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Has Your New Pet Brought Fleas Into Your Home?
Did you recently adopt a new dog or cat? You might have gotten more than you bargained for if your new fur baby brought fleas into your home. While fleas can be a common problem at pet shelter, breeder, and rescue organizations, you can keep your home (and your pet) safe and flea-free.
Fleas on Your Pet – How To Tell
Fleas are ectoparasites that prefer to live on hairy animals and which need blood to survive. Their bites can cause severe itching and scratching for your pet and you. Flea bites are also dangerous as they can spread bacterial disease to humans and heartworm and tapeworm in pets.
It can be hard to tell if your pet has fleas because fleas are tiny— just a small pepper-like brownish-black dot. Trying to search your pet’s coat for these tiny invaders can be difficult. Many times, pet owners first know their pet has fleas when they give the pet a bath. The flea dirt will often color the water reddish-brown. If you can’t bathe your pet, do a grooming session and collect some hair onto a white piece of paper. Smear any particles of dirt onto the paper. If the smear looks red or reddish-brown, it’s likely flea dirt.
Your vet will help you decide on the correct flea treatment and prevention program for your cat or dog. Follow their instructions to help your pet regain health and be flea free. Then, it’s time to treat your home.
Treating Fleas in Your Home
It is essential to treat your home as well as your pet for fleas. If you discover your pet has fleas (or had them at the shelter, breeder, or rescue facility where you adopted), it’s probable your home now has fleas. While fleas are wingless, they are powerful jumpers. Fleas from your pet can easily spread to bedding, furniture and carpets in your home. Once they find a cozy home, fleas will reproduce and will deposit more eggs, larvae and cocoons throughout your house. The invaders will them look for their next host to bite— you, your children, and your pet.
Treating your home for fleas should be a team effort with your pest control professional. Book an appointment for your pest professional to come to your home. In preparation for that visit, you should:
Wash all pet bedding in hot water.
Vacuum all carpeting and floors, including under furniture and beds.
Vacuum all upholstered furniture.
Empty the vacuum container (or place the disposable vacuum bag) into a container outside your home. Wash the reusable vacuum container in hot soapy water.
Mop wood and tile floors.
Strip all bed linens, wash in hot, soapy water and dry on high heat.
Pick up all pet and child toys and store them off of floors.
Remove all pet feeding and watering stations.
Cover and store any open food containers, dishes, and utensils.
Once you have met the pest professional at your home, leave the home (and take your pets with you). Return several hours later after the treatment has dried.
What Happens During a Flea Control Visit?
During a flea control visit from Shoreline Pest Solutions, our certified professional will treat your home with a specially formulated flea control treatment. This treatment is applied in low concentrations that are effective against fleas but do not pose a threat to people or pets when applied properly.
The treatment will kill adult fleas and developing fleas almost immediately. It will also interrupt the development of flea larvae. The product is designed to continue working for weeks. As pre-adult fleas emerge about seven to ten days later, the product will also kill them. Daily vacuuming will help eliminate any remaining adult fleas.
A flea infestation can happen even in well-kept homes. A pest control professional will do a thorough inspection to identify where the infestation is and provide you with treatment options and recommendations for preventing their return.
Having trouble with fleas? Don’t go it alone. Shoreline Pest Solutions in Harleysville can help. Give us a call at 215-767-5730 or contact us online.
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