No pet owner wants to be dealing with a home flea infestation, or see their beloved dog itchy and uncomfortable. But you can scratch out fleas for good by following these top tips.
Tip 1: Treat your dog and your home regularly
It can be tempting to skip a treatment, particularly in the colder months, but it’s important to protect your home and your dog all year round. Fleas like warm, humid conditions, and flea pupae will lay dormant for months before hatching into adult fleas. Some people turn on their central heating in the winter and soon find themselves battling a flea infestation. The best way to avoid this is to maintain a regular treatment routine.
Tip 2: Check your dog for fleas, even if you’ve treated them recently
Dogs can easily bring home ‘hitch hiker’ fleas from a walk or park visit. For a well-protected home this usually won’t cause a problem, but it’s always handy to know if fleas are around so you can act quickly if needed. You can check your pet for fleas very easily using the damp paper flea test.
Tip 3: If you do get fleas, don’t limit your dog’s movements
If your dog has fleas, don’t prevent them from moving about the home as they normally would. Flea pupae lay dormant until the most beneficial conditions come along. This could, as mentioned above, be turning on your central heating, but the presence of your pet’s body heat also triggers them to hatch out. Because you can’t kill flea pupae, you need them to hatch into adult fleas first. Letting your dog move around freely will help.
Tip 4: Flea treat all pets in the home
If you have an indoor cat or you only find fleas on one of your dogs, you might think they don’t all need flea treating. An adult female flea lays up to 50 eggs a day, and starts laying around 24 hours after her first feed. Once the flea eggs are in the home, the adult fleas that emerge won’t be fussy about which pet they jump back onto. Whether you’re trying to prevent a flea infestation or
fighting an active one, it’s important to protect all your pets.
Scratch out fleas for good with Beaphar
Beaphar FIPROtec® Spot-On for Dogs is a vet strength medicine that kills fleas for up to 5 weeks and ticks for up 4 weeks. It is fully licenced by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), and has a Vm number printed on pack to confirm this.
Beaphar FLEAtec Household Flea Spray contains both an insecticide, to kill adult fleas, and an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) which prevents flea eggs and flea larvae from developing in your home. It is ideal for fighting an active flea infestation, or preventing one occurring.