If you’re like most pet parents, keeping pests off your dog is a priority. After all, fleas can bite your dog and other pets in your compound, causing discomfort and irritation. If left untreated, fleas can transmit bacterial infections and tapeworms.
Besides taking steps to eliminate adult fleas, pet parents need to find ways to destroy eggs, larvae, and pupae that might be somewhere in the compound. Failure to control fleas in their early stages can make the infestations add up very quickly, making it hard to control.
Continue reading to learn how to keep your dog from a flea infestation during the flea season.
Understanding Fleas
Fleas are external parasites that are common in both cats and dogs. Adult fleas can feed about fifteen times their body weight in blood everyday. Your dog will become infested if an adult flea jumps on the animal.
Fleas can jump up to 6 inches vertically, meaning they can quickly jump onto a passing pet. Your dog is at a higher risk of having a flea infestation if they visit the kennels or interact with stray cats or other dogs.
Since adult fleas spend most of their time on the pets, treating your pet against a flea infestation is the single most effective way to get rid of fleas in your compound. Even so, special attention should be given to the carpeting, furniture, and any other areas that your dog spends most of their time as they may contain eggs that would hatch into larvae.
To that end, here are some steps you can take to protect your dog from a flea infestation:
Treat Your Dog against a Flea Infestation
As a responsible pet parent, you may be wondering how to protect your dog during the flea season. This will be the case especially if you’ve not observed the best flea infestation plan. Topical treatments and tablets are some of the most effective flea prevention techniques.
Besides killing adult fleas, they can destroy eggs and larvae as well. This way, both your pets and home will be free from fleas.
Failure to take flea preventive measures, especially during the winter months, can make you overwhelmed when the flea season comes. You shouldn’t worry, though. You can treat your dog against fleas using effective medications like Capstar.
Vets often recommend flea killers like Capstar as they are effective in treating a flea infestation. Capstar will start killing fleas after 30 minutes of administering and will continue doing so up to 24 – 48 hours. You can also administer Capstar to puppies weighing above 2.2 pounds.
Treat the Flea Dens
Besides treating your dog against a flea infestation, it’s also essential to treat the flea dens. A flea den occurs when a flea-infested animal rests in a place and leaves fleas and eggs behind.
Your dog might be attracted to these places and are most likely to pick fleas from there. Ensure to treat these places so that you can stop the fleas from breeding.
Clean Your Home Thoroughly
While the presence of fleas in your home isn’t a sign of dirt, you can significantly reduce flea infestation by paying much attention to specific areas in your home. The flea eggs, larvae, and pupae often stay in through rugs or carpeting. Vacuuming them more often will significantly help reduce a flea infestation.
Fleas don’t live in high-traffic areas, so ensure to vacuum areas under the furniture, baseboards, under the cushions, and any other sites that your dog spends most of their time.
Extend Flea Treatment to Other Pets as Well
One of the best ways to prevent flea re-infestation is by treating all pets in your household. Treating your dog only and no other pets can mean that the flea will still infest your canine friend and your house too. Even if you’ve fleas on your dog only, extend the treatment to other pets in your household as well.
Your dog is also at risk of getting a re-infestation at the kennel or when moving through neighborhoods. Wildlife, such as raccoons and opossum, can also be a source of fleas in outdoor environments.
The best way to keep fleas off your dog during the flea season is to ensure that you have treated them with an effective flea preventive regimen. It’s also advisable to treat the yard if your pets spend most of their time outside. If possible, walk through the yard while wearing a white athletic sock to determine whether the yard is flea-infested.
If you see any signs of adult fleas, you should aim to treat the area immediately. As when treating your house, aim at treating areas where pets sleep or rest in the yard.