Over 6 Months of Fleas

I stumbled upon this site by accident and thought I’d go ahead and submit my story. It’s been awhile, so I dont have the amount of money it cost to fix the problem, but it did take over SIX MONTHS for everything to get back to normal. I lived at a college apartment complex…. I’ve had pets all my life and never had a problem with fleas. It wasn’t until college that I bought my own dogs and became responsible for applying flea protection. I used Hartz. I figured it was all the same. I should have done my research… there’s a reason brands, like Frontline, cost more and are more well known. My dogs both caught fleas and I discovered them hopping all over my bedding, the floors, my furniture. I even found some in my own hair! And yes, they were fleas, not lice…. they were jumping everywhere! I had to go to the vet and he gave my dogs pills to kill the bugs for the next 24-48 hrs and I used that time to try to kill the stubborn eggs and larvae. I shampooed carpets, applied flea powders, bathed my dogs in extremely concentrated flea shampoos, even smothered their skin in vaseline… which did kill the live fleas but not the babies… I didn’t know that at the time and thought after all I did to kill the eggs and larvae, I rushed them off to my parents house and worked on treating my apartment. Even without the dogs around, the fleas still hatched and took over the place. I had to put EVERYTHING in plastic bags and rush the laundromat but it still wasn’t enough. I fummigated the apartment as well. I’d still find fleas in the carpet and on furniture. I finally just gave up and moved in with my boyfriend. Thinking everything was ok…. shortly later, my parents called me because their dogs had gotten fleas… then my boyfriend’s roommate’s dog’s got fleas! It took months before we finally got it under control. Vet’s had no answer for how to get rid of them other than to just keep doing what I was doing every day for a LONG time. After half a year, we were ALL finally flea free. Only one of my dogs got excessively sick, but I never had thought it could be linked to the Hartz before, until reading other posts. She vomitted constantly, was extremely dehydrated and her anus was leaking blood. She had many medications, xrays, tests, etc until she was finally ok. I’m not sure if it was because of the Hartz or not… the vet’s said she never ate anything weird. I never got an exact answer as to what the cause was; I was just happy when she was better. I have NEVER used Hartz again… not even shampoos…. I stick with reputable brands now. Your pets are your family…. your kids. Give them only the best!