How to get rid of cat fleas in the house

How to get rid of cat fleas in the house

Highly effective flea control solutions that can eliminate fleas from our pets and homes can still be extremely difficult given the problems many pet owners face in eliminating these flea infestations

This post is designed to assist you the pet owner in your attempts to eliminate these flea infestations.

Fleas are a common and prevalent parasite for dogs and cats. They are voracious blood feeders consuming up to 15 times their body weight in blood daily and these female fleas use that blood to produce 40 to 50 eggs each day.

So it does not take very long before a flea infestation can get completely out of hand.

These fleas can cause allergic skin disease, transmitted tapeworms and produce anemia in our pets.

It is important for the health and well-being of our pets that we eliminate these harmful parasites.

The first step in battling these harmful blood sucking parasites is an effective flea treatment that can easily be ordered online from AMAZON. Sometimes a quick trip to your veterinarian or their staff can recommend the best flea product to meet your pets needs, give advice concerning additional control measures if they are needed and provide you information on what to expect once the product is administered.

Flea control starts with a physical exam and a thorough history this will aid your veterinarian in determining the severity of the infestation allow assessment of clinical disease associated with the flea infestation and assist in the design of the overall control program once a determination has been made.

It is important to understand the goals of a flea control program,the first goal is rather obvious in that we must kill the fleas that are currently biting and feeding on your dog or cat.

This is important as we must relieve the pet of its current discomfort. The second goal that we must achieve is to eliminate the infestation in the environment somewhere in the home or yard.

There are immature flea life stages namely:

1. Flea eggs
2. Flea larvae
3. Flea pupae

Thes three flea lifecycles are continually developing into new adult fleas that are constantly reinfestation troll .

Then we must also prevent this from happening again, so we must prevent fleas from reinfesting your pets in the future in order to achieve the first goal of flea control that is provide your pet relief from the existing fleas.

With proper administration of a flea product, which is essential for the rapid and prolonged kill of those fleas.

As pet owners, sometimes we often do not understand how important it is to properly administer a flea product.

There are also techniques to keep in mind, so the correct technique should be explained and demonstrated to make sure that as a pet owner you remember everything you need to correctly the flea treatment.

Getting rid of fleas and the administration of flea treatment varies depending upon the product that is selected.

That is why it is important to understand that vet recommended products are going to kill all the fleas that are currently on the pet but may take from four hours or some products or as long as 24 hours with others before all the existing fleas are dead.

Many of these flea products not only kill the fleas that are currently on the dog or cat but also provide for prolonged residual activity often killing fleas for up to one month.

In addition some products can also provide prolonged activity against plagues by killing the eggs or preventing eggs from developing or being laid.

It is important to understand how these monthly products are going to help you as a pet owner achieve your second goal to flea control that is preventing further infestations of immature fleas in the environment while driving the current infestation to extinction.

As a pet owner trying to get rid your home of fleas you must understand that it often takes several weeks to completely eliminate a flea infestation.

That is because all flea infestations of dogs and cats originated from a flea-infested environment and it takes time to eradicate the immature stages living in the carpet or outdoors.

how does an environment become infested

Well, fleas lay eggs from which larvae hatch and then these larvae spin cocoons in which they develop into pupae and then later it merges fleas.

This cycle can take as little as two weeks or as long as several months.

Well, you need to have a basic understanding of the flea lifecycle there are a few other very important aspects of flea biology that can have a direct impact upon the success or failure in the battle against fleas.

First there is one important flea species that blood-sucking both dogs and cats. The cat flea tennis if a ladies felis yes the flea species that infest cats is the same flea species that infest dogs, and not understanding this aspect of flea biology can directly lead to control failure in the multiple pet households.

Therefore every dog and every cat in that house must be treated every month for at least three to four months if we are going to be successful.

The reason every pet must be treated is that once these fleas jump on a dog or cat they will feed, mate and female fleas will begin laying eggs within 24 hours then within a few days each female flea will produce 40 to 50 eggs every day.

Now with hundreds and potentially thousands of eggs being deposited into the home or yard, if a single monthly dose is missed on a single pet, flea control is likely to fail because of the flea eggs dropping off the untreated pet.

So as an example we can’t just treat the scratching dog we must also treat the cat that may not appear to have a problem but does, in fact, have fleas.

