While I was bent on getting rid of them by natural means, they were intent on taking over my house. It was something they accomplished quite handily. They went from a few on my ankles to thousands and maybe millions (my mother always told me not to exaggerate) in a few days’ time.

I wish success for anyone waging the same war. May all the fleas in your house and yard rest in peace.

The poor cat stays up high 99 44/100% of the time. She learned she had to do that to stay out of reach of the critters. Now that they are no longer a menace (or seldom so) she could be roaming around like she used to but she doesn’t. I managed to coax her onto the floor for a few minutes tonight by luring her with her cat vitamin and a couple of brewers yeast tablets. She enjoyed some petting and rubbed against my legs for the first time in weeks. Then it was back to a perch. There are several of them around. Currently, she is on the Nordic Track belly pad. That’s about as high as she can get without climbing on top of the china cabinet which she has done several times.

She’s spent most of the days (I’ve been here) sleeping. There’s probably a lot of that to make up. I know I’ve gone to bed early the last two nights. My neighbor even commented on it. It’s hard to sleep when fleas are trying to dine on your body. When there’s been little uninterrupted sleep for a month, a living creature of any kind gets desperate.

Looking back, I should have caved a sooner but I didn’t and now I’m paying the price. I’m expecting relatives in a little over a week and it’s going to push me to get everything cleaned up and back in place by the time they arrive. I’ve been pushing myself most of the day to Get Things Done and I barely put a dent in the kitchen. It takes a long time to get all the dishes, etc., out of the cabinets, wash them, wash out the cabinets, then put the stuff back. I’m not going to get all of it done, for sure. I’ll have to get the main part finished.

If you have fleas and decide to go the fogging route, I’ve read you can put paper over the dishes in the cabinets to shield them from the vapor. I don’t know. I don’t think I’d trust that to work.

We aren’t completely flea-free yet but they don’t last long enough to reproduce. At least that’s the theory. I feel one of the critters now and then having their last meal on this earth. I don’t feel sorry for them.

What has brought me to this point is the weeks of unmitigated misery. If you want to drive someone stark raving mad, subject them to constant attacks from fleas. I’m going to copy and paste some of yesterday’s post from the forum because I feel particularly lazy after the happenings of the last few days.

These consarned fleas are nocturnal animals. I’m fine during the day and was about to the point that I was going to forget doing anything drastic when the sun went down. They were out in force. Back to Plan B.

Plan A was to use all the natural means at my disposal. I have fed Twinkle dozens of brewer’s yeast tablets and she’s still scratching. I’ve put black walnuts and black walnut branches on the floor. I’ve salted the place within an inch of turning it into Redmond, Utah. I’ve sprayed with a walnut extract I made by boiling the leaves, letting them steep, and straining them. Orange rinds are another thing I’ve cooked and sprayed in the hope that it would either repel or kill the fleas. Did you know that if you cook brewer’s yeast in water it will smell like boiled peanuts? I also found out that sticky paper will stick to the bottom of shoes. And Twinkle must’ve tangled with one sheet from the looks of the cat hair on it.

I’ve sealed things up in garbage bags to kill fleas. Twinkle let me know she didn’t like the way things were going by peeing on a couple of the bags. How do you explain what’s going on to a cat??

A departure from natural is the Sevin dust on paper under furniture. I don’t know if it’s helping or not.

Plan B is to bomb the place. I was out at the clothesline yesterday when my neighbor came over to see how I was doing. I was almost in tears, talking about it. I got myself under control and told her I’m going to bomb the place Sunday (tomorrow). I hate to do it but I hate worse living with fleas. Another thing–when I was cleaning up my bedroom, I spied a roach (I’ve never had roaches here). That’s something else I can’t tolerate so that sealed the deal. She had bought a case of foggers when she was ridding a fixer-upper of fleas and had some left. I am the proud recipient of seven cans, enough to do the whole house.

She asked what I’d do with Twinkle. I told her I plan to put her in the car with everything she needs for the 2.5 hours we have to be out. Did she have a pet carrier? Of course she does! She got it for me and I brought it in the house so Twinkle could get acquainted. When I mentioned bringing my computer outside, she showed me where her extension cords are and said for me to plug into their electricity. I’m set.

Well, that was the plan. Here’s the reality.

