiana wants to be under the covers but can't stay still because she needs to scratch. Davinia has taken to not sleeping in the bedroom so she can sleep on the tiles which keep her cooler but then she starts barking because she can hear other dogs or the feral cats or whatever. Davinia's barking wakes me which wakes Indiana and the entire cycle starts all over. I think I slept for an hour at a time last night. This has to stop, I can't function during the day when I don't get sleep. I have a bowl of soapy water with a lamp pointed at it to catch the fleas. It works and it can't make the dogs sick in the process but we have a long way to go before they are all gone.
Since August the dogs have had a Capstar and a dose of Frontline Plus. At first they were just getting a Capstar when I had to take them to the vet to board so I didn't get to see what a miracle pill it is. But I bought a box and used it and could see the fleas dying and falling of of the girls all around them. The next day I put the Frontline on them and I thought things would be fine and they were for a few days. Then I had to leave for 2 days.
I took the dogs to the kennel and gave them another Capstar before we left because they had a flea or two still on them. I vacuumed the house, washed the sheets on my bed, sprayed the carpet with something that is supposed to soften the shell of the flea and the egg and left. When I got home the dogs were not home yet but the house had fleas again and when I picked the dogs up they were flea free. So of course it didn't take long for the fleas to find their way onto the dogs even though it had barely been 2 weeks since they had an application of Frontline and only three days out from a Capstar which had killed all the fleas (not the eggs).
I can't spend another Spring and Summer going through this again. Honestly I can't have another night like I had last night. I also can't spend $100 a month on trying to keep the dogs flea free and honestly giving the dogs Frontline twice a month didn't really help anyway. I was told to try every two weeks because last summer Flea and Tick Preventatives were just not working well enough here in Miami and that it would be safe to use it twice in one month.
Flea and Tick Companies Please Help. Please tell me what I am doing wrong or could do differently to take care of the problem and be done with it. I would be happy to let you come out to my house to evaluate the situation so you can come up with a plan to help me. Just let me know when you will be here.