How Embarrassing!

My dogs, like myself and my husband, have a lot of health problems. We all have special food requirements so I often have to make separate meals for Paul and I and then prepare something for the dogs as well (they eat fairly normal salmon and yogurt dog food but they can't eat dog treats or anything like that so I cook little batches of beans and things like that for them). So when Smeagol developed a rash on her belly we assumed that it was allergies or one of her other myriad issues. But then Waffles started getting rashy too and Smeagol's rash turned from a few small sores on her belly into a GIANT, OOZING, SCALY patch on her tummy. Neat, huh?!

Paul took the little girl to the vet yesterday and it turned out she had fleas! Neither of our dogs have ever had fleas before and we were pretty shocked. I take really good care of the babies and they rarely, if ever, associate with other dogs (I desperately want to take them to a dog park but the nearest one is an hour away and an hour in the car with Waffles is too much for any human) so I did not expect that. So, they both got a flea treatment, Smeagol has two different prescriptions to take for a week etc. (My kingdom for a week or two where I don't have to dole out pills for 3 or 4 creatures 2 times a day. Paul says that day will never come since if we have a child the poor kid will be doomed to various ailments. Sigh)

I've researched flea stuff online and there seem to be two different approaches to getting rid of them. Some sites say that once the dogs have been treated you need to clean the whole house; steam clean the carpets, bleach the sheets, wash anything soft, toss the dog beds etc. Other sites say that once the flea treatment has been done you're pretty well good and within 4 weeks the last of the fleas will naturally die and you don't have to worry. I'm pretty swamped with obligations and to-do lists these days so I'm pretty smitten with the second idea but if I have to I'll start cleaning the house from top to bottom. So, my question is to you pet owners out there: do you have experience with fleas in your house and what did you do (or not do) to get rid of the little critters?