I was supposed to vacuum the carpet and shampoo it before I bombed it. First, my shampooer died. Then my Dyson quit. I had to haul out the old Dirt Devil and hope it worked. It soldiered on. I left the Dyson in my bathroom last night and you’d think I’d have moved it after the first time I tripped over it. Well, NO! Not even the second time. The third time, I think I broke my little left toe. I have it wrapped with an elastic bandage and people are sorry for me. I figured I should get a professional opinion so I called and talked to one of the nurses at the hospital. She said I’d done the right thing.

Upshot is the carpet didn’t get shampooed so the fleas are dying a less than pristine death. Shari is disappointed with me because I went ahead with the operation anyway but she isn’t here fighting the Biters.

Now for what I’ve learned from this experience. The following are things I have tried with the results (or lack of them).

1. Brewer’s Yeast: This is a longterm remedy meaning it takes a long time for it to build up enough to be effective. Applying it to the skin, especially if it’s already irritated, can burn. Putting it on the floors, furniture, and bedding does repel the fleas somewhat. If it’s left mixed with water in a spray bottle, it will sour. As I said before, if you cook it in water, it will smell like boiled peanuts.
2. Sticky Paper and a Light: This is, without a doubt, the least trouble and has the best results. When the fleas check in, they can’t check out.
3. Bagging Belongings: I didn’t go into this much but be prepared to be without your treasures for a couple of weeks if you go this route. The fleas will die a horrible death from starvation.
4. Borax: Didn’t try it. Probably should have.
5. Garlic Powder: I actually saw a flea jump off Twinkle when I put the powder on her neck. When I put it on mine, it burned. Careful with the garlic if you try it.
6. Moth Balls in the Vacuum Cleaner Bag: This may be why my Dyson quit. It didn’t seem to work too well, anyway. I wouldn’t recommend it.
7. Salt: I think these critters were related to sand fleas. (I hope past tense is correct.) They seemed to thrive on the salt. It might have been another reason my Dyson quit. I don’t think salt is good for that type vacuum.
8. Citrus Elixir: If that’s what you call boiling citrus peels, letting them steep, and then straining it. I don’t know that it killed anything but it smelled good and spraying my sheets seemed to keep them away.
9. Black Walnut Leaves and Black Walnuts: The leaves can make one big mess and I couldn’t get enough of them when I was trying them out to really test them. The black walnuts, themselves, smell good so I’m leaving the dozens I’ve picked up at the head of my bed. I do need to put them on something to keep them from staining the carpet as they cure.

Sorry, I can’t say any of the natural means worked well enough to steer me away from chemicals. I think my sanity is important. Hopefully my health won’t go downhill from here.

My neighbor from across the street came over. He was concerned with all of Twinkle’s yowlings and hissings. There’d been an owl hooting and he thought it might have her. I assured him that she was not a happy camper. She still isn’t. I unhooked the door so she can get out any time she wants to but she’s sulled up and won’t budge.

Another “non-toxic” killer is supposed to be baby oil mixed in equal parts with water. I haven’t tried that because I think it would make a royal mess if I put it on top of the salt that’s already trying to do the critters in. When I looked it up online, I didn’t find anything about spraying the carpet and furniture with it but baby oil alone is supposed to keep fleas from climbing legs. HA! I think it has something in it that they like or they are woefully ignorant and don’t know they are supposed to slide off.

I hadn’t been home from the time I left for work until I got back from prayer meeting. The deed had been done. Only time will tell if it did any good.

Next evening, my neighbor told me the fleas could get worse in the house since their under-the-house-abode had been rendered uninhabitable. I assured her I hadn’t been bitten once since I got home. I guess they were just asleep. When I got back in the house, one of them must’ve played “Reveille“. They woke up and made my life miserable again.

One thing I’ve found that will give Twinkle some relief is to sprinkle garlic powder on the spots she can’t reach and lick. She loves for me to do it. I think she knows it will chase the fleas away. I was mixing it with baby oil and rubbing it on my skin until it started burning and then I stopped. I don’t have fur to protect me.

