Fleas!!! Agh!!! Do Dou Have to Close?

[Countrybuttercup]

I live in Ontario, Canada...today is Remembrance Day and Health Unit is closed...does anyone know if you have to close down a home daycare if you have fleas in your home? The vet just confirmed last night that my "indoor" cat has fleas. The daycare is enclosed with a door and no pets are allowed in it ever, but you do have to travel through my home to get to it. Does anybody have an answer for me. My vet said I didn't have to...a client called and said she was told otherwise (but she is always nickel & dimming me). Does anybody know?

[Blackcat31]

I live in Ontario, Canada...today is Remembrance Day and Health Unit is closed...does anyone know if you have to close down a home daycare if you have fleas in your home? The vet just confirmed last night that my "indoor" cat has fleas. The daycare is enclosed with a door and no pets are allowed in it ever, but you do have to travel through my home to get to it. Does anybody have an answer for me. My vet said I didn't have to...a client called and said she was told otherwise (but she is always nickel & dimming me). Does anybody know?

Personally I'd close.

I know you said your cat has fleas but could they have been brought into your home by a parent that has a pet at home that is infested.

Its definitely good to know where they came from so you don't have to endure continual re-infestation.

This article has some good info: http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/can-people-get-fleas/

I don't have much experience with fleas but I do know the best way to prevent them is to make sure you treat your pets with some sort of regular flea/tick prevention meds. I treat both my cats and my dog monthly all year round. Even in the winter months.

Good luck and I am sorry you are having to deal with this.

[Countrybuttercup]

Thanks Blackcat31...I just left a message for a health inspector on-call to call me back.

[Countrybuttercup]

k...just got a call from a health inspector for our city and province...the daycare does NOT have to be closed.

[TXhomedaycare]

k...just got a call from a health inspector for our city and province...the daycare does NOT have to be closed.

I had no power and my licensing office said I could be open . There is not much they tell you to close for because they want you to use your best judgment if it is not spelled out in their standards. I just had a child with fleas 2 weeks ago (he got it from his cat) and I closed on Thursday early morning after finding out and spent Thursday and Friday treating and cleaning my home and I reopened monday. I didn't want to wait for it to potentially get out of control or spread to multiple kids/homes.

[daycarediva]

Personally I'd close.

I know you said your cat has fleas but could they have been brought into your home by a parent that has a pet at home that is infested.

Its definitely good to know where they came from so you don't have to endure continual re-infestation.

This article has some good info: http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/can-people-get-fleas/

I don't have much experience with fleas but I do know the best way to prevent them is to make sure you treat your pets with some sort of regular flea/tick prevention meds. I treat both my cats and my dog monthly all year round. Even in the winter months.

Good luck and I am sorry you are having to deal with this.

We do the same, my pets are all on monthly preventatives year round. We have a serious sand flea issue locally, my neighbors outdoor cat is CRAWLING with them(you can see them coming into his eyes) *gag*

We just switched from Revolution to Vectra. We found a tick on our dog after a hike. Yuck. The vectra has been amazing and is incredibly cheaper. Our vet charged us $40 for three months (large dog) and then vectra gives a one month rebate form. For cats it was $7/m per cat! We just got year supplies and 3 months free! http://www.vectrapet.com/us/#redirected

If your cat is always indoors, it sounds like fleas or flea eggs hitched a ride from somewhere.

I would close, treat my cat with a flea bath and then topical preventative, and treat my home before reopening.

[Blackcat31]

We do the same, my pets are all on monthly preventatives year round. We have a serious sand flea issue locally, my neighbors outdoor cat is CRAWLING with them(you can see them coming into his eyes) *gag*

We just switched from Revolution to Vectra. We found a tick on our dog after a hike. Yuck. The vectra has been amazing and is incredibly cheaper. Our vet charged us $40 for three months (large dog) and then vectra gives a one month rebate form. For cats it was $7/m per cat! We just got year supplies and 3 months free! http://www.vectrapet.com/us/#redirected

If your cat is always indoors, it sounds like fleas or flea eggs hitched a ride from somewhere.

I would close, treat my cat with a flea bath and then topical preventative, and treat my home before reopening.

My pup got Lyme's Disease at 7 months old.

The vet we use recommended Vectra from now on.

We have and a have never found a tick on him and considering we literally live in the woods (swampy, heavily wooded area PERFECT for growing ticks ) that is honestly amazing.

I recommend Vectra too!! Its super easy to apply and neither my dog or cats ever have issues with it like they did with other flea/tick treatments.

[daycarediva]

My pup got Lyme's Disease at 7 months old.

The vet we use recommended Vectra from now on.

We have and a have never found a tick on him and considering we literally live in the woods (swampy, heavily wooded area PERFECT for growing ticks ) that is honestly amazing.

