How to Keep Dog Fleas Under Control - part 1

Posted by Clare Bristow

dog-flea-picture You usually become aware of the need for dog flea control once your dog has fleas. Your first job is to to get rid of the existing fleas and then maintain a regular flea prevention program.

There are four steps to a flea control program: eliminate fleas from inside the house; eliminate fleas outside the house; remove fleas from your dog; and, prevent fleas returning to your house and pet. I am going to look at the first two today.

It appears an involved procedure to rid your home from such a small parasite, but once you understand the life cycle of the flea you can see why each of the 4 steps is important.

Lifecycle of the flea - there are 4 stages and the whole cycle can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months depending on the environmental conditions.

Egg - up to 50 eggs a day may be laid by the adult female flea in your dog's coat. The eggs are not designed to stay on your dog's coat and will fall onto the carpet, your dog's bedding, your bed, the soil outside etc.
The egg will hatch anytime within two days to a few weeks of being laid - eggs hatch more quickly in warm, humid conditions - and the flea larva will emerge.
Larva - flea larva live off [tag]flea dirt[/tag] and any other organic matter that is in your carpet, dog's bedding, yard etc. Given sufficient food and a warm environment the lava will spin a cocoon within 5 to 18 days of hatching.
Pupa - the flea can lie dormant in its cocoon for months, even years.
What stimulates the adult flea to emerge is the detection of vibrations, increased carbon dioxide levels and a warming of the environment - the presence of your dog will trigger all these stimuli.
Adult flea - when the flea emerges from its cocoon it will find your dog within seconds and start feeding on his blood within hours of emerging from the cocoon. The flea will start to breed as soon as possible, and the life cycle starts over again.

How to eliminate fleas from inside your house

Start by moving all your dog's toys, bedding, your bedding and everything else your dog lies on to one place and thoroughly wash them, preferably with hot soapy water. If you can see that the items are infested with fleas you might want to consider destroying them - put the items into a plastic dustbin bag and securely seal the bag.

Vacuum the house thoroughly to pick up as many of the eggs, larvae and pupae as you can. You'll probably eliminate 50% this way, and you'll also be removing the food source the larvae rely on. Remove, seal and destroy the vacuum bags as soon as you've finished vacuuming.

Eliminate the remaining eggs and larvae by using a spray or fogger in the house. To be effective these need to contain an adulticide (for example, permethrin) to kill the adult fleas and an insect growth regulator (for example, methoprene). The pupae are not destroyed by insecticides and you will need to encourage them to pupate in order to eliminate them.

Sprays are effective because you can control where the product is applied to, and you can pay particular attention to the areas where your dog lies. Foggers are set off in the center of the room and so are less targeted in their coverage; the advantgae of using a fogger is that you inhale less of the product as you can leave the room as soon as it's activated. Your vet will be able to help you select the appropriate products to use.

When using sprays and foggers pay close attention to the instructions for use and ensure all pets and family are outside the house when the product is applied. Follow the product instructions as to when it's safe to return to the house - it's usually a few hours after the product has been applied.

After spraying or fogging continue to vacuum daily for a couple of weeks as this encourage the pupae to emerge from the safety of their cocoons, ingest the insecticide and die.

Don't forget to treat all the rooms in your house that your dog uses, plus dog carriers, your car and any other place your dog spends time.

How to eliminate fleas from outside your house

Fleas like warm, shady and moist conditions so focus your attention on these areas, and where your dog spends his time when he is outside.

Remove all rubbish and debris form these areas and then scrub dog kennels, dogruns, patios and other hard surfaces your dog uses.

Finally, apply an outdoor insecticide that will kill eggs, larvae and adult fleas. Your vet will be able to recommend a suitable product - the active ingredient is likely to be Pyriproxifen rather than Methoprene because it lasts longer outdoors.

In part 2 tomorrow I'll look at how to remove fleas from your dog and what you need to do to maintain an ongoing dog flea control program.

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Keywords: dog flea, dog flea control, dog flea picture, flea dirt, how to get rid of flea on my dog

Filed Under Parasites - Fleas and Ticks, Blog

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Comments

2 Responses to “How to Keep Dog Fleas Under Control - part 1”

flea and tick on January 31st, 2008 4:00 pm

Thanks for the flea and tick control tips! I will be saving this page to my favorites for sure.
Misti - Pet Owner who Supports Natural Flea Control on June 25th, 2009 6:59 pm

You gave some good tips for getting rid of fleas in your home, however, I'd like to add some additional advice, please… While you did say to wash your pet's bedding and any other linens your pet has been on, you didn't mention one should also wash their pet's bedding and everything else their pet has been on every day for at least one week. Sometimes all fleas may not die right away, so it's not a bad idea to do this daily for at least one week.

In addition to vacuuming, steam cleaning the carpets will also help.

Finally, I'd also recommend natural flea killers over any flea killers with chemicals, because the chemicals can linger and be harmful to both the pet and humans, especially pets and humans who suffer from allergies.