Many of you know we have been wagging war on fleas here in our house. It is partially my fault we are waging war here. I waited a month too long before putting flea preventative on the dogs. I felt that Davinia needed more time to heal and was worried that the chemicals from the preventative would harm an wound that was reopening itself. I know that living in Miami the decision not to do it was a risky one but I thought it was less risky then putting a toxic chemical on Davinia too soon after what she went through.
The girls are both on Frontline since the beginning of May but it just doesn't seem to be enough at first it seemed like it was working. Then we went away and I guess the chemical didn't get a chance to get all over the house before we left so when we got back from vacation we found the house full of fleas.
So where do you go from there? How do you rid yourself of these Parasites when chemicals are not an option? Yes, fleas are parasites and have multiple life stages which is why it is so difficult to kill them off for good plus these things reproduce in a way that puts rabbits to shame. It a horribly vicious cycle because a half hour after they reach the adult stage and pop out of their cocoons they are able to reproduce. They are also more likely to target an animal with a weakened immune system it is not just those animals who are young or old or sick it is an animal who had surgery recently or went through an illness in the past few months or could even mean one who recently had its vaccinations or possibly just went through a stressful situation like a family move, new people in the house you get the idea.
- Vacumming is a huge tool in waging war but on its own is not going to allow you to win the battle. Frequent vacuuming will help the situation go from bad to worse as long as after you vacuum you either throw the vacuum bag away or put it in the freezer thereby freezing the parasites and being able to use the same bag again without worry that you are releasing the fleas back into the evironment.
- Bathing is great to help get the flea junk off of the dogs so that the next generation can't feed off of the blood meal left behind by the adults. In fact soapy water is hugely effective against fleas. Any soapy water will do so no need to go out and purchase chemical flea bath. It does help a little if there is some sort of botanical insecticide or at least insect deterrent in the soapy water such as rosemary, lavender, tea tree, cedar, or citrus oil or even Olbas Oil which is used to clear up congestion in humans but it is not necessary to use anything more then regular soap.
- Brush the fleas away using a comb with tines placed very close together. You don't need a flea comb you can use a human comb or their regular rake brush. Make sure to have a bowl of soapy water to dip the comb in after each stroke to clean the brush and kill the fleas, their eggs, larva, or cocoons, and to get rid of the blood meal.
- You can also spray directly onto your dogs in a diluted mist of water mixed with any and all of the botanical insecticide / deterrents I named above (cats are more sensitive to some of these things so make sure you check which ones would be ok to use.
- We also tried one more method of flea deterrence which was Dryer Sheets rubbed on the dogs. I am not sure if they have done all that much or not but some people seem to think that they alone will prevent flea wars.
Its a bowl of soapy water with a desk light shining directly into it. No I am not kidding the little parasites hop right in sink to the bottom and drown. No back-float struggles no leaps to freedom just certain flea death. You will also get any flying ants, mosquitoes, and even an ant or two for your hard work of filling up a bowl with warm water and soap.
Want to be even more effective light a tea light and float it on the soapy water. The fleas are attracted to the melted wax and not be able to get out. I only got an extra 2 fleas in the wax from the tea light but I think it helped attract them to the soapy water. I didn't use the candle last night and I didn't get as many fleas.