dotsdfe posted... Flea infestations. My mortal foe.
I've dealt with this in the past, including a MISERABLE one last year. There was a point where my cats both got fleas from some dogs, and eventually every single room with carpet (5+) was fucking covered with fleas. Like I'd step into a room and within seconds, there would be dozens of them crawling on my legs.
I had to kind of learn about them fast. So here's what I learned:
A lot of over the counter stuff SUCKS. Like, ranging from "This does nothing" to "My cat is allergic to this and got pretty sick" all the way to "I found out that this shit that they sell at Walmart is apparently actively harmful to pets in general and can kill them." Legit, do a lot of research with anything over the counter, because there's some stuff in the shelves that has some MISERABLE word of mouth around it.
If you can afford it, heavily recommend going to a vet and asking for flea pills. They're kind of expensive, but they're pretty damn safe and they work so much better than any of the over-the-counter shit.
Getting fleas out of carpets is an insanely difficult task. They apparently lay eggs super super fast and those eggs will hatch quickly when there's a source of blood nearby. The lifecycle of a flea is kind of demented, they pop up fast as shit and are ready to lay more eggs ASAP.
What worked for me was this peppermint anti-flea spray stuff, and a LOT of raw determination. I sequestered any room that I didn't absolutely need to be in, and what I'd do is spray -> wait a while -> enter room to see if fleas pop up. If so (they did for a damn while), spray more, seal room again, repeat. One room, thankfully a side bedroom that I don't actively use for much other than storage, where one of my cats spends a lot of time, was particularly bad about it, and it took days and days of doing that process to get rid of them. Each time I went in there, there'd be fewer fleas hatching and jumping on me, but there would still be some for like weeks after I started it until eventually I got them all.
Vacuuming helps. I'd vacuum anywhere where the cats regularly hang out, like couches and stuff, though it was the peppermint spray shit that really killed them in the end. If you vacuum fleas up, you're supposed to take the bag out of the house ASAP, because fleas can survive inside of the bag and eventually escape apparently.
Good luck. Fleas fucking suck.
I will NEVER forget the smell of the purple can of flea RAID
*ps give your pets baths with dawn dish soap .
Dawn kills fleas