Dyson Help and Old Flea Treatment

Hello! I got my Dyson delivered to my apartment because my grandmother didn't think she could move the box (she's 86) and because she just didn't want to deal with dragging it up to Tech. !!! So I have it now! I put it together and used it and OMG. It works, easily, 10-15 times better than my cheapo Bissell I have been using. I did run into a problem, though. I went to empty the canister after I vacuumed the den, the hall, and my room, and none of the hair would come out of the canister except the stuff at the very bottom. :[ Is there a secret trick to making it so everything just falls out? I had to reach my hand into it and pull everything out, which was kind of gross and made my hand smell like parmesan cheese for a while even though I washed them 3 times. Is the trick just to empty the canister between rooms so nothing has a chance to get wedged between the wall and the middle part?

My other question concerns the flea treatment I did back in September. Waffle and Leo (my roommate's cat) got fleas, so we poured Borax literally ALL OVER the apartment and worked it into the carpet. Then we vacuumed it up. We've also vacuumed 10-15 times since then. With some flea meds, everything went away, and I felt good knowing that there was still some Borax in the bottom of the carpet. Well, when I vacuumed with my new vacuum.... the canister was FULL of white! It was all the old borax! lol! How much Borax residue has to be in the carpet to kill bugs? Do you think it is still "protected" or should I be on the look out for fleas and stuff on Waffle/Waffle's stuff again?

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on March 11, 2012 at 1:43pm

I don't have a Dyson but my vacuum has a similar build to a Dyson and I think the trick is to empty it frequently. The more gunk you jam in there the harder it is to get out.

I dont know how much Borax has to be in the carpet for it to work but keep in mind Borax is toxic if ingested, especially in cats. I would recommend diatomacous earth (don't know how to spell it!) instead since it is completely harmless if ingested and some is even made to be fed to large animals for internal parasite control.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on March 11, 2012 at 1:57pm

I think you just need to empty the dyson more often. Honestly I do it after one or two rooms lol, so much fur!

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on March 11, 2012 at 3:48pm

Alright, emptying more often it is! Our cat was fine after we put everything down, but next time we will use D-earth! Borax was much more readily available to obtain and it was an emergency flea situation. Hopefully there is enough Borax left in the carpet to keep more bugs dead.

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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on March 11, 2012 at 4:44pm

You can find diatomaceous earth at gardening stores as well as big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowes. :) You can also buy it online (including the food-grade variety) if you're more comfortable with that.