It's extremely difficult to prevent dogs from picking up a flea infestation. That's because fleas do not seek out houses that are not clean, the way many pests do. Instead they rely on being in close proximity to a host animal, and then they latch hold. And you can't prevent a dog from going in to a bush that has fleas, or near another animal that has fleas. So it's likely you'll have to carry out some flea treatment at some point.

Chemical Treatments for Fleas

There are a variety of treatments available for dealing with fleas, one of the main categories though is chemical flea treatment. This comes in a variety of different forms, from tablets to sprays. Which will be best is something that you should ask your vet about.

The advantage of using chemical flea treatments is that the effect is going to be fast, it doesn't require much effort to apply them, and they are going to last a long time. For example, the way the tablets work is that it puts a substance in your dog's bloodstream which affects the nervous system of the fleas which then suck the blood.

As you might expect from a treatment like that though, it is a bit of a risk. It's been known for the same chemicals which shut down a flea's nervous system to also affect the nervous system of the dog as well. Using this kind of treatment can be dangerous then.

Given the risks involved then, you might wonder why any pet owner would subject their dog to such a treatment. What you have to remember though is that the negative side effects are not definitely going to happen, in fact they don't happen very often. And with a more long-lasting treatment you are giving your dog a longer-lasting relief to the fleas.

Natural Flea Treatments

To eradicate the possibility of harming your pet with the cure for fleas though, you can use a natural flea treatment instead. The main disadvantage of that is that it won't last as long, so will have to be performed more frequently. Also it tends to be that more effort is required in applying the treatment. However the advantage is that they are going to be completely safe.

A good example of a natural flea treatment is a flea bath. This is something that particularly applies to dogs as cats generally hate to get any kind of bath. You can get a special flea shampoo for this but it isn't really necessary, it is the lather of any regular dog shampoo which is going to get rid of the fleas.

After a flea bath has been given, if it has been thorough enough, then all of the fleas should have been eradicated from your pet. However, if you have not also treated the rest of your house for fleas then that is unlikely to last for long. That's because there are probably going to be fleas waiting around, ready to jump on to your pet and continue the infestation.

Treating the Environment

To understand why it is so important to treat the environment as well, you have to know how flea infestations grow. What happens is that the female fleas on your dog will lay eggs. However because they are not adhesive, they are going to fall off. It is therefore in your house and garden that you can expect to find fleas growing in to adults.

There's actually no problem getting the eggs though, a vacuum cleaner will be able to do that. So vacuuming multiple times a day is a good idea when there is a flea infestation. However the larvae will probably still stick around as they can wrap themselves around the strands of a carpet and not get sucked up. Washing the carpet then, with a steam cleaner for example, will be necessary to get rid of them.

Really though the best thing to do in order to get rid of the fleas in your house and your garden is to call in pest control professionals.