Getting Rid of Fleas and Protecting Your Pet
A flea infestation is an awful situation. Fleas not only cause problems for your pet like itching, hair loss, sores, and increased risk of infection and parasites but these pests are also known for setting up shop in and around your home and starting a cycle of reproduction that can be difficult to control.
Protecting your pet from fleas with a monthly preventative or flea collar before they strike is always better. However, if you find that your pet has picked up fleas, you should immediately begin the removal process. Follow these steps for getting rid of fleas and making sure that they won't be coming back.
Flea Removal in 8 Steps
Step 1: Getting Rid of Fleas on Your Pet
Start by removing fleas on your pet's body with a flea bath or flea treatment pill. Use a flea comb if your pet has already taken their monthly preventive medication or spot-on treatment.
Step 2: Protect Your Pet From Fleas
After removing the fleas from your pet, give them an oral preventative, spot-on treatment, or flea collar. Be sure to consult your veterinarian before combining any treatments.
Step 3: Clean Your Pet's Bedding
If your pet has fleas, their dog beds do, too. Wash your pet's bedding and blankets on the hottest wash and dry cycles. You can also use bedding sprays and powders.
Step 4: Continue Prevention
Keep your pet protected yearly with a monthly preventative like Bravecto for Dogs or a flea collar for dogs like Seresto.
Once you've treated your pet, it's time to treat your yard. The fleas that hopped onto your pet may have come from your yard in the first place, or they may be living there now after hitching a ride from elsewhere.
Step 5: Mow the Lawn
Fleas like hanging out in damp and shady environments. When you mow your lawn, sunlight can reach the soil, which results in a less-than-ideal habitat for fleas.
Step 6: Clear the Clutter
Fleas are expert sneaks. They like to hide out in areas where they won't be seen -- like piles of leaves, rocks, and wood. Clear the clutter from your yard, and fleas will have fewer places to take cover.
Step 7: Spray the Yard
Applying flea spray to your yard and garden helps to kill fleas and prevent future infestations. Be sure to remove toys belonging to your pets or children before spraying the yard, and keep people and animals away from the yard after spraying for as long as the product recommends. The time the spray will work as a flea preventative will vary depending on the product. Check the label and re-spray as needed.
Step 8: Water the Yard
Use a hose to wet down yard areas where fleas are likely to have laid their eggs. The water around garden beds and trees until slightly flooded to kill flea eggs and flea larvae.
Getting rid of fleas can be an unpleasant and time-consuming ordeal. To avoid it, protect your pet before they pick up fleas!
You can find additional pointers below to help tackle fleas and ticks for your furry friend.
8 Flea and Tick Treatments for Dogs and Cats You Didn't Know About
Most pet parents know plenty of flea and tick medications on the market that protect your pet from these dangerous pests. Yet sometimes, the flea and tick medicine for dogs or cats you've been using just isn't doing the trick. What to do?
We've rounded up eight of the easiest, most effective, eco-friendly, and do-it-yourself flea and tick prevention methods.
Fleas
Citrus Bath
Fleas aren't big fans of citrus or water. There's something about the acidity of citrus juices and oils that repels fleas, and the presence of water on a dog or cat's coat prevents fleas from grabbing onto the animal's hair, meaning they'll fall off. Put the two together, and you get a citrus bath.
When drawing a bath for a dog, you can add a few drops of essential oil such as lemon, orange, grapefruit, or lemongrass to the water (skip the essential oils if you're bathing your cat since they can cause adverse reactions). You can also squeeze fresh juices from those same fruits into the bath. Another option is to use a gentle liquid soap or a flea shampoo for dogs with a citrus base.
Citrus Spray
After the bath, consider spraying your pet with a homemade citrus spray. You can make it by adding the juice or oil of any of the citrus fruits mentioned above to the water. Some people like to cut the fruit into quarters and place it in a jar, which they cover with boiling water, letting it steep overnight to extract as much of the oils from the fruit's skin as possible.
Once you've got your solution in a spray bottle, spritz it all over your pet's fur, then use your hands to rub the solution into their skin. Finally, brush your dog or cat's coat with a flea comb.
Apple Cider Vinegar Spray
You can make a similar flea repellent spray by mixing apple cider vinegar with water. You'll want to spritz this solution on your pet daily while paying close attention to the area behind their ears and at the base of their tail. Those areas may need an extra spritz since that's where fleas like to collect.
Homemade Flea Collar
Take a cotton collar or bandana and soak it in a solution of the natural ingredients you would mix into your spray repellent of choice. Additional essential oils that act as insect repellents include eucalyptus, lavender, and citronella. Then, clip the collar or tie the bandana around your pet's neck, and you're set. You may have to soak the homemade collar once a day, depending on the strength of your ingredients.
