Flea Help!!
Sorry this is long. I (48F) have lived in a place where fleas were never an issue. My whole life I have owned pets, and neither I, nor anyone I know has ever had a pet with fleas.
A few days ago I was working in the yard clearing some brush. Something started biting me, but I didn’t see anything. I came in, changed my clothes and showered, and then I found a flea. I killed it, and didn’t think much about it. The next day (yesterday) I had a ton of itchy bites and I decided to check my cats. I have two indoor cats that aren’t on preventative flea meds. (My fault. I have learned my lesson! I worried about the negative effects since they are pesticides and like I said, never even seen a flea). Well, I found several fleas on them. I would say about 8 on the long haired cat and 4 on the short hair. The cats aren’t really scratching or anything. I combed the fleas off and put them in water to kills them and immediately went to the vet and got topical meds (Nexgard Combo) for the cats and a chewable for the dog. (Strangely he has none on him. He is 16 with diabetes, Cushing, and glaucoma and on a ton of meds. Not sure why the fleas aren’t interested but I am thankful.) I came home and put the topicals on the cats and gave the dog his meds.
Today I vacuumed the entire house and furniture top to bottom. I then cleaned all the carpets with a steam cleaner. I bought a spray but I am reluctant to spray a bunch because there is no where to take the cats while it dries and a lot of it says toxic to animals. So I went back to the store got a spray that goes on the actual cats and sprayed that deep in the sofa only. I am thinking about spraying their beds too. It smells kinda strong so I wasn’t sure what to spray. (It is an Adam’s spray for cats). I washed all the bedding that I didn’t throw away. I combed. the cats 5 times and pulled one or two off each cat each time. I would say I have removed about 2 dozen.
The weird thing is, after a ton of research (I have an anxiety disorder and health anxiety so this is a living nightmare) the infestation (so gross) isn’t “normal”.
I walked around the house in light tan socks. They aren’t cotton or white, but are super light in color. I saw nothing on them. No fleas or dirt.
I am still pulling fleas off the cats over 24 hours after meds. When will the meds start killing the fleas! But strangely, I am seeing no fleas anywhere else. I saw none in the vacuum (I emptied it outside) or the carpet cleaner. None are jumping in the carpet. I put white towels in the cat beds. I saw none in the bed before cleaning and none on the towels after.
There is no flea dirt anywhere. None on the comb. None on the cats. None on any surface they sit on. Every black speck I find, I test on a wet paper towel and nothing. Is it weird to get fleas in the comb but no dirt.
I don’t think I am seeing any eggs. Every white speck I look at, but it mostly looks like their litter or dandruff. The long haired cat is black so fleas and dirt might be hard to see, but eggs?
I think I got one or two more bite on me even after the clean-up today. But I am not sure when I got them. Shouldn’t vacuuming have gotten them?
Lastly, when I comb the cats I am only pulling fleas off their heads and necks. I am combing all over, but I only find the fleas on the head area.
I guess I am looking for some support or reassurance. Am I doing something wrong? Just impatient? Is this weird? Any advice? It has only been about 36 hours and I am so tired and itchy and my anxiety level is a 10!