Getting Rid Of Fleas In Homes

Having fleas in your house is not the idea of a good time! So, what do you do to get rid of them?

There are commercial products available, some of them are very toxic and can be lethal to cats. The best course of action is to use products that kill the fleas but are harmless to you and your pets.

How To Rid Your Home Of Fleas

1. Vacuum. Daily, throught vacuum of all carpets and furniture goes a long way to create a flea free environment. Continual vacuuming of flea eggs effectively prevent the fleas from multiplying. Vacuuming has shown to be one of THE most effective strategies against fleas.

2. Safe To Use Chemicals. Use boric acid or diatomaceous earth on your carpets, upholstery and furniture. Some brand names are Flea Away (available at Whole Foods) Follow the directions on the container. The Flea Away product, (diatomaceous earth) can be mixed with water into a mister and misted on furniture etc.

Note: The Flea Away product may no longer be available.  Diatomaceous Earth-Food Grade-10 Pounds by: Nature's Wisdom  is a much more economical choice. Please check that any DE you use is "agricultural-grade".  DE purchased in a pool supply store may be TOXIC for this purpose.

Allow to dry and vacuum after 24-48 hours. Note: A small amount of DE goes a long way. Overuse can damage your vacumm cleaner.

We recommend:  Diatomaceous Earth-Food Grade-10 Pounds by: Nature's Wisdom . This bag will last a lifetime.
Apply with the Pest Pistol Mini Duster . 

3. Clean Floors. Mop all hard floors with hot water and bleach. Daily.

4. Kill Flea Eggs Using Your Dryer. Put all items such as dogs beds, bed spreads, etc, into the dryer. Run on hot for 10 minutes. This will effectively kill any flea eggs or larva.

Pick up any items carefully by their corners, folding the material inwards, as flea eggs roll off easily.

If you have a cat tree that may have eggs/adults or larvae, you can use a heating pad firmly planted on to the surface on "high" for 20-30 minutes, and then add a small amount of DE to crevices.

5. Cedar chips (We recommend Cedar Cide) are a real deterrent to fleas. If you suspect the fleas are coming in through a patio etc. sprinkle cedar shavings outside the patio. Now, Cedar contains chemicals that can be toxic to pets, especially cats. We recommend using Cedar only outside where your pets have access.

6.Treat Your Pet. If your pet has fleas, your pet has to be treated as well. Start out with using a flea comb. Submerging the live fleas into a glass with water and dish washing liquid to prevent their escape. Bathe your pet.  A small amount of DE can also be applied to the spine area and behind ears and neck.

While we avoid commercial flea preparations as much as possible since they all are toxic, if your pet is suffering from an infestation a commercial flea prep is probably in order.

Advantage seem to have less side effects than Frontline so we would start there. Remember that a flea prep designed for a dog can be lethal to a cat. Make sure if you are needing to treat your cat that you use a flea prep for cats.

7. Make a flea trap to catch live fleas in the home. Take a wide bowl, or a dinner plate. Add water and dish washing detergent. (The detergent make the water "wetter" and prevent the fleas from being able to jump out of the water)

Put a small lamp above the plate, allowing the light to shine on the plate. Place in a dark room over night. The fleas will be attracted to the light and jump towards it and then fall into the bowl and drown.

 Sounds simple but works very well. The picture above shows a commercial flea trap, but you get the idea.

An easy trap is to use a night light with a downward facing bulb. Simply place a container with the water/detergent mixture below. Easy to make one for each room. These home made flea traps are also great to use every so often in order to detect a flea problem before it gets out of control.

Remember that the life cycle of the flea makes it necessary to be diligent with repeating these steps in order for them to be effective.

You CAN win the war against the fleas in a natural non-toxic way.  It will require you to be diligent. Understanding the life stages of the flea makes it very clear why any flea regimen has to be kept up for some time.

 Now, there's a reason why you got fleas to begin with. Treating the outside may be the key. IF you have an abundance of fleas in the yard, only treating inside will be an uphill battle.

You can treat your yard the smart way. Hitting the fleas at several points in the life cycle.

1. Eliminate live fleas. Using the Diatomaceous Eart we recommended above you can spray your entire yard. Again, remember that a little goes a long way. Spray with a sprayer, or if your yard is small, mix the DE with sand and use a seed spreader such as Earthway 3400 Ergonomic Hand-Held Broadcast Seeder/Spreader