Pet professionals such as the groomers (who deal with dozens of flea-infested animals every day) and breeders (who keep puppies as well as adults), don't have fleas in their own homes. What do they know that you don't know?
Never Underestimate the Opposing Force......
Fleas are designed to be uncrushable and unfathomable. And they have to be dealt with in a ruthless manner.
Fleas are hardy and determined as well. They CAN be killed, but their resilience and 4-stage life-cycle make it more difficult than most people want to believe. Additionally, the fact that fleas don't spend most of their time on the pet makes the problem of locating them and wiping them out even harder.
Fleas can jump over 6 feet, and they enter the house by any carrier available: pets and humans. White clothing, socks, and sneakers excite and invite them right into the living room where they remain unseen and happily reproducing without your ever knowing until the problem is advanced. Treat your entire square footage indoors including garages, outbuildings, and doghouses or kennels.
Fleas seem to have an incredible jumping ability for two reasons. Firstly, it's because they're so small, which in turn means they are less effected by gravity. If you scaled one up to the size of a human, their jumping would be much less impressive.
Secondly, and probably more obvious, is that the flea has better legs for jumping than most creatures. Their hind leg contains 'resilin' (an elastic protein) which stores energy when it bends its legs, so when it jumps, the stored energy in the 'elastic' is released, and catapults the flea upwards.
You simply cannot allow a single flea to survive in your or your pet's, environment if you want to live a life free of allergies, disease, and irritation.
Fleas are hardy and determined and designed to be uncrushable and unfathomable. And they have to be dealt with in a ruthless manner.
You MUST treat the area outdoors with just as much determination as you treat the pets and your home.
If you neglect just ONE place in your home, yard, car, garage, or any place else you and your pet frequent, fleas will ultimately come back to occupy all of these locations and more. Give them an inch and they will take a mile applies here and more.
Some Spot Treatments applied only once a month, will actually repel a significant number of fleas--a great benefit to the allergic pet that cannot tolerate even one bite. The best will also help prevent re-infestation by rendering the fleas unable to reproduce.
But, be careful. More expensive is not always more efficient. The battle against fleas is matched only by the battle of the giant manufacturers to get every dollar out of their spot-on products. Great strides are being made this year in lowering cost AND in treating CATS.
Flea and Tick Shampoos kill fleas on contact and give your pets instant relief. They represent the best of two worlds clean and flea-free. Unfortunately, most flea shampoos contain detergent that remove the very oil layer that the Spot On treatments bond to. If you bathe your dog, it is best to wait three days for the oil layer to regenerate before reapplying the Frontline, Advantage or Advantix.
Please understand the wait period between shampoo and applying flea treatment is crucial...spot treatment only works when there are body oils present. I can't begin to tell you how much money I threw away, believe me it wasn't intentional! Living in a warm humid climate can make you desperate at times. Every time I would buy the spot on treatment I can honestly say NO ONE but NO ONE mentioned this little tid bit of information. For whatever reason they just neglect to tell you.
The Fleas on your pet may be just the tip of the infestation iceberg. Fleas can and do reproduce inside all year long.
The average flea life cycle in the home is about 21 days, and has 4 stages...
50 % Eggs: Eggs hatch in 1 to 10 days
35 % Larvae; This stage can last 5 to 11 days
10 % Pupae: Can survive up to 174 days
5 % Adult Fleas: Can live up to 120 days plus
THEY CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT A HOST FOR MONTHS.
Some pros and cons of other products you can use:
Flea Powders....easy and convenient to use, but they often present problems with dry skin.
Flea Collars....possible weapon in the battle, but not all collars are created equal. Many have harsh and potentially dangerous chemicals, and their placement around the neck can lead to serious compromise of the nervous system if improperly used or mixed with other toxic agents.
Essential Oils....specially formulated to repel fleas and ticks without using insecticides. Scents that are known to work; citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and lavender. These are repellents, not an insecticide,
Oils can be found in all natural herb specialty shops or health food stores.
Flea Sprays for your home...easiest and often most effective treatments.Effective on adult fleas and eggs. Please read all instructions before use. Some of them are so strong they may require you and your pets to vacate the premises for a few hours.
Foggers....Use in conjunction with aerosol sprays as the foggers do not go under furniture. Foggers will only penetrate the open areas of your home. Please read complete instructions before using.
Powders....May contain Boric Acid and other ingredients. Pretty effective on carpeting and furniture but breathing in the residual dust left on carpets may cause harm to your pets who would normally lie on it.
When treating your home and yard try to find a product that contains an inhibitor or regulator to stop the reproduction process otherwise you may end up starting the treatment process all over again from scratch....arghhhhhhh!
Treating the grounds around your property is equally important to your pets and you. When spraying your yard also spray vertically up to 3 feet on trees, bushes and your house to insure against ticks.
Unlike fleas who jump on their prey, ticks fall onto theirs. Both the flea and tick can cause troublesome or serious illnesses in animals and in humans; which I'll get into at a later time.
Stop by lil Country Paws eCrater Store to see all the new items we have added for your pets. We have acquired a new supplier and will be adding new items each week, so please stop by often.
