Although very small, fleas can wreak havoc on your pets and your home. Fleas usually come from other flea-infested animals—either wildlife, like possums and raccoons, or stray dogs and cats. Female fleas lay eggs, which then develop into adults and live and thrive in your yard or the environment where your dog or cat plays.

Once infested with these blood-sucking insects, your pet will suffer from itchiness and could even develop flea allergies. Fleas inject saliva into your pet’s skin, causing an allergic reaction which prompts the animal to scratch the bite. Tapeworm infections are also caused when your pet ingests a flea. Tapeworms live in the small intestine of the animal.

Tips for Controlling Flea Infestation

If you haven’t been using an effective flea preventative on a year-round basis and you suddenly find your home or pet infested with fleas:

1. Go to your veterinarian and get a minimum of three to four months of prevention for each animal. It is ideal if your pet is treated year-round, but expect to treat for a minimum of three months to get an infestation under control. Do not expect over-the-counter treatments to be effective. You get what you pay for when it comes to flea prevention.
2. After making sure that you know how to apply the preventative correctly, treat each of your pets.
3. Get your house treated. You can either purchase area sprays and flea bombs or get the house treated by an exterminator. This step is extremely important. Around 90% of your infestation is not on your pet, but in the larval or egg form in your carpet or other areas of the house. If you don’t treat your house multiple times you will have the egg and larval forms hatch out and you will be back to square one.
4. Repeat again for the next two months.
5. Once you have the infestation under control, prevent a recurrence of the problem by keeping your pets on year-round flea and tick prevention.