How To Rid Your Pet of Fleas

Does your pet have fleas? Here are some tips to get rid of them.

Step 1  

Soak your pet's bedding in hot, soapy water for at least 15 minutes; wash, rinse, and let dry, or dry with a towel. This breaks down the fleas' waxy coating, and they will dehydrate and die.

Step 2  

Vacuum all areas of your home including hardwoods every other day. The spinning bristles of the vacuum break down the fleas waxy coating and cause them to dehydrate and die.

Step 3  

Wash all other bedding (including yours), couch covers, carpet, and any clothes that were out in the open (where fleas could have gotten into or onto them).

Step 4  

Purchase vermiculite at your local hardware store or pet store. Sprinkle on your carpet, then vacuum up. Be sure to vacuum very thoroughly. Fleas love dark warm places like behind doors and under furniture.

Step 5  

Buy a good quality flea control product. Frontline Plus and Advantage are good topical products. Program is an alternative to pesticides; it prevents the fleas from forming chitin. Avoid products containing permethrin, which is highly toxic to cats.

Step 6  

Give your pet a bath using flea shampoo. Read the instructions for how long the shampoo should stay on the animal before rinsing (if you have no flea shampoo, regular or baby shampoo will do the trick, but be careful with essential oils on cats, some can cause serious reactions).

Tips

• Treat your pet's environment. Carpets and area rugs are the areas inside the home that are most likely to become infested. Look for an environmentally friendly borate-derivative powder to apply to your carpets that will prevent fleas from infesting. A sodiumpolyborate is the best because it has a neutral ph so flea larvae will not avoid it like pure boric acid.
• Keeping everything cleaned and washed will help prevent fleas. If you do, the fleas won't have the time or space necessary to live and breed.
• If your pet likes to sleep or sit somewhere that doesn't have a washable bed or blanket on it, put one there. This way you can wash it more often.
• Remember that "all natural" products from the pet store can be toxic to pets. "All natural" doesn't mean safe; arsenic and nightshade are all natural!
• Don't use Hartz, especially on dogs when you have cats. The dog version can lead to seizures in cats.
• Many flea shampoos have age limits, meaning some puppies and kittens can't use them. Make sure to rinse, too -- you don't want your pet to be uncomfortable because of soap residue.
• There are products you can buy to treat lawns for fleas, so they won't continue to re-infest your pets and home. Most important is to use an Insect Growth Regulator that stops the fleas from developing. Insecticides only kill the adult fleas. Fleas only spend 15% of their lives as adults. The other 85% is just waiting to hatch out into biting adults. Stop them before they do.
• Treating outside areas with beneficial nematodes for fleas is a natural way to control fleas.
• Fleas carry tapeworms. Watch your animals carefully after an infestation. They may have picked up stomach parasites as well. There are finally over the counter tapeworm pills that are the generic form of Droncit that was prescribed by vets.
• Consider rubbing apple cider vinegar all over your pet. It should stop itching.
• If you have caught a flea, flush it down the toilet or dunk it in alcohol.Also see How To Make A Flea Trap
• Groom your pet more often. In both directions. This seems to irritate the fleas. They'll all start to hop up. Then you can catch them.
• Once you see the fleas it's best to catch them with tape.

Warnings

• If your pet develops a rash or any other type of allergic reaction, and is still scratching after about two weeks, call your veterinarian.
• Fleas can jump right back on your pet after using flea shampoos.
• Severe cases of fleas may need to be treated by a vet.