The Secret: It's not really a secret. It's something no one wants to hear. Treating your pets is not enough! |
New pet treatments have added to the arsenal of weapons available for fighting fleas, but the battle must still be fought on 3 fronts in both the Present and the Future: Pets, House and Yard: Now and Tomorrow. Pets act like small minesweepers, collecting hatched and hungry fleas from everywhere. Treating the pets is essential for their own comfort as well as to kill any errant fleas entering the area from afar. Fleas can jump over 6 feet, and they enter the house by any carrier available: pets and humans. White clothing, socks, and sneakers excite and invite them right into the living room where they remain unseen and happily reproducing without your ever knowing until the problem is advanced. Treat your entire square footage indoors including garages, outbuildings, and doghouses or kennels. You simply cannot allow a single flea to survive in your or your pet's, environment if you want to live a life free of allergies, disease, and irritation. The yard is the most arduous task, but you MUST treat the area outdoors with just as much determination as you treat the pets and house. If you neglect ONE place in your yard, car, garage, summerhouse, winter house or chateau on the Riviera, fleas will ultimately come back to occupy all of these locations and more. |
Pets: Most people want to know how to solve the immediate crisis first. Start with fleas ON your pets. But don't stop there. On-pet Flea products have changed radically in the last 2-3 years. The new ones are safer, easier, and more effective. |
Monthly Spot Applications: Spot Treatments are the new front line in the flea battle. Applied only once a month, some will actually repel a significant number of fleas--a great benefit to the allergic pet that cannot tolerate even one bite. The best will also help prevent re-infestation by rendering the fleas unable to reproduce. But, be careful. More expensive is not always more efficient. The battle against fleas is matched only by the battle of the giant manufacturers to get every dollar out of their spot-on products. Great strides are being made this year in lowering cost AND in treating CATS. Shampoos: Most well stocked flea armories contain a flea and tick shampoo. Shampoos kill fleas on contact and give your pets instant relief. They represent the best of two worlds: clean AND flea-free. Unfortunately, most flea shampoos contain detergent that remove the very oil layer that the Spot On treatments bond to. If you bathe your dog, it is best to wait three days for the oil layer to regenerate before reapplying the Frontline or Advantage. Powders: Flea and tick powders are easy and convenient to use, but they often present problems with dry skin. They have been eclipsed by other more favorable means of flea protection. Flea Collars: These are a possible weapon in the battle, but not all collars are created equal. Many have harsh and potentially dangerous chemicals, and their placement around the neck can lead to serious compromise of the nervous system if improperly used or mixed with other toxic agents. Essential Herbal Oils: These are nature's repellants. They ward off unwanted hitchhikers. Most common ingredients are citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and lavender. Essential Oils are specially formulated to repel fleas and ticks without using insecticides. They are great for misting your dog's legs (and your own) any time that you go out where fleas would be likely to be found. They have a lot of other uses too (read this). They are a repellant, not an insecticide, though. They can be found at most good health food stores. |
House: Now that the pets appear more comfortable, begin the search & destroy missions. House treatments are safer and easier than ever. |
Carpet Aerosols: Adulticides kill adult populations of fleas, and carpet spray adulticide aerosols are the easiest and often most effective treatments. There's no mixing. And the most sophisticated, NyGuard Plus Floor Spray contains both the exterminating and the egg-inhibiting ingredients in one application. A well-armed army will have a carpet aerosol in its weapons' room. Foggers: Foggers also contain adulticides and are very convenient for treating large, open areas. But they lack the ability to treat under furniture such as beds or tables, thus leaving some areas untreated. Not surprisingly, those are exactly the dark, hidden areas that the flea larvae prefer to inhabit. Use them only if you also use an aerosol for hard-to-reach places. Powders: Powders usually contain ingredients such as Boric Acid, and De-Limonene which kill fleas by physically assaulting their outer body or stomach. They can be very effective, but don't forget that your pet can sleep with their nose on the carpet, breathing in the same chemicals. They often leave the battlefield dusty, which can be deadly to computers and close-to-the-floor animals, and are of best use on carpeted surfaces and furniture. Insect Growth Regulators: No army should ever fight without an Insect Growth Regulator! Without it, you may take the high ground, but you'll never be able to hold it. Insect Growth Regulators render any live fleas unable to reproduce. Consider again that one reproducing flea can have a trillion offspring, and the challenge becomes clear. When you're fighting an enemy with the ability to replace its troops with fresh fighters at that rate, a weapon to stop reproduction is an obvious necessity. "FLEAS? Never Again!" carries only the better aerosols and treatments that already contain the Insect Growth Regulator ingredients for one-step application. Better still, treat your house with a liquid preparation of PURE Insect Growth Regulator, Archer or FleaFix BEFORE you have a flea problem, and the battle will be won before you even have to fight the first skirmish. |
Yard: Leave no stone unturned, no hill unconquered. And pay particular attention to the areas where your pets spend their time outdoors. |