My neighbor had been to the Farmers Co-Op and said a woman in there told her black walnut leaves and nuts would chase fleas away. There are numerous black walnut trees around here. The nuts aren’t ready yet but I gathered as many leaves as I could reach and have them scattered around here and there. Are the fleas are educated about the repellent qualities of the Mighty Walnut? It’s an old wives’ tale. I’ve always wondered if it’s an old tale perpetrated by wives or one spread by old wives…

There are places in the house I haven’t had time to clear out and treat with salt. The varmints could be hiding there and making babies. That will be my main project the coming week.

Friday night, I went to bed with the conviction the salt and walnut leaves would keep me safe. I turned the light off at 9:30, the earliest I’ve been able to turn in for weeks. At 9:37, I was up and in the bathroom running bath water so I could drown fleas. I had boiled some black walnut leaves the night before and put the liquid in a spray bottle. With the bed lightly sprayed with that and the pests turned into sailors, I went to bed and was able to sleep well all night. I got up at 7 a.m.

Last night, I went ahead and sprayed and soaked before I went to bed. Five minutes after going to bed, I was up and got the vacuum cleaner. I put the upholstery attachment on it and vacuumed the bed. For a wonder, I hadn’t pulled the plug when I soaked but left the water in the tub. I got back in and scrubbed from head to toe with Melaleuca Naturals shampoo. I went back to bed and a flea-less sleep. I keep thinking that someday I will be back to a relatively peaceful existence.

I made plans to reinforce the killing with boric acid around the edges of the carpet. That was altered when I couldn’t find it at Lowe’s or Wally World. I was tired of Twinkle’s scratching and biting so I found some Sergeant’s Nature’s Guardian with peppermint oil, clove oil, and lemon grass oil in canola, vanillin and citric acid. She held very still while I applied it to the back of her neck and she’s resting for a change. I wonder if it would work on me?

When DD and I had our visit today, she expressed merm’s reluctance to come into my invaded space. I assured her I was taking care of the critters and they will be gone by the time they get here. Believe me, living in this house is no picnic except for the fleas and they have been eating well. They won’t much longer, though! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I had planned to bomb the place if all else failed but my sister wrote me about one of her friends using bombs or something similar. She got sick and never really recovered. I’ve wondered about lingering maladies from it. Some of the people who have been advising me to use poisons have health problems. Not good advertising.

She will give Twinkle a bath during their visit. I wish her luck. She gives their monstrously huge cat, Pixel, baths several times a year so I guess she’s a pro by now.

You say, “You are still living with fleas?” Well, sort of. Not really. They are definitely on their way out. Finding a safe, effective, relatively non-toxic approach has been a long-drawn out process for me but it’s been a blessing, too. “WHAT?? Your experience with fleas has been a BLESSING?” Yes. It has been a blessing. I have discovered there are more ways to do the fleas in or keep them away than using methods that endanger the health of those creatures that inhabit my house with me.

Before you ever have to cope with an invasion (which may or may not happen) feed your pet brewer’s yeast. That will protect him/her from the outset. Now, don’t tell me some animals can’t tolerate brewer’s yeast. I already know that and if yours can’t more’s the pity. Try it and if Fido or Fluffy has an unwanted reaction, don’t give it to him/her again. BUT IF NOTHING HAPPENS, FEED IT TO YOUR PETS DAILY. You can google it and find out how much to give based on body weight, etc. I used to give Twinkle commercial cat vitamins that listed brewer’s yeast as the first ingredient but I quit giving them to her when I transitioned her to raw. Looking back, I should have continued to give her brewer’s yeast tablets, anyway. They are cheap and you can get them at Wally World or any number of other stores. I give her a couple a day and I mix the powder into coconut oil which she willingly laps up. The powder is a little more difficult to get if you don’t live close to a health food store.

If you carry fleas into your house from the local population of untreated animals and you don’t have the brewer’s yeast powder, toss some of the tablets into a spice grinder or coffee mill and whirl them until they are pulverized. Mix them with water, strain and put into a spray bottle. Mist your clothes and yourself and the fleas will not like the way you smell/taste. I wouldn’t advise doing this when you are going out in public. It definitely leaves a savory smell. For a wonder, Twinkle will hold still while I spray her with this mixture.

You can even spray the carpet and furniture with the brewer’s yeast and water but don’t saturate. It can spot solid colored fabrics so it’s noticeable. Unless you are desperate like I was, test it on a hidden place to see if it will stain. If your life is being taken over by fleas you might not care.

