I have some tips for you that I practice myself for my pets and for my home. You can go to your local petsmart and buy flea collar after flea collar for your dog and cat, but my experience with flea collars has not got the job done like I wanted. Flea collars do work, they only do from the neck up. What about the rest of the body? Fleas do not just jump on an animal and go to the head and stay in that one spot. Their favorite places for many fleas to hang out is around the face and down by the tail section.
My dog is very sensitive to fleas and I had to figure out a way to help my dog with this flea problem because he cannot do anything about them himself, except chew and chew at them, then all of the licking and chewing and scratching leads to skin irritations. I started taking him to the vet where I worked as a vet tech once a week and gave him a flea bath and dip.
I thought this was going to rid him of the fleas, but one day he was covered with tons and tons of fleas and he had been outside most of the day, so I knew then that my house as well as my yard and my poor dog had a flea infestation. The first thing I did was vacuum my entire house and I threw the bag away outside in the trash can. Then I gathered all of my dogs blankets, sheets and whatever else he slept on and threw it all in the laundry.
Then I took my dog back to the vet for a flea bath and while my dog was getting his bathing done, I went to Walmart and bought 2, 5 pound bags of 5% Sevin Dust and when I got back to my house, I went outside to the back yard first, since that is where my dog stays, and lightly sprinkled the sevin dust around the perimeter of the back yard, then sprinkled all over the entire back yard. When I finished the backyard, I went to the front yard and did the same. I only use the 5% sevin dust for treating my yard because it did not harm my dog when he walked on it.
I chose to purchase the 5% sevin dust and the bombs and treat my yard and house myself as well as my pet to cut down on expenses. You may have to hire a professional to get the flea problem under control if it is bad. But it is not necessary that you have to hire one. My Mom did the exact treatment for her yard as I did to rid her house and yard of fleas. You can speak with your local vet on what steps you need to do to take care of the flea problems in your home, your yard and your pets.
If I know that rain is in the forecast the day I want to use the sevin dust, I wait. Because if you sprinkle the sevin dust around and it rains, all of it washes off and that deters the purpose. Each time I did this treatment for fleas, my dog went to the vet for a flea bath.
Now what I did to treat my home inside. I went to my local vet and purchased four flea bombs, and set them off in different rooms. I left my house shut up for 2 hours and let the mist get into every nook and cranny and after two hours I went home and opened the windows and turned on a ceiling fan to air the house out. Just make sure all the pilot lights are out if you have gas heating in your house. Four flea bombs was all I needed for my home. It depends on the size of the home as to how many bombs to purchase. I placed one in my kitchen, one in each bedroom, and one in the living room. The bombs not only killed the fleas, but also any spiders, ants and other little critters crawling around in dark spaces and crevices.
After the house airs out for at least an hour, then I go get my dog. The flea infestation was bad for my dog as well as my house so I did this treatment once every 2 weeks and had my dog bathed as well and continued with this regimen for at least 2 months before I noticed my dog was not itching all the time. Then I knew I had got the little fleas under my control. Another product I use that 100% works to kill fleas, is called Frontline. It is a liquid that comes in a tube and is applied on the skin at the neck and shoulders. This is for cats as well as dogs. One side affect when the product was applied was the animal salivating a lot.
This was seen a lot with cats, but some dogs reacted with the extreme salivating. There is also a pill form of flea control called Sentinel. It is also a heartworm preventative as well. If your pet is having flea problems and you have a big flea problem in your home, talk to you local vet about all the options that are available these days. The topical flea control Frontline or Advantage that is used once a month does help in getting control of the fleas once the infestation is gone. Since I use the Frontline, I did use flea spray, but found this is only to kill the fleas that were I noticed on my dog., but did keep some flea spray at my house.
There is nothing you can buy anywhere to keep fleas totally off an animal, but if you are using a topical prevention or a pill, once the fleas get on your pet and bite your pet, that flea and all the other fleas are going to die once they actually bite your pet. Topical flea control is not recommended to dogs and cats who are still nursing their babies. You need to ask your local vet about what is the best way to treat a nursing animal to rid them of fleas. Animals need to be at least 12 weeks of age for flea control of any kind. Before you apply a topical flea control solution, if your pet has been bathed, you need to wait at least 48 hours to apply the flea control product, and also if you have just bathed your animal, you need to wait at least 48 hours to apply the flea control for best results. For flea problems with your pet or your home environment, talk with your local vet to see what regimen fits your specific needs and what will work best for your pet. The treament I used worked for my pet and my home envirionment, but may not be what is needed for your flea problems. The topical flea treatments called Frontline and Advantage are well worth the money. One tube is used every 30 days, and there is a 3 month supply in Frontline and a 4 month supply in Advantage.
You may even notice your pet licking or chewing at or around the anal area. This may be from fleas or the anal glands could be full.
Fleas spend most of their life cycle off the animal actually. The life cycles of fleas begin with eggs which turn to larvae, then larvae turns to pupae, then pupae turns to the adult flea. Once a male and female flea have sex, (I’m not sure if the sex is missionary style or doggie style…teehee) soon after mating, the male dies. The female will continue feeding off an animal gorging on blood for approximately 10 days. Once she is full, she hops off the animal to go lay her eggs.
During a time of about up to four weeks, she can lay thousand and thousands of eggs and once she lays all of the eggs, the female dies soon afterwards. Then the whole life cycle begins with all the other adult fleas that are out there already and have layed their eggs. There are a lot of things you can do at home yourself to get control of the fleas and once you do gain control, then a monthly preventative regimen will help keep fleas under control. Like I stated before, there is nothing on the market anywhere that will keep a flea from actually getting onto your pet.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a licensed vet, but learned a lot of information while working as a vet tech for 10 years.
