Our experts recommended initially brushing your pet with a flea comb to remove any fleas. (When you're still trying to determine whether your pet has fleas, a flea comb can also help you spot the little guys.) Pay extra attention to the neck area and the base of the tail.
Do flea combs work? A flea comb is a safe, inexpensive and effective way to physically remove fleas from your pet. You only have to inspect the fleas trapped in the flea comb to see that it's working immediately to remove fleas from your pet.
A flea comb is a handheld grooming tool that offers an affordable and nontoxic way to detect and remove fleas from your dog. A flea comb has very finely spaced teeth, and as you brush your dog with a flea comb, the comb collects fleas, flea eggs and flea dirt.
There are special combs designed to catch fleas, flea eggs, and flea dirt when you comb your pet. Flea eggs are small and white and almost appear to look like grains of salt. Flea “dirt” can look like black pepper. These dark specks are the flea's feces from the digested blood.
People can pick up fleas in the same ways as pets: walking in the woods, doing yard work, or touching infested furniture or clothing. More commonly, people are bitten by fleas that come from their pet.
Continue to graze the skin while combing in an attempt to catch some of the fleas. Any fleas found on the comb should immediately be submerged in your soapy water dish. Make sure to comb near the ears, neck, hind legs, and tail.
Fleas generally cannot live in human hair. While most species prefer to live on the furs of animals, they can use humans as temporary vectors. In such cases, fleas can infest and bite humans. You may get infected if there is a serious case of flea infestation in your environment.
If black specks are on the comb when you pull it off, they might be flea dirt. If fleas are on the comb, drown them in a bowl of soapy water before they can get away or jump back on your dog. You can get a flea comb from your vet or pet retailer. Metal ones are the best.
If you do see fleas and they are moving slow enough to catch – success – they are busy dying!
Clean, clean, clean
This is why, if your pets have fleas you must treat and clean your house as well. Collect all bedding, throws, rugs and clothing and wash them in soapy water - washing liquid will do. The soapy water is known to kill the eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. Vacuum everything.
You should wash bedding after because fleas can thrive anywhere. So if your beddings are left unwashed, there is a chance that the pest can still survive especially its eggs. Make sure that when you wash your beddings, it should be done carefully to avoid further damage yet maintain its original quality and aesthetic.
So even if you only find flea dirt on your pet but no fleas themselves, it could mean you've just caught the infestation early. You should still treat your pet immediately for fleas since flea dirt is an obvious sign of flea activity as the digested blood from the parasites feed on your pet.
Larva - When they hatch from eggs, flea larvae look like tiny worms about 2-5 mm long with a whitish body and pale colored hairs. They feed primarily on flea dirt, which is the blood-filled feces that adult fleas excrete after taking a blood meal.
You might be asking yourself will fleas eventually go away? While some could last 2 – 3 weeks, they could also live for up to 12 months on the host it finds, so it is unlikely they will go away on their own. Fleas can also reproduce very quickly by laying eggs in carpet, bedding, or garden prolonging the infestation.
When fleas impact humans, they may flock to the eyelashes, the eyebrows, the head, and the pubic region. Hair loss may occur on the body where the fleas are located.
Fleas in the house are typically found in sleeping areas such as bedding, carpet, and mattresses. Fleas on humans are often found in areas that are closer to the ground, as fleas tend to grab onto clothing while a person is outside.
According to extensive studies conducted at Ohio State University, vacuuming is indeed an effective way of getting rid of fleas! Through these studies, scientists discovered that vacuuming killed 96% of adult fleas from carpets and 100% of the flea pupae and larvae.
Fleas in any life stage will either be killed in the course of the wash or will ultimately wind up in the sewer. Any insects that might happen to make it all the way to the dryer will be killed off by more heat and turbulence.
Steam cleaning your carpets, furniture and pet beds is a brilliant idea if you have a flea infestation. Thanks to the combination of high heat and soap, the fleas will be gone in no time.
For every six fleas seen, there are 300 adult fleas actually present. If animals are not present, fleas will opt to hop onto humans. They thrive best in indoor climates. The presence of adult fleas is just the tip of the iceberg.
Getting rid of fleas is a difficult process due to the long lifecycle of a flea. Moderate to severe infestations will take months to control and require a four-step process for complete elimination: Sanitation. Thoroughly clean areas where fleas frequently breed.
"Flea dirt should be washed off the pet with a thorough bath and for severely affected pets, two or three rounds of shampooing may be necessary," Hall says. "A flea comb (a small fine-toothed comb) can also be used to tease the dirt and live fleas out of the hair."