How to Get Rid of Fleas

Getting Rid of Fleas

Once you know fleas are the problem, start with your pet. Your veterinarian can recommend a flea product that fits your pet’s age, weight and health. Products picked on a guess sometimes fail or are not safe for that animal.

Then turn to the house. Strip pet beds, throw blankets and any bedding your pet sleeps on, and wash them in hot water before drying them on high heat. Focus on the rooms and furniture your pet uses most, since that is where eggs pile up. A flea problem can take weeks to clear and is easy to restart, so a pest professional can help make sure nothing is missed. Florida Bug Control offers free inspections. Call 1-855-624-2847.

Breaking the Flea Life Cycle at Home

The fleas you see on your pet are only part of the problem. Eggs fall off into carpets, bedding and yard soil, larvae hide deep in carpet fibers and shaded dirt, and pupae sit inside protective cocoons that most treatments can’t reach. Control means working on every stage at once.

• Treat every pet in the house at the same time, using what your vet recommends for each species. Never use a dog flea product on a cat; some are toxic to cats.
• Vacuum daily for a few weeks. Cover carpets, rugs, the spaces under furniture cushions and the edges along baseboards. Vibration coaxes adults out of their cocoons, where treatment can reach them.
• Work the yard. Flea larvae survive in moist shade, not full sun. Keep grass mowed, rake leaf litter out from under shrubs and decks, and close off crawl spaces where opossums, raccoons or stray cats bed down.

Common DIY mistakes: Stopping after a week because the bites slowed down, when new adults keep emerging from cocoons for weeks. Treating only the dog. Relying on foggers, which settle on top of carpet and miss larvae down in the fibers and under furniture.

What a professional does: inspects indoors and out to find where fleas are developing, coordinates timing with your pet’s vet treatment, applies targeted treatment to resting areas and shaded yard spots, and returns for a follow-up to catch adults that emerge later. See flea infestation for the warning signs.