No More Fleas!

Getting rid of fleas on your dog alone does not treat the overall flea problem. During the flea cycle only about 5% of fleas are actually living on your dog or cat. The other 95% of fleas are living in your house or yard. That is why it is so important to get rid of the fleas in your house and on your dog at the same time.

Getting rid of fleas on your dog alone does not treat the overall flea problem. During the flea cycle only about 5% of fleas are actually living on your dog or cat. The other 95% of fleas are living in your house or yard. That is why it is so important to get rid of the fleas in your house and on your dog at the same time.

For example: You wash your dog in a flea rinse today and you kill 20 fleas that are living on your dog. That means that there are still approximately 380 fleas in the egg, larvae and pupae stage, developing in your house waiting to hop back on your dog. (See the flea cycle chart at the bottom of this page)

How do I get rid of fleas?

- Treating the Flea Problem

Set aside a couple of hours to tackle the problem as it’s not a five minute quick fix job. You will be treating your pet and your pet’s environment for fleas.

It is important to treat all of your pets and your home on the same day. It is pointless to treat your house and not your pets, and it is also pointless to treat you pet and not your house as each one will re-infest the other if not treated simultaneously.

What you need to get started

Step 1 – Get rid of the flea infestation in the house

The first step is to vacuum. As previously mentioned only 5% of the fleas are living on your pet and that the other 95% are living in your house or yard. If you have dogs that live inside or regularly come inside the house you need to get rid of the vast majority of the fleas quickly and easily. You can achieve this by vacuuming them up.

Listed below is what you are vacuuming up

Flea EGGS

Fleas that are living on your dog lay eggs.
The eggs drop off your pet and land on your carpet or floor.

Flea LARVAE

The eggs hatch and become larvae.

These little worm like creatures have hair structures which act like legs and enable them to move around.

Flea PUPAE

After a while the larvae pupate. This means that they spin a cocoon around themselves and begin a change. In the cocoon they are changing into adult fleas. It is similar to a caterpillar which spins a cocoon and then emerges as a butterfly. However it is an adult flea that will emerge from this cocoon.

*Important Fact*

While the flea is in the pupal stage (above) it is impervious to insecticides. The cocoon is waterproof and no insecticides can get in to kill the developing flea. This is the reason you must vacuum up as many of these pupae as possible. The vibrations from vacuuming also stimulates the fleas to emerge from their cocoons and they will be exposed to the insecticide that will be used.

Where to Vacuum

Flea eggs fall randomly wherever your dog or cat goes, but once the eggs hatch they become larvae and have hair like bristles on the outside of their body that enable them to move around. This allows them to move to places they feel most comfortable in. They like to get out of the light and into crevices, so when you vacuum pay lots of attention to places such as near base boards, cracks in floorboards and under furniture, beds and rugs.

Step 2 –

Spraying Insecticide

It is difficult to suggest flea control products worldwide as insecticide laws vary from country to country. Below are a few suggestions of products that contain IGR.

Precor 2000 Plus (US & Canada)
Hartz 4 in 1 Flea Fogger (US & Canada)
IG Regulator (US & Canada)
Buy online or on ebay or check your pet store for availability.
Mortein Flea Bomb (Australia) Can be bought in most supermarkets.

What is IGR?

IGR is short for Insect Growth Regulator. IGR acts as Birth Control for Fleas. It is a protein that works on the developing flea eggs and larvae and stops fleas from developing to maturity so they cannot reproduce.