By the time you browse the internet for information on how to get rid of fleas on dogs, you can be sure that your dog has been asking the same question for a very long time. The dog may not have had the words to express his suffering, but the use of his body as free housing for fleas and food supply is seriously traumatic.
And it does not even begin to cover the damage that fleas can cause your dog. The truth is that fleas are not just an itchy nuisance. They breed like crazy, and the more fleas, the more blood your dog loses. For older and weaker tusks, fleas can even be life-threatening.
How To Kill Fleas In Your Home
The good news is that getting rid of fleas on dogs is a fairly simple process: you kill fleas and then do not allow future fleas to return to your dog’s coat.
The bad news, of course, is that it requires work. Getting rid of fleas on your dog forever is not a one-time process; instead, it requires a consistent, multilateral approach. This means that in order to completely get rid of fleas, you must not only clean your dog of fleas but also focus on cleaning your entire house of fleas.
What for? Even after you kill the fleas that currently live on your dog, they can return if there are fleas left in your house to roam freely. And no one wants to deal with a second or third flea round.
So let’s do it right the first time and nip this unpleasant problem in the bud, right? Roll up your sleeves and get ready to kill fleas on your dog – forever!
Important information. How to get rid of fleas on dogs: preliminary game. Before you start slaughtering your dog, you need to do several things to facilitate this process for you and your dog.
Check The R 1 To Fleas
The very first thing you want to do before you start killing fleas is … make sure your dog has a flea first. Your dog may itch due to skin diseases, allergies, or any other causes that may have nothing to do with fleas.
The last thing you want to do is start a full war against fleas when your dog really suffers from dry, itchy skin, right? So take the time to find out for sure. Here are 6 ways to find out if your dog has fleas. Well, you did the inspection, and your dog has fleas. What’s next?
Your Dog’s Quarantine
Once you have established that your dog has fleas, the first thing you want to do is to keep it away from other pets in your home. Fleas can easily jump from host to host, and you don’t want all your pets to be infected!
In addition, keep your flea-infested dog away from furniture and especially from your bed — although fleas are deposited on the owner himself, they often fall and can get on carpets, furniture or your bed. You really don’t want that.
De-flea Stuff Of Your Pet
The next thing you want to do is throw away everything that your dog sleeps and lies on – all blankets, pillows, pillows. Your dog’s bedding may contain a lot of fleas, eggs, and pupae, so you don’t want them to hatch and cause fleas to become infected.
Actually, take a step forward than throw everything you have into the laundry: you bedding (especially if your dog often hangs out in your bed, with or without your permission), cushion covers, towels and any other fabrics that you can easily wash.
Fortunately, fleas at all stages of life cannot withstand temperatures above 95 degrees, so the washing machine and dryer will take care of everything from adult fleas to flea eggs. This is an easy way to get rid of fleas and sort out laundry from a to-do list
Ok, now that your bases are covered, let’s kill those fleas on your dog, right?
When it comes to killing fleas on dogs, the very first thing you think about is flea treatment. And if you’ve ever looked for flea products for dogs, you already know that there are many products for flea treatment.
So What is Best to Use?
Well, each flea drug has its pros and cons, so we recommend combining some of them for best results. You can check out our complete list of flea treatments for dogs to see how each one works and how they add up … or you can simply follow the steps below to get rid of dog fleas!
Administer Oral Flea Medication
Please note that this step is completely optional. If a flea infection is really bad, your dog suffers a lot and you want to give it immediate relief, a good option is to use oral flea medications. Oral flea medications are the fastest way to kill most fleas that live on your dog – they will kill more than 90% of adult fleas in just 4 hours.
But this does not mean that oral flea medications are a one-time dog flea medicine – they only work for about 24 hours and kill only adult fleas, not flea eggs or larvae. So they are not perfect, but they allow you to instantly accomplish in a few hours what may take weeks.
In general, oral flea medications are an additional flea remedy that you can use to quickly destroy fleas that torture your dog, but they are not an independent solution, therefore, regardless of whether you use them or not, be sure to combine It may not be so instantaneous with other flea drugs, but it lasts longer.
Soak and Lather in a Flea
There is a good reason why a flea bath is the first line of defense against flea infection – is it? Allows you to quickly and easily kill a good piece of fleas living on your dog, and gives your dog some immediate relief from the pain and itchiness of flea bites. To do this, you just need to choose a flea shampoo.
Here are your options:
- DIY flea shampoo. If you prefer a natural – and immediate – flea medicine, you can make your own flea shampoo using what you have in the kitchen. One option is to mix 1/2 cup of water + 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of Dawn dish soap. Apply the mixture to your dog’s coat like shampoo and let it stand for at least 5-10 minutes before rinsing it off.