Yes the eggs are laid in the hair coat of the pet, and this is also why it is a myth that infesting dogs and cats jump off to lay their eggs and cracks and crevices the eggs are laid in the hair coat and then roll out of the hair coat and drop off into the carpet or outdoors, therefore, it is a flea infested pet that distributes the eggs.

In fact think of a flea infested pet as a living salt shaker, every place the pet has access these white flea eggs are being deposited and the places pet spend most of their time is where most of those eggs are going to be deposited this means there are often areas in and around the home where the environmental infestations are more severe because that is where the pet spent most of its time resting or sleeping.

With that in mind, next to the bed, next to or on the couch, on throw rugs or pet bedding and outdoors under porches bushes and crawl spaces as obvious places for severe flea infestation in your home.

Not only is the flea infested pet a living salt shaker but in addition certain wildlife species such as opossums raccoons foxes and coyotes commonly carry fleas.

It’s a known fact that cat play outdoor and of course stray dogs and cats as these animals move to the neighborhood and our yards.

Flea eggs are dropping off these animals and this is particularly important in shaded protected habitats where the eggs and larvae are likely to survive and develop into adult fleas.

Such places like under bushes shrubs porches and crawl spaces, these flea eggs will within a few days develop into larvae then in a week or two these larvae spin a cocoon and develop into pupae and then in a few more weeks that pupae develop into fleas which emerge from the cocoons and jump on our pets or occasionally people as we move through our yards or the neighborhood.

Your dog or cat did not acquire fleas because fleas jumped off another dog or cat the fleas on your dog or cat and the fleas that are biting you in your home came from pupae which came from larvae which came from eggs laid by those female fleas approximately three to eight weeks ago by the time you first notice fleas in your house or on your pet.

There have been immature stages developing in the house or outdoors for about one to two months so remember if there are fleas on your dog or cat there are flea eggs larvae pupae and emerging fleas somewhere in your carpet or outdoors.

Supposedly, if a flea product has been correctly administered to all the dogs and cats in your home, what is going to happen once you get back to the house first it is important to remember that back in the home or shaded areas of the yard there are immature flea stages developing and fleas emerging continuously to reinfest your pet.

So here is how we eliminate the environmental infestation, what you have to attempt to accomplish is to dry fleas to extinction in the home and surrounding outdoor areas by preventing those fleas from laying eggs.

By attempting to kill fleas before they can lay eggs or killing any eggs that they might produce requires proper administration of flea products to all dogs and cats every month. This means no more fleas reproducing and no more eggs dropping into the environment.

Therefore within two to five days, the eggs that were previously deposited have now developed into larvae and since no more flea eggs are falling off the treated pets there are no more eggs in the environment.

Then within one to two weeks, the larvae have now developed into pupae and two to six weeks later those pupae are now adult fleas.

As these fleas emerge and jump on the treated pets, they are being killed by the flea product therefore within three to eight weeks or occasionally longer all the fleas and the infestation will be gone.

Simply put, if fleas cannot reproduce they go into extinct in the home and yard but if you miss treating one pet, skip one monthly treatment or apply the product incorrectly this rule out fleas to survive and lay eggs and the infestation will continue.

Therefore it is important to remember that these products do not repel fleas and they do not kill fleas instantly, in fact, it often takes several hours maybe even up to a day after these fleas have jumped on the treated pets to be killed by that residual insecticide.

Therefore expect to see some fleas on the pets for at least the next three to eight weeks and occasionally longer as good as these new veterinary labeled flea products are there may still be a need for direct environmental control with some severe flea infestations your veterinarian or their staff can advise you of the best environmental control methods.

These may include washing pet bedding vacuuming carpets washing area rugs and the application of insecticides into the indoor or outdoor areas.

And this might also include the use of pumps praise directed aerosols total release aerosols commonly referred to as bombs or the services of a professional pest management specialist.

Now that the infestation is eradicated you should continue to treat your pet. Never forget that there are numerous animals that carry these fleas that move through the neighborhood and our yards such as stray dogs and cats or opossums raccoons foxes and coyotes.

These flea-infested animals are continuously depositing flea eggs in the outdoor environment which can start this problem all over again.

Therefore keep your pet or pets on lifelong flea control either seasonally or year-round this way when fleas that have developed from those eggs jump on the treated pet the fleas will either be killed or their eggs destroyed this will prevent future re-infestations of beloved furry members of your family