Flea Control in Dogs and Cats
Download: FLEAS: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IN ONE PAGE (pdf)
The Home
I’ve treated the house lots of ways over the years. I’ve bombed (when we didn’t have kids around on the floor) and then when we had kids around we used boric acids. (FleaBusters specifically). If there’s a problem with Fleabusters, it’s that you don’t have traction on hardwood floors and so the method there is a damp mop. Make SURE to get corners (even vacuuming) because eggs and larvae reside on these floors and baseboards just fine. Then the carpet gets dusted with the Fleabusters (anhydrous boric acid)
The Yard
You can get “Spectracide Granules” (Click image at right) that kill fleas at Home Depot, and other places. I like the granules because it puts the ‘mojo’ right where it’s needed, and doesn’t kill stuff that lives on plants and flowers in your yard. With any luck you’ll put it down and a light rain will wash it in. As the pupae emerge, they simply die in the soil. Follow packaging instructions.
The Pets
Dog
Initial flea control on a dog is a deep cleaning flea-cidal bath. There’s tons of those. (Here’s a good one – Adam’s)
Maintenance for fleas with dogs is best accomplished with NexGard (Veterinary prescription drug) given once a month. The compound is very, very safe and binds to the blood protein “albumin” and then when the flea takes any blood, it ingests the NexGard on the albumin and keels over. Savoryyyyyyyy.
Seresto on the other hand, well Seresto might kill your pet. Not even kidding.
Cat
Cats can be ‘de-flea’d with Capstar (Veterinary) to start off, followed by monthly dosing with Comfortis / Credelio or whatever they’re calling it these days. It changes practically every 6 months. (Also veterinary prescription). The Capstar achieves fast blood levels (an hour!) and kills every single flea on the cat and every flea that gets on them for 24-36 hours. Some people use Capstar a lot, like every other day and that can knock down the population of fleas in the first week’s kickoff.
Maintenance for fleas with cats is best accomplished with Comfortis given once a month. The compound is very, very safe and binds to the blood protein “albumin” and then when the flea takes any blood, it ingests the Comfortis on the albumin and keels over. Excellennnnnnnt.
