The key to winning any battle, including one against fleas, is understanding your enemy. Fleas prefer temperatures around 65-80 oF, and humidity levels around 75-85%, which means you’ll most likely see them during the summer months. Although we tend to think fleas as being only on your pet but flea eggs and larva develop in the surrounding environment. This means you'll need to treat your pet and the area where he or she roams.
Fleas are pesky when they’re inside a home, but controlling fleas outside poses a much larger problem due to chemical pesticide restrictions and wildlife reintroducing fleas to a clean lawn. Luckily for pet owners, outside fleas will die off as temperatures drop in the fall. So how do you manage the fleas on your pet and in your house?
There are different options to manage fleas on your pet, including spot-on treatments, shampoos, dusts, sprays, and prescription medicines. Be sure to consider using a product that fights all life stages of fleas. Adult fleas will lay their eggs on your pet, which then fall off and stay in the environment. By using a treatment that works on all life stages, you decrease the chance of adding more fleas to the area. When using spot-on topical treatments, it is important to make contact with your pet’s skin. These treatments need to be absorbed through the skin to be effective. Fleas like to live directly on the skin or very close to it, which is why shampoos need the opportunity to soak into the pet’s coat and to make contact with the fleas.
If you’ve recently won the war or haven’t experienced the frustration of a flea infestation, take it from us, you want to put your pet on a preventative flea control schedule and now is the time to do it. Keep your pets flea-free next spring and summer by starting now!