I recommend Vectra too!! Its super easy to apply and neither my dog or cats ever have issues with it like they did with other flea/tick treatments.

Oh no BC!

The land we just bought is heavily wooded with a large creek running through it. We had to teach our kids to wear clothing that covers our body, tucking it in, and doing tick checks. We use a bug spray on the outside of our clothing when we go walking the trails through our land.

We saw the tick the following day after our hike, it was already engorged, and I was able to remove the entire thing including the head fairly easily. Unfortunately the area reddened around the tick bite. So far, he has tested negative and is asymptomatic. The vet gave preventative antibiotics just in case. They also told us that they would be willing to test any ticks we found on him/us and brought in, free of charge. They really watch the lyme disease spread I guess!

I'm sorry about your pup. How is he?

[Mom2Two]

What did your vet say about what would happen over the Winter? We don't have a huge flea problem here due to the cold Winters. I'm a little fuzzy about it, because although I think that sometimes people do deal with fleas here, we've never had to. Winters must be cold where you are at, right? Is it because your cat is indoors and outdoors?

[daycarediva]

What did your vet say about what would happen over the Winter? We don't have a huge flea problem here due to the cold Winters. I'm a little fuzzy about it, because although I think that sometimes people do deal with fleas here, we've never had to. Winters must be cold where you are at, right? Is it because your cat is indoors and outdoors?

Vets recommend year round treatment because cold does not kill fleas or ticks. (they lie dormant and can/do wake up if my dog lies down in the brush, for example)

My cats are mostly feral/barn cats.

[Blackcat31]

Oh no BC!

The land we just bought is heavily wooded with a large creek running through it. We had to teach our kids to wear clothing that covers our body, tucking it in, and doing tick checks. We use a bug spray on the outside of our clothing when we go walking the trails through our land.

We saw the tick the following day after our hike, it was already engorged, and I was able to remove the entire thing including the head fairly easily. Unfortunately the area reddened around the tick bite. So far, he has tested negative and is asymptomatic. The vet gave preventative antibiotics just in case. They also told us that they would be willing to test any ticks we found on him/us and brought in, free of charge. They really watch the lyme disease spread I guess!

I'm sorry about your pup. How is he?

My pup is doing fine now..he turned 2 in July.

But he tested negative for Lyme's but had all the symptoms. He suddenly just could not get up, had a high fever and no appetite and stopped wagging his tail....for a yellow lab, that is a bad sign.

He almost didn't pull through. He was very touch and go the first week. IV treatments and everything. Then the antibiotics kicked in and he did better. Almost back to normal. Then 10 days after the last dose of med, he relapsed just as quickly as the first indication. We again did another round of antibiotics. 12 days later, he relapsed again. The vet decided to up the dosage and the length of time he was needing to take it. In the end it cost us close to $2800 and he was on antibiotics 4 separate times (30 days the first time and 90 days the last time).

The vet said, tick born diseases are super resistant to antibiotics and often times the spores will embed themselves deep in the dog's body....

I did some massive researching about treatment for tick borne diseases and learned alot (I was highly concerned about the side effects of being on an antibiotic for so long and the damage it might do to his kidneys or liver). I cam across a blog written by a vet that has treated dogs, cats and horses for Lyme's for over 30 years and he reported no re-lapses in ANY of the animals he treated with a homeopathic method using Ledum.

In the end, we decided to give my pup a daily dose of Ledum (we figured at this point it couldn't hurt) and I am happy to say that my pup has made a full recovery and has no lasting issues as of now. He may have some joint issues in his golden years but the Ledum is suppose to help with that too.

[debbiedoeszip]

I live in Ontario, Canada...today is Remembrance Day and Health Unit is closed...does anyone know if you have to close down a home daycare if you have fleas in your home? The vet just confirmed last night that my "indoor" cat has fleas. The daycare is enclosed with a door and no pets are allowed in it ever, but you do have to travel through my home to get to it. Does anybody have an answer for me. My vet said I didn't have to...a client called and said she was told otherwise (but she is always nickel & dimming me). Does anybody know?

I'm also in Ontario, and I have a dog that despite monthly treatments for fleas (6 months of the year) still manages to have a flea or two on him when he's due for the next treatment (he's a small, mostly indoor dog and I'm convinced that he's getting the fleas from the squirrels that hang out in our yard). I would not close. So long as you are using an effective treatment on your cat then it's not a big deal.

By effective treatment, I don't mean the powders, collars, or baths that you can buy at pet stores, but something that you need to get from your vet. I'm not sure what is available for cats, but for our dog we use Revolution and it's fantastic.

[Countrybuttercup]

Thanks everyone!

50 yrs and never any flea issue...lesson learnt...all pets are on a Advantix through the vet...never again! It'll be a all year round proactive routine around here.
Thank you to everyone for your input and advice.