Are you itchy yet? When we hear “Fleas in exam room 2” everyone at work starts scratching. And with summer around the corner it seemed like a great topic. If anyone has ever dealt with fleas before, you already know that they are not easy to get rid of. And this is because of their long life cycle.
What many people don’t realize is that when you find adult fleas on your pet, the bigger issue is in your yard or house. This is because the eggs which the adults lay, end up in the environment. So if you wash your dog with a flea shampoo, you will get rid of the adult fleas currently on them, but there are hundreds or thousands of eggs which have already been laid in their living environment.
This is why your veterinarian will recommend a monthly preventative. Because it’s a lot easier to prevent fleas, than it is to get rid of them. And many of the preventatives also contain ingredients which will prevent the flea eggs from hatching. So even if your pet is exposed to fleas, the fleas will either die before they have a chance to lay new eggs, or the eggs will not be able to enter the next stage of the life cycle.
But why does this life cycle make it hard to eliminate fleas in the house?
Flea Life Cycle
While your beloved cat or dog is sleeping on the couch or your pillow, those adult fleas are laying eggs. Hundreds of them. And they don’t stay on the pet, they fall off in to their surrounding environment. Typically in a house with fleas, the highest number of eggs and larvae will be found in the areas where the pet spent most of their time. Such as on their dog bed, below their favorite couch cushion, and also down within the carpet fibers or between the floorboards. So bathing your pet once and thinking this nightmare is over is going to leave you extremely disappointed.
So let’s say you’re more proactive. You go to the store and purchase one of the monthly preventatives available (please ask your vet what they would recommend for your pet). That’s great, and you’re a little closer to getting rid of the problem. But if you forget to re-apply it the second month, you’re going to be back where you started. And that’s because some of those eggs that are down in your carpet, may not hatch for several months. Usually I stress to owners to commit to 3 months of prevention. Although, honestly, year round prevention is best.
Thankfully they don’t infest people. But if you find a flea on your pet a week after you used a recommended product, that’s because one of those eggs hatched and completed it’s life cycle to an adult. A monthly product is not going to stop the flea eggs already present from hatching in to larvae. If you used a good safe product appropriately, it will kill that flea and make sure it doesn’t lay more eggs. Doesn’t make it any more pleasant to find a flea after 2 months of dealing with them, but it’s not a failure of the product. It’s just a slow process to complete elimination.
Ideally what happens is the egg hatches in to a larvae and eventually develops in to an adult flea. The adult jumps on your dog and is then killed by whatever oral or topical product you gave to your pet. The flea then dies. This continues to happen over the next 3 months, with progressively lower numbers of flea eggs hatching until they are completely eliminated.
Environmental Control
You also need to get all pets in the house on to a flea preventative. If you only use something on the dogs, and not your indoor only cat, they will be a source of continued infestation.
Thankfully there are also some things you can do to reduce the number of eggs and larvae in the environment. Wash any blankets or bedding with hot water. Vacuum often but be sure to use a disposable vacuum bag.
You can also consider using a stronger environmental cleaner. And while there are over the counter “flea bombs” I will usually recommend a licensed exterminator to be safe.
As the weather warms up and we all spend more time outdoors, remember to use your preventatives. Because even if you’ve never seen a flea before, it’s not a quick fix once your pet has them.
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