Flea Treatment For Your Pets and Your Environment

Time to be extra cautious

Spring and Summer, is the time fleas and ticks usually do the most damage; therefore you should be vigilant and using your knowledge of the common flea life cycle and the appropriate flea treatments that are available to you  for each different stage of the flea life cycle so that you could help prevent your pets from a possible flea infestation. Flea Treatment Products  Of course, acquiring this knowledge is something all pet owners should do as it would not only help them treat any form of infection contracted by their pet, but it also helps them get to the cause of the problem and possibly guard against it happening again.

The flea life cycle, in favorable conditions, usually happens over a 2-week period. If such factors like environment, humidity, temperature, and availability of food are not good then the flea life cycle can take longer to complete.

As stated above, the flea life cycle develops best during the warmer summer months, so during hot weather you should be extra cautious of them.

What makes them itch

Fleas are parasitic and feed off the blood of the birds and mammals it infests. When they bite they leave some of their saliva under the skin, some of our pet dogs and cats are allergic to the flea’s saliva which later on can cause a rash or loss of fur. While they will thrive during warmer temperature, however they are quite capable of reproducing all year-round, which means that we have to always check our environment and pets against any infestation.

Carriers of disease

Fleas not only cause itching or allergies to your pets, fleas may also be carriers of certain diseases such as tapeworm. Tapeworm is transmitted to an animal by fleas because the flea can carry the tapeworm eggs onto the animal’s fur. So, when your pet starts itching and they bite at their fur to relieve the itch, they can ingest the tapeworm eggs in their fur and become infected with tapeworm.Dipylidium Caninum 

Fleas spread very easily and any sign of fleas must not be taken lightly. As soon as a flea infestation has started, you have to take immediate action to treat it.

Where to look

Fleas can be distributed all over the body of your pet such as the lower back, base of tail, abdomen, flanks, and neck. However, if left untreated and in severe cases, the flea infestation has managed to spread all over the animal’s body it is better take them to the vet right away for proper examination.

Expect the worst

When you have multiple pets at home and you find one is infected with fleas, then you have to assume that the rest of your pets have fleas as well, that’s the time when you need to start treating all your pets and to start looking for ways to stop any further infestation. There are many home remedies, including spraying them with insecticide. The insecticide is able to penetrate your pet’s coat where fleas hide and are difficult to be seen. Once in contact with the insecticidal flea treatment, the fleas will die after several minutes. The flea treatment is not instantaneous.

Flea treatment of adult fleas can be done pretty quickly, however it is much harder to treat developing fleas.

Methods For Controlling Flea Pupae

This is the most frustrating and difficult part of flea control and is the reason why your need to understand that the dormant stage of the flea life cycle is so important from a pest management point of view. People assume that as soon as a home or lawn has been given flea treatment, they will not see any more fleas. Insecticidal flea treatment sprays kill adult fleas that are in contact with the spray. While insect growth regulators can only effect flea eggs and flea larvae, by preventing them from becoming adult fleas. Flea Stoppers kills flea eggs and flea larvae. None of the aforementioned kill fleas that are in their protected pupal casing. The pupal case or cocoon is water tight and therefore not effected by Insecticidal flea treatment sprays.

What does this mean

This means that the control of flea pupae has to involve removing them mechanically (cleaning, vacuuming) and encouraging them to hatch.

To do this your vacuum cleaner is your best friend and your most important tool for the control of flea pupae in your home. During the development of fleas inside pupae, there are only three possible stages that occur on the inside of the pupae: a fully developed adult flea, a maturing flea and a larvae that has been deformed by the application of an insect growth regulator (IGR) that will not live. Once your home has been given flea treatment with a product that destroys the eggs and larvae, the next stage is for you to get rid of as many pupae as possible.

Using your vacuum cleaner on carpets, rugs, floors and furniture accomplishes two important jobs:

• It picks up pupae that can be disposed of in a sealed garbage receptacle outdoors .

•   Its vibration entices adult fleas to hatch and come into contact with areas treated with Insecticidal flea treatment spray.

They’re Trapped

Unlike adult fleas and flea larvae, the pupae do not have the ability to move to avoid being picked up by a vacuum cleaner. With possibly thousands of pupae laying around in your home, each one of them that you can remove mechanically represents an adult flea that you don’t have to put up with or kill. Removal of pupae will obviously reduce the numbers of hatching adult fleas.

To summarize the control methods for flea pupae:

• Remember that mechanically removing flea pupae is great form of pest control.

• Vacuuming thoroughly carpets, rugs and furniture on a regular basis.

• Dispose of vacuum bags containing fleas into a sealed container, outdoors.

• The vibrations of your vacuum cleaner will help remaining fleas hatch out of their casing and once they have hatched, the adult fleas will be exposed to your insecticidal flea treatment.

Therefore, you will have to continue treating your entire house with insecticidal flea treatment to completely get rid of any existing fleas remaining in your house, as well as preventing those developing ones from continuing to reproduce.

Applying flea treatment to your pet alone only works when you were able to detect flea infestation at its very early stage. When it has been widely spread, it is best your entire house undergoes complete flea treatment. Armed with these flea facts you should now know how to get rid of them completely.

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