Nematodes
Those fleas are coming from somewhere, and they're coming from outside. So you may want to guard your grounds with Nematodes, the flea's natural predator. These tiny worms feed off flea larvae and can be quickly scattered across your lawn. Don't worry; they're not the same type responsible for infecting animals with parasites. You can pick up Nematodes at garden shops and pet stores.
Ticks
Functional Fashion
As it turns out, leg warmers for dogs can be more than a fashion statement. Ticks like to hang around grassy and wooded areas, so if you're planning on letting your dog play in tall grass, you may want to get them dressed first. Covering the legs and the underbelly is key since ticks are most likely to latch onto those areas.
Essential Oils
Just as essential oils act as natural repellents to fleas, they do the same regarding ticks. Again, do not use essential oils on cats, as they can cause adverse effects. Oils such as rose, geranium, lemongrass, cinnamon, and castor have all been shown to deter ticks.
Supplements
Adding supplements such as brewer's yeast to your pet's diet can help prevent ticks from feeding on them. It's believed that the yeast increases the level of acidity in your pet's blood, making it too bitter for the tick. Brewer's yeast can be given in tablet form as a snack or sprinkled over your pet's food during mealtime.
Remove Fleas From Your Pet Using a Flea Comb
Once you've gotten rid of the fleas in your home, it's time to remove fleas from your pets. The best way to do this is with a flea comb. Flea combs are available at most pet stores and are cheap and easy-to-use tools that can help you manually remove infestations from your beloved animal companions.
Flea combs work by scraping loose skin, fur, or other debris caught in your pet's coat while pulling off any attached eggs or larvae (which may be crawling around on the body). For best results when using one of these tools for the first time, always give yourself plenty of time, so you don't rush through the process. You won't be able to see what you're doing until everything has been removed from its environment.
Treat Your Dog With a Topical Medication Like Frontline or Advantage
When it comes to flea prevention, there are several options. One option is a topical treatment like Frontline and Advantage Multi, which means applying the medication directly to your dog's skin. The advantage of this method is that it only affects your dog; the fleas that may be infesting your house will not be affected by the topical medication. However, this also means that if you have an indoor-only cat or other pets in your household that don't go outside very often (or at all), they won't need to get treated since they won't come in contact with any fleas or their eggs.
Oral medications can be used instead of a topical treatment and work similarly in preventing an animal from getting fleas; however, these medications do not work as well when treating existing infestations in dogs. Because oral meds are given orally and absorbed into the bloodstream instead of being applied directly onto the fur and skin like with topical treatments, it makes sense why oral medications aren't quite as efficient at treating existing infestations as topicals are. Some pesky little bloodsuckers could still find their way under your dog's fur.
Consider Using an Oral Medication, Such as Capstar
The easiest way to kill fleas is to give your pet oral medication. Capstar for dogs and cats is a tablet that kills adult fleas in 24 hours. It's available at most pet stores and online, and it's safe for all animals over four pounds (dogs, cats, rabbits) but should not be used on ferrets or horses.
In addition to killing adult fleas, Capstar can also be used preventatively if you know there will be many future flea infestations in your home. It will prevent the growth of additional eggs inside your carpeting and furniture so that when the next wave of eggs hatch out into larvae or pupae later on (usually about ten days after treatment), they won't survive long enough for their cocoons' exoskeletons to harden enough for them start developing into adult fleas yet again.
Dust Your Home With a Flea Powder or Spray It With an Indoor Insecticide
The next step is to dust your home with a flea powder or spray it with an indoor insecticide, which you can purchase at any hardware store. You'll want to use a powder if you have carpeted floors and a spray if you have hardwood floors or tile. These products are effective, but they can get messy so keep that in mind before you buy one.
You should use flea powders and sprays on carpets, furniture, and pet beds for them to be effective. They are best used with other treatments (like topical flea treatments). They do not kill adult fleas directly but rather prevent them from laying eggs where they will die off naturally over time without creating an outbreak later.
Conclusion
We hope this article has given you some helpful information about getting rid of fleas. If you've tried other remedies that haven't worked, don't give up! Many options are available to you, and we encourage you to keep trying until you find what works best for your situation. Remember: if all else fails, consider consulting a professional who knows their stuff when it comes down to treating fleas in your home or yard.
More on Fleas And Ticks
Is There a Way to Use Frontline for Puppies?
Natural Flea Treatment for Your Home and Pet
Do I Really Need Flea and Tick Protection?
This information is for informational purposes only and is not meant as a substitute for the professional advice of, or diagnosis, or treatment by, your veterinarian with respect to your pet. It has, however, been verified by a licensed veterinarian for accuracy.
