Corporeal warming

It does matter how many chemicals I douse the cats with I can't get rid of the bloody fleas. My cats don't usually suffer such an infestation but they appeared around September and just won't go. I'm guessing it's because it has been so warm for so long, and has made the cats hot stuff and very attractive to fleas.

I've tried all sorts of stuff, that stuff you put between their shoulder blades, stuff you mix in their food and even attempted an aerosol flea spray which just caused the cat to rip me to shreds resulting in mass bloodshed (mine, obviously), as soon as I pressed the button and the tin hissed. I only tried THAT on one cat.

I comb them every day, sometimes several times if they're stupid enough to sit there, and pop the little buggers if I can pick them off the comb fast enough before they escape. Someone said to plunge them into boiling water.

Can anyone lend me a pan big enough to fit a chunky cat?