How to get rid of fleas (in house, on dogs and cats)

You have fleas in your house? How To Get Rid of fleas? Here is how to treat them.

Do you have flea problem? you got flea in your house, fleas in bed, fleas in carpet, or on your dogs and cats?

First of all, you need to understand that dealing with flea problem is not an easy task. It requires a lot of work (but you can do it by yourself) and all the quick method you found on the internet mostly will not work. If you have flea problem it is a must to counter attack with fleas all around your house and also your pets at the same time. I will show you in details how to do.

Before we start anything, lets analyze flea so that we know how to kill them properly.

Below is the flea chart

Yes, the jumping fleas that you see is only account for 5% of what is really going on in your house. And another 50% of the population belong to their eggs, 35% to larvae and 10% pupae. So if you don’t see fleas on your dogs or cats….well, that’s not even half of the story.

So, shall we begin?

STEP1 : Get your vacuum cleaner

Use your vacuum cleaner and vacuum your entire house especially in every dark places: corners, crevices, rugs, under furniture, your pet beds and where your pets love to sleep or play. While you are doing this please send your pets outside so the buggers won’t jump from your pets to where you’ve just vacuumed.

The vibration of your vacuum cleaner will also make fleas emerge from their cocoons and will expose to our insecticide that we will use in next step.

When your vacuum bag is full please use a sealed plastic bag, sealed it in and put it away from your house.

By the way, the reason I suggest using vacuum cleaner is because it vacuuming up a lot of eggs, larvae, pupae which are the main fleas population. One thing you need to know is during the pupae state, it is immune to insecticide. So you need to vacuum as much as you can. Remember this is our number 1 weapon.

STEP2 : Spray the insecticide

It is a MUST to buy insecticide with IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) on the label. IGR is like the birth control for fleas. It is a substance (chemical) that inhibits the life cycle of an insect from growing from eggs, larvae to adult fleas hence they will be unable to lay eggs (50% of the fleas population.) However pupae is watertight and is not effect by insecticide at all, so your best bet is to use the vacuum cleaner like I said before.

I recommend Precor 2000. It is very effective. You can buy it from Amazon.

You can use flea bombs and foggers containing IGR too. They are very effective but they are unlikely to reach under beds, rugs, furniture — you will have to use spray and make sure to move any furniture to spray properly. Don’t be lazy because if you don’t move them some fleas/larvae/eggs will be unaffected by the insecticide and that will make our hard effort to total waste of time. Moreover, please don’t use vacuum cleaner after using IGR for around 2 weeks since it needs to have some residual to be effective.

Important note: IGR products have no effect to fleas in pupae state. They hide themselves in cocoon which is watertight. This is exactly why most people think they do their best to get rid of fleas but fail at last. Pupae will become adult fleas and you get frustrated. You need to repeat the process to get rid of them.

What about yards and gardens?

Don’t forget to spray your garden and yard too. Fleas live there. All the yard and garden that sunlight always touch should be ok and no need to spray. The part you should spray a lot are nooks, crannies and pets house. You can use the same spray that you use in your house no need to buy something else.

And home remedies that kill fleas?

I also don’t like to use chemical. But sadly it seems like today fleas are immune to most of home remedies that are suggested on internet, I have tried them myself and fail. Anyway if you have follow my steps you don’t have to spray IGR on a regular basis. It’s just a couple times after we have break their life cycle. First vacuum to clean most of them then spray with IGR and clean your pets and they will be back because those in pupae state are not effect by IGR and we will clean them (which is the second wave) again and that’s it.

Fleas life cycle chart

STEP 3 – Clean your pets

How do I get rid of fleas on cats or dogs? And which flea products should you use on your pets?

Our medical technology are now very advanced so I recommend you to use tablets. They are now much safer than before for both humans and pets.

Anyway, please read the prescription when you buy them. Some are not for young pets.

I highly recommend Capstar it is available on amazon with 1,000+ customer reviews (4 Stars and #1 Best seller)

If you find these products expensive….I would say you’re misunderstanding something. You are likely to pay a lot less than hiring some expert company to eliminate fleas for you and once the life cycle of flea is broken then it’s the end of story you don’t need these products again. Of course, if your neighbor’s pet running around then flea might coming back and start a new life cycle again, so please be aware.

But if you really don’t like to use tablets

Vinegar doesn’t kill fleas, it just repel. Fleas do not like the vinegar and if vinegar is gone then fleas will be back. What actually kill flea is Borax and Salt.

Borax : Not to confuse with Boric Acid, its not the same DO NOT use boric acid. It is harmful to pets and should not be used to battle fleas.

How to : Just sprinkle it on your floors and furniture. Sweet borax powder so that it goes into corners, cracks, crevices and any dark places in your house. Make it sit for overnight then vacuum in the morning. Generally borax is non-toxic, but please still use with care. Make sure you use it when there are no pets or children around. Note that powder can be tracked, inhaled or even licked.

Salt : The usage is the same sprinkle it around dark areas of your house, but make sure you use a fine salt. It should be almost like powder. You may need to grind it (coffee grinder would be fine.) However, salt should be placed 1-2 days and it will be a little bit mess since it absorb moisture.

Why Borax and Salt work?

Because they dry fleas up. The shiny outer layer of fleas will be sucked and they will die. From doing this time to time you will eventually get rid of fleas.

Expect to see THEM back!

Around 2 weeks later you will see them back! Why? Because… remember the life cycle and that the pupae is immune to insecticides? Yes, this new wave of our enemy is the one that during the first fight we spray IGR, they are still pupae. This is where people give up because they think they get rid of them but they have come back. Don’t give up just repeat the process. Once you have treated your house and pets. Try not to let other animals that are infested come to contact with them. You may need to ask (politely, of course) your visitors not to bring infested pets in your house since it might start a new flea cycle again.