Another repellent involves boiling your orange peels after you make your OJ in the morning. Let them simmer in water to cover for 15 minutes, then let it steep, covered, all day. Strain that evening and put the liquid in a squeeze bottle or pressure sprayer. Lightly spray carpet and furniture but don’t spray yourself or the pets. This may even kill some of the fleas but it doesn’t last long. It’s more of a stopgap measure. It will make the house smell good, too.

Now, start on the house. This will require mothballs and salt. It won’t take many of the first but I bought a case of the second for less than $5 including tax. Buy the cheapest salt available. You aren’t going to be eating it.

Put a few mothballs in your vacuum cleaner bag or bin (I have a Dyson Animal so it’s a bin for me), clear the floor and vacuum it. One of the girls at work told me about this method. She saw it on either DIY or HGTV. It must’ve been one of those little “tips” they put between commercials because I haven’t been able to find it.

After you vacuum and dispose of the bag or contents of the bin in a sealed plastic bag, sprinkle salt on the floor and furniture. It won’t look pretty but we aren’t going with pretty here. We want results. We want them fast and we don’t want to poison the place. I did a lot of research on using salt to kill fleas and found one little comment that it made the carpet wet. I was prepared for what, otherwise, would have been a surprise. It didn’t make all the carpet feel wet but it did attract moisture in my bedroom, the bathrooms, and the kitchen.

Leave the salt on the floors for as long as you can tolerate it. I’m so educated on this subject I impress myself. You can read all about the life cycle of the flea here. Based on the fact that some eggs take up to six days to hatch, I can live with salt on the floors for a week and be fine. It’s like being on vacation and tracking in sand from the beach. Ha! That isn’t even close but I can still handle it.

I’m still in the leaving-salt-on-the-floors stage. The next step for me will be shampooing the carpet (which it needs, anyway). There’s a lot of work ahead of me but I eat raw so I’m up to the challenge!

A flea and a fly were in prison,
In prison so what could they do?
“Let us fly” said the flea.
“Let us flee” said the fly
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Strange how it does seem to fit the situation, though. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Last Sunday I’d tried to find some brewer’s yeast powder with no luck at all. I did buy a bottle of brewer’s yeast tablets. Since necessity is the mother of invention, my ingenuity took over. I poured a goodly number of the tablets into my spice mill (aka a Black & Decker coffee grinder) and let it whirl them until they were a fairly fine powder. Nothing like I really wanted but okay in a pinch. I took the tea strainer DD had given me one Christmas years ago (it was part of my gift) and put it through. There were some coarse pieces I tried to break up with the handle of a table knife but it didn’t work too well. I had enough for the purpose I had in mind.

I tend to be a packrat and I’d saved one of the empty Frontier spice bottles. It was clean and dry so I took a funnel and put the resulting powder in it. Then I hunted down Twinkle. She looked at me with a baleful eye like, “What are you planning to do to me now?” She had definitely not liked the tea tree oil spray even though the fleas had left her alone until it wore off. Since she liked the tablets, I thought she surely wouldn’t mind the powder. I shook some on her back from her neck to the base of her tail and started rubbing it into her fur. It did not make her happy. She put up with some more shaking and rubbing but finally got away. With a sniff or two she went to work licking it off. I’d read that’s probably what would happen but it should still do the job.

Do the job was right! The fleas left her and settled on me! What’s sauce for the cat should be sauce for the human, don’t you think? I started sprinkling it on myself but it didn’t want to stick except for what I put on my head. My hair held it but the other kind of slid off my skin. There had to be another way. I had a lawn and garden spray bottle I’d put a molasses solution in to spray the tomato plants. I took what was left and poured it into my Square Foot Garden box and put water into the now empty bottle. I poured the rest of the powdered tablets in and shook it up. Voilà! I had something that would work for me!

I took off my clothes and sprayed my nekkid bod, then put my clothes back on and sprayed them. Later, I found that it was easier to spray my clothes when I didn’t have them on. Ah! sweet relief! I was repelling the fleas without toxic chemicals. It wasn’t killing them but it was making their lives most unpleasant.

You might remember from last week’s post I’d bought borax and a push broom. I started having second thoughts about using them. The fact that I could taste the borax on my lips without opening the box wasn’t making me comfortable. There are all sorts of warnings associated with its use.

