Fleas & Your Dog

You enjoyed the walk in the woods with your trusty sidekick, Rover, and he loved chasing squirrels and other varmints! The next day, Rover was scratching like crazy and had obviously encountered critters in the woods. It’s likely he collected some fleas while enjoying the outdoors and now is suffering the consequences. What can you do?

Let’s take a short look at their habits.

Fleas are compressed laterally so they are essentially little flat insects that are difficult to remove by hand from a pet’s coat.

The most common flea is the cat flea. A few fleas on dogs or cats cause little harm unless the animal becomes allergic to substances in flea saliva. But if you’re like us, a few fleas in the house pose a dilemma few want to deal with!

In the Home

Here are some cleaning tips that will help us do a better job for you. First, thoroughly and regularly clean areas where you find adult fleas, flea larvae, and flea eggs. Vacuum floors, rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, and crevices around baseboards and cabinets daily to remove flea eggs, larvae, and adults. Vacuuming is very effective in killing larvae in the carpet, picking up adults, and stimulating preemerged adults to leave their cocoons. Launder pet bedding in hot, soapy water at least once a week. Thoroughly clean items you bring into the building, such as used carpets or upholstered furniture to prevent these from being a source of flea infestation. Be sure to dispose of the vacuumed material outside in the trash.

As for treatment on the pet, use a spot-on or a systemic oral treatment available from veterinarians or online. Bathing and brushing your dog regularly will help spot fleas!

While we can’t recommend treatment products for your dog, this site has some reasonable suggestions: http://everydayroots.com/flea-remedies

Since more than three-quarters of a flea’s life is spent somewhere other than on the host animal, it is not adequate to treat only the host; it is important also to treat the host’s environment. That’s where DA Exterminating comes in – so if you suspect fleas in your home, give us a call today. 800-650-PEST.