Greenbriar Animal Hospital

This fall, we are seeing MANY cases of fleas in cats and dogs. We’ve found fleas on pets that have never had fleas before. We have also seen some severe flea infestations, causing major problems in pets and real headaches for pet owners.

Fleas carry diseases and tapeworms. They suck blood and can cause weakness and anemia (especially in youngsters and in the very elderly). Those little black “Flea dirt” specks that you may see (on your pets or on bedding, etc.) are bits of flea poop - which is mostly dried blood!

Fleas reproduce VERY rapidly, and live mostly hidden from your view. For each adult flea you see on one of your pets or in your home, there are hundreds or even thousands that you won’t see. And for each adult flea, there are 20 or so flea eggs, flea larvae, and/or flea pupae! If you find a single flea, you have a flea infestation. Guaranteed.

Fleas move quickly and can jump long distances. They like carpet, bedding, and upholstered furniture, and spend a lot of their lifetime in your home or in your yard. Right now, many outside areas are severely infested with fleas! Until we have a killing frost, fleas continue to multiply outdoors. The last few weeks before a hard frost are the absolute worst for getting fleas. They’ve had months and months to breed and they are at their very highest population.

Why is this important? Make sure you continue to use monthly flea control for your pets. This includes indoor-only pets that live with pets that go outdoors. For the purposes of flea control, if a pet’s feet ever touch the ground outdoors, it is exposed to fleas. What can you use to prevent and/or treat for fleas? Prevention is MUCH easier than treating an infestation! If you get fleas in your home, plan on a 3-month war against the fleas. You will start seeing fewer fleas in 30 to 45 days, but it takes 3 full months to get rid of fleas even if you follow our flea infestation instructions to the letter. See our handout on Fleas.

Frontline and Frontline generics like Fiproguard are what we recommend in Northern Virginia. These products do the best possible job for both fleas and ticks, and are very safe for cats and dogs (the active ingredient is not absorbed and remains on the skin and in the skin glands). These products are both great for prevention and also essential for treating flea infestations. Alternate topical products like Advantage and Revolution help with fleas, too.

Safely and effectively prevent flea infestations in your pets by giving your pets an oral flea hormone dose every month. This is a prescription medication called Program. It does not treat fleas and will only help as prevention, and must be given to ALL pets in your home.

If you have very young pets with fleas, bathe them with diluted Dawn detergent. Mix a solution with warm water (like you are hand washing dishes). Use a cotton ball dripping with the soapy water and quickly lather all around the neck first. Use diluted Dawn to lather the rest of the pet, and use a flea comb on the face/head to remove as many fleas as you can (dip the comb in the soapy water to kill the fleas you caught). Keep the soapy water out of eyes, ears, and mouth. Rinse well. If you have a flea spray that is OK to use on young pets (check label carefully), use it after the bath (spray a cotton ball and do ONE dab to the top of the head, between the ears). This bathe & dab treatment can be repeated every 1 to 2 days.

The diluted Dawn detergent bath method can also be used to help you get rid of flea dirt and debris on adult and older pets. If your pets are covered in flea dirt, give them a diluted Dawn bath and as soon as they are dry, apply Frontline or Fiproguard.

Comfortis is a prescription medication for dogs only. It cannot be given to cats. If your dog is really flea infested, oral doses of Comfortis (monthly for 6 months) will help get rid of fleas faster. This medication works by killing the fleas when they bite (they get Comfortis along with their blood meal).

Capstar is a tablet that can be given to both cats and dogs. It only lasts a day or two, but each dose kills a lot of fleas. If you have a bad flea infestation with your cats and you can give them pills, this medication can help get rid of fleas faster (added to the regular treatment plan).

Siphotrol Area Spray is our home treatment recommendation for routine flea infestations. This easy to use spray is applied to baseboards (on hardwood and other slippery flooring), carpeting, upholstered furniture, beds and bedding, and clothes/linen closets. One can treats 2,000 square feet of household. Don’t forget to also treat any pet carriers and your car(s)! You do not need to evacuate people or pets to use this spray – read and follow directions carefully. Home and car treatments must be repeated monthly for 3 months (6 months for severe and/or long-lasting infestations).

We do not recommend using flea foggers. To use them properly, you need to evacuate your home for 2 hours. You should have one fogger per room in your home, and since these devices only spray UP (the fogger ingredients then sprinkle down to the ground), this method of treatment leaves large areas untreated (under all pieces of furniture). Foggers only work well when you pre-spray under all furniture (and if you are going to do this, you may as well just use the Siphotrol spray as a treatment).

For severe or long-lasting infestations, call an exterminator to treat your home. You will be much happier with the results. Get one can of Siphotrol Area Spray and use it to treat your car(s) monthly for 6 months.

Flea collars do a decent job of keeping fleas off your pet’s neck but do not do a good job of preventing OR treating fleas. They also cause lots of pets to become ill and/or have local reactions to the skin on their neck. We do not recommend using them at all.

Flea shampoos, dips, and powders are no longer recommended at all. These products use strong insecticides and can make your pet ill (especially if they lick at the stuff or inhale any powder). They do not have a much lasting effect against fleas. Dawn detergent baths are much safer for your pet. Natural remedies like Pennyroyal, Clove oil, or other herbs can be very irritating to your pet and do not work to treat a flea infestation. Oral supplements of garlic or garlic pills are not effective in killing fleas.

Cleaning and disinfecting will not help you get rid of fleas – these are tough little bugs, and no matter how clean you keep your home, they will be happy to move in with you. If you have a flea infestation, thorough vacuuming will help decrease the numbers of flea eggs and adult fleas (many will end up in your vacuum cleaner). If you have a bagless vacuum, suck up a cotton ball saturated in an insecticide spray that is labeled for fleas. If you have a vacuum cleaner bag, do all your vacuuming at once and then remove the bag and seal it in a plastic trash bag. Then proceed to treating your home with Siphotrol!