Esfenvalerate Conquer is an emulsifiable concentrate which is very active against fleas. It is a liquid, odorless and mixes easily with water. Target Pests? Just about everything. Although it will work well for fleas by providing a good knockdown and a long residual, it also works for several other household pests. Dursban(r), Diazinon(tm), & Malathion(tm): Along with Lindane and a couple of others, these have been the old stand-bys. They were the nuclear weapons in the Battle of the Fleas. Now, however, it is widely recognized that they leave their deadly trace behind in a half-life that is akin to nuclear fall-out. They smell strong enough to "kill a cow" and give you a secure feeling of having accomplished your mission, but don't be fooled. They are less effective for killing fleas as each year passes because fleas have developed ferocious immunities to their nerve-gas-like qualities. Using them is often like firing on your own troops: great body count, but the wrong color uniforms. Insect Growth Regulators: No army should ever attempt to take the hill unless they think they can hold it long enough to make it worth while. Don't fight without Archer, an Insect Growth Regulator! Insect Growth Regulators render any live fleas unable to reproduce. Consider again that one reproducing flea can have a trillion offspring, and the need is clear. When you're fighting an enemy with the ability to replace its troops with fresh fighters at that rate, a weapon to stop reproduction is an obvious necessity. Most Insect Growth Regulators, including Precor, are NOT labeled for outdoor use. But the newest and best, Archer and FleaFix, are resistant to sunlight (photostable) and are a great help in the yard as well as the house. They affect fleas, cockroaches, flies, and mosquitoes too, so their use on a regular basis may help in more battles than just this one. |
FCIA: Flea Control Intelligence Agency Armed with information about how fleas travel and reproduce, its not such a daunting task to pick off the small, the few, and the lonely that are looking for a host. |
Hungry stragglers will necessarily jump onto your pets where they feast on a
blood meal before laying eggs. If you've diligently and routinely used
Archer
or FleaFix, an Insect Growth Regulator in the environment, the reproductive
cycle is broken and these few are the last of the enemy troops. Weekly baths with new all-in-one shampoos (if you like a squeaky clean dog) or monthly spot treatments will kill the little snipers dead. |
Back To the Future: Now that the battle has been fought and won, a plan needs to be formulated for preventing further insurrections. |
Prevent Fleas from Ever Coming Back: Consider again that one reproducing flea can have a trillion offspring. What will you do in the future if you've missed even one cocoon today or your pet brings home a flea disguised as a houseguest tomorrow? How about the neighbor's fleas? Two hops and they're in your yard with an eye on your pet for a great rump roast dinner. Don't give the stragglers and insurgents a chance to populate again. Insect Growth Regulators make fleas unable to reproduce. We can't say it enough times. No army should ever fight without an IGR. Re-inoculating your environment with Archer, an Insect Growth Regulator immediately BEFORE flea season begins (or at the FIRST sign of a flea if you are already into the season), and once during PEAK flea season will protect you in perpetuity. Forever and ever, Amen. |
Even Fleas Have Friends: Fleas spread parasites and disease. |
Of Parasites and Plague: Bubonic plague is the most famous flea ally although it's questionable how trustworthy an ally the bubonic germ is since it ultimately kills the host. However, if you get rid of the fleas you can get rid of the threat of plague as well. Additionally, one swallowed flea can lead to a daunting case of intestinal worms in dogs and cats. The tapeworm is the most common flea ally. Tapeworms count on the fleas to carry their larvae deep into enemy territory: your pet's intestines. Tapeworm segments look like a tiny piece of rice, often attached to your pet's fur in the anal area or visible in his stool. Tape worms are probably THE most common worms in household pets. Until now they have been difficult to treat using home-administered treatments, and a visit to your veterinarian was in order. Finally, we now have effective treatments available over the counter containing praziquantel, the most commonly used and highly recommended treatment for Tape Worms. These Tape Worm Tabs are generic droncit and are 100% effective. Ticks aren't really an ally, but they like to inhabit the same territory and can get along with fleas quite well. Most flea-killing products will kill ticks as well, but there are some tick peculiarities that should be addressed if you find yourself in a two-fronted battle with fleas on one side and ticks on the other. It is important to spray about three feet up on vertical surfaces, including tree bark, house siding, fencing and bushes. Ticks drop on their victims, where fleas jump up from the ground. It is also possible that you will have to come back and spray a second time with your insecticide. Archer stops the tick in the juvenile stages, but we still see that stage and they are harder to kill that most fleas. If an infested property is cleared of ticks, there will be no fleas left. |
Damage Control: Those most likely wounded during the battle are your pets. If you've used the right products, damage from friendly fire with harsh insecticides has been kept to a minimum. But, flea allergies are one of the most pervasive and expensive by-products of flea infestation, and are a direct result of fleabites. |
Flea Allergic Dermatitis: Flea Allergy for short. When your pet begins to chew raw or hairless areas, particularly between his hip bones or down the rear of his legs, it is often a sign of a developing incurable skin condition caused by fleabites. Advanced cases often require steroid injections which, while providing relief can be quite damaging to your pet's internal organs over the long run, not to mention the horrendous expense of frequent veterinary visits. Check out our page on Flea Allergies Complete protection from flea bites is the only real solution. However, some immediate relief from the itchy symptoms comes in the form of soothing hydrocortisone sprays and shampoos.
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