The light (LED) and sticky paper were working well. This is the second sheet I’d put down:

There was an unfortunate spider that ended up on it, too, but it was the only critter other than fleas.

I started thinking. Sometimes that can be a dangerous thing for me to do. In this case, though, I feel it was inspired. You see, I’d been praying and other people have been praying that I’d be able to get rid of the pests. I wanted to do it without poisoning ourselves or the environment. Hmmmmmmm. If something kept the fleas off Twinkle and me, why couldn’t it keep them out of the house? I’d already kept them out of my bed by spraying the sheets, pillowcase and comforter. It smelled funny but that was okay. I could sleep.

That’s when I went to work. I vacuumed the floor and started spraying. My hand got tired but I kept on. I switched hands and sprayed some more. The fleas started trying to jump back on me but they found more of the same stuff they were trying to escape.

When it dried out, it seemed to wear off some because here they came back. I turned on the air conditioner and there was another invasion. What was going on? There had to be an answer.

Later that night, I was google talk-ing to merm about my problem and he was alarmed he’d get eaten up when they visit. We were batting ideas back and forth about where the critters were coming from when a light went on. The cats under the house! That had to be it! He agreed.

Yesterday, I picked up the bulk package of brewer’s yeast the lady from church had gotten for me. I had plenty of ammunition now. It was a little over a lub. I put more in the shaker and went to work last night. I sprinkled it into the ductwork through the registers. Today, I took a shower and washed all the armor I’d been wearing off. I was a little jittery about living without it but I haven’t been attacked except when I went outside.

Wally World had a pressure sprayer that’s the right size for me to handle. Tomorrow, I’d planned to spray the yard with beneficial nematodes but I think I’ll try the brewer’s yeast first. It isn’t nearly as expensive and it’s working for the house. And Twinkle. And me.

Note: Just after I posted this, I found a flea on my leg. So it isn’t perfect yet but I’ll still stick with the program unless there is another outbreak.

From town, I came home with brewer’s yeast tablets for the Cat. Nowhere is the powder to be found. Maybe I can get the pharmacist on the other side of the mountain to order it for me. Until I can get the house under control, I think the internal approach is the safest one for Miss Twinkle. She always liked the cat vitamins I used to give her and the main ingredient in those is brewer’s yeast. Fleas aren’t supposed to like the taste of blood flavored with BY.

One place I asked about BY, I was directed to the section where the bread-baking supplies are stocked. I explained that no, it was considered a supplement. Then no, they didn’t have it.

I’ve given Cat three of the tablets and she gladly scarfed them up.

As for the house, I’ve been working on getting things moved out of the living room so I can start there. It seems they are more prevalent in that area and that’s where I have the sticky paper and light. I got more sticky paper, too, so when the fleas fill the first one up, I’ll have more to put down.

(If you haven’t read last night’s post, here’s an excerpt: “I’d read that a light over sticky paper will catch the critters so I got my desk lamp [my Christmas gift from the neighbors] and an LED bulb I’d bought on eBay. I had some Catchmaster sticky paper so I set the whole kit and kaboodle on the floor and turned it on. The bulb burns cool and it’s been on for more than 24 hours now. And it does work! Those fleas [especially the young ones] are drawn to the light like a magnet to a refrigerator door. Much more and I’ll have to get out another sheet.”)

I bought small garbage bags to hold the contents of the vacuum canister. I’m supposed to empty it each time I clean the floor and seal the biters up inside so they can’t get out to do more damage.

Tomorrow, I’m going to get a mask at the hospital before I start the borax treatment. When I brought the box into the house, I could taste the powder on my lips. I don’t think I need to breathe it.

I also invested in a push broom to work the borax into the carpet. It’s supposed to not be visible if it’s worked in far enough. That will be a trick with this dark green stuff that’s on most of the floors in the house. I wish I could replace it with hardwood but that’s a pipe dream at the moment. There’s a long line of have to’s that come ahead of hardwood.

The rest will be lots of elbow grease. I already have Tuesday night’s post ready and it may be the only other one I put out there this week. I’ll be one busy woman. Maybe by Saturday night…

Pray for me. This is going to be an adventure I hadn’t counted on but with my history, it isn’t hard to fathom that something like this would happen. My mother once got rid of fleas by praying. Do I have enough faith? Do you?