Flea Control

While flea bites mainly cause minor irritation, excessive scratching can lead to secondary infections. Rarely, fleas may transmit diseases like typhus or plague in extreme cases. Maintaining flea prevention helps avoid these risks.

Yes, in rare instances fleas can transmit bacterial diseases like murine typhus or even plague. However for most pets and people, the disease risk is very low. The bigger concern is flea allergy dermatitis triggered by bites.

Successfully eliminating fleas involves treating both the pet host and home environment simultaneously with proper products. This may require repeat applications over weeks to kill newly emerged fleas until they are fully gone. Follow all label directions carefully.

Typically we recommend maintenance flea treatments for pets about every 3 months. For homes, vacuuming and scheduled pest control appointments help keep populations down. Frequency depends on the extent of original infestations and risk of reintroducing fleas.

Flea prevention is easier than eradication! Using reliable monthly flea/tick medication on pets, restricting wildlife access, regular lawn/home pest treatments, thorough vacuuming and keeping vegetation trimmed back are proactive steps people can take to help avoid infestations.

Severe flea cases often warrant professional pest control to access strong insecticides and implement integrated home-and-pet solutions. But smaller infestations can be managed with thorough vacuuming, flea baths/medication, and home remedies if applied diligently at the first signs.

Natural options like diatomaceous earth, lemon-scented sprays or cedar chips/blocks can help deter fleas without harsh chemicals. While not always 100% effective alone, combining these with vacuuming, grooming and other nontoxic steps can control light flea populations.

Fleas thrive in areas of high humidity and access to organic debris. Fixing any moisture issues, clearing clutter/leaf litter around the home, and treating lawns helps discourage infestations by depriving fleas of hospitable habitat. Keeping grass short and bushes trimmed also reduces flea habitats.

The common cat flea actually infests both feline and canine hosts despite the name. Various other fleas occasionally target unique species but often still spread between mammal pets living closely. So applying simultaneous topical treatments to all household pets is important.

You may continue seeing some adult fleas for a few weeks post-treatment as they emerge from protected pupal stages in the environment before finally dying off. Sticking diligently to monthly treatments and thorough home vacuuming ensures all fleas are eliminated.

Vacuuming removes many flea eggs and larvae while stimulating emergence of pupae as adults where insecticides can then effectively kill them. So while the vacuum itself doesn’t kill fleas immediately, it’s an integral part of the eradication process.

Flea eggs and larvae need very high humidity levels to survive without a host for more than about two weeks at most. Frequent vacuuming of carpets and upholstered areas where fleas drop off pets helps continuously remove developing fleas.

Flea pupae have tough cocoons protecting them from pesticides, waiting for signals that a host is near to emerge. Luckily vacuuming and cleaning stimulates them to become adults, where insecticides or desiccants like diatomaceous earth can then exterminate fleas before they reproduce again.