Fleas are parasites, feeding directly on humans or other warm blooded animals. Usually you or your pet serves as these hosts. A flea can jump 7 to 8 inches vertically and 14 to 16 inches horizontally. A skin reaction to a flea bite appears as a slightly raised and red itchy spot. Sometimes these sores bleed. Fleas usually require warm and humid conditions to develop.

The first step in ridding the home and yard of fleas is to apply a flea and tick preventative to all the dogs and cats in the home. If ticks are not a problem in your area then you can get by with flea preventative only, but if you live in an area with a lot of ticks then consider using a flea and tick combo preventative.

Clean pet bedding thoroughly. Wash it in hot water to kill the fleas and their eggs and dry it in full sunshine if possible or in the dryer on the hottest setting possible. The secret to killing the fleas is not really the temperature of the water, but how long it stays in the suds. A minimum of 15-20 minutes are needed for the detergent to break down their waxy coating so that they will dehydrate and die. Also sweep and mop the pet’s sleeping and resting area thoroughly. The pet’s area should be kept clean regularly, at least once a week.

Essential Herbal Oils are nature’s repellants: they ward off unwanted hitchhikers. Most common ingredients are citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and lavender. Essential Oils are specially formulated to repel fleas and ticks without using insecticides. They are great for misting your dog’s legs (and your own) any time that you go out where fleas would be likely to be found.. They are repellants, not insecticides. They can be found at most good health food stores.

Watch your pet for signs of flea trouble: excessive scratching and biting, especially around the tail and lower back, and possibly raw patches where the animal has been biting and scratching himself. Also watch for ‘flea debris’ (black, granular dried blood) and fleas themselves on your pet’s skin.

Vacuum your entire house paying particular attention to corners, dark crevices, under furniture, under beds, pet beds, rugs and especially around skirting boards. Put the nozzle attachment on your vacuum cleaner and thoroughly vacuum around all skirting boards and edges of fixtures.

The vibrations from vacuuming also stimulates the fleas to emerge from their cocoons and thus they will be exposed to the insecticide that will be used

The remaining larvae can be dealt with by having the carpets professionally steam-cleaned (the steam will kill every stage of flea except eggs). Make sure you warn the cleaners about the fleas and remove infested animals.

Alternatively, you can shampoo the carpet with insecticidal carpet shampoo or have a pest control professional apply an infrared heat treatment to the carpet, which kills all stages of flea.

Combing out fleas is a temporary measure. Your best bet is to kill the fleas that are present on your pet and kill those that hop aboard later. I know of two great products, Frontline and Advantage that not only get rid of fleas but keep them from coming back for at least three weeks. However, once the flea infestation in your home is under control, it might take a couple more treatments to kill the remaining fleas and those that hatch.

Take a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (found in the laundry soap section at the supermarket), poke holes in the top of the box, sprinkle on the carpets as you would any carpet powder. Take a broom and brush the powder down into the carpet. Borax will kill the fleas by dehydrating them.

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