- Flea shampoo. The best flea dog shampoos contain a combination of ingredients that kill fleas and soothing ingredients to reduce irritation from flea bites. But the best thing about them is that they can effectively kill most fleas living on your dog at a time. Check out the top 3 flea shampoos here!
We recommend choosing one of the best flea shampoos simply because they are more effective, designed to match the pH of your dog’s skin, and kill fleas, eggs, and larvae along with adult fleas. In addition, Dawn is much tougher than dog shampoos and will remove the natural protective oils from its skin, risking even greater dryness and irritation.
Quick Tip: Before you start washing your dog with shampoo, first wet and lather the neck, making a kind of “flea collar” around the dog’s neck. This will prevent fleas from getting onto your dog’s face when you begin to sling the rest of your dog’s body.
And Use a Flea Comb
Of course, it takes a lot of time, but it is a great, completely natural way to get a dead flea, as well as fleas that did not die from flea shampoo from your dog. Plus, it is strangely pleasant to catch fleas in this way and either poke them with your nails or rinse them. Careful walking of your dog’s hair with a flea comb also allows you to remove other reptiles, such as fleas, that you don’t want to stick around your dog’s hair.
Treating Your Home
The last step to get rid of fleas on your dog is to get rid of fleas in your house. You’ve already washed and washed all the adult and baby fleas that live in your tissues, but now it’s time to go where most of the flea infestation lives: the carpet.
When your home is filled with fleas, most flea eggs end up in the carpet, so this is an important step towards getting rid of fleas for good. Even if you kill all the fleas on your dog and bedding, if there are still fleas hiding on the carpet, it is only a matter of time before your dog becomes infected again.
And no one has time for this. So, here’s the game plan …
Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum
The vacuum cleaner is one of the most important flea control tools in your arsenal, so use it wisely and consistently to suck fleas, eggs, and larvae from carpet and furniture.
Smart advice? Place the flea collar on the vacuum cleaner so that any fleas that are sucked inside die as soon as possible.
Sweat It
Fleas at all stages of life cannot withstand temperatures above 95 degrees. And even if the steam does not reach a depth sufficient to kill all the fleas hidden in the carpet, the heat alone can be enough to induce the sleeping flea pupae to leave their cocoons.
It is also a completely natural, non-toxic way to kill fleas and disinfect your space at the same time. We recommend the McCulloch steam cleaner for harsh environments – it heats water to temperatures over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, produces strong steam, and you can use it on your upholstered furniture or on carpets.
Destroy Flea Killers
The sensible thing is to constantly rotate the vacuum cleaner and steam up the fleas with the killers. When it comes to things that kill fleas, you have many options, ranging from natural flea killers, such as baking soda and salt, to more potent solutions, such as insecticides, that are best suited for serious infections.
If you are following this route, we recommend looking for flea pesticides that combine supplements such as permethrin, phenothrin or deltamethrin, with insect growth regulators (IGR), such as methoprene or pyriproxyfen. While super glycides kill adults, IGR kills the larvae.
Spray Hartz UltraGuard is a good combination; Ultracide Spray is another powerful combination. Whatever you use, make sure that the product is deeply laid in the carpet, because it is there that fleas hide.
How To Get Rid Of Dog Fleas Forever: Prevention
If you gave your dog a flea bath, remove the remaining fleas with a flea comb, and even give oral flea medicine, most fleas that live on your dog are dead.
But the battle does not end here. In the end, in all likelihood, around your home, yard and other places where your dog wanders, fleas are still hiding, and it is just a matter of time when your dog will take another flea. That is why it is very important that you take measures to further protect your dog. So what is the best flea prevention for dogs? Here are your best options!
Point Fleas
This is our favorite way to repel and kill fleas. What for? They are easy to use, they kill 100% of fleas at all stages of life (children too), and this is also a preventive tool – it will keep from fleas for up to 30 days for one use.
These point procedures work by depositing in the sweat glands of a dog’s skin, where the active ingredient can be released within a few weeks. The procedures are waterproof, so they are suitable for dogs in the open air and are applied directly to your dog’s coat, between her shoulders, therefore there is a small risk that the dogs will break and swallow the treatment.
Flea Collars. The Best Flea Collars For Dogs
Do not want to remember again every 30 days? It makes sense, especially when there are very effective alternatives, such as flea collars. Check out the best flea collars for dogs! These collars work on the technology of slow-release, which gradually and stably produces a non-greasy, odorless flea and insecticide to prevent ticks.
Keep in mind that flea collars are not fast-acting and are best used as a flea remedy, and not as a quick remedy for instantly ridding your dog of fleas. At the same time, this is a great option to “scare away fleas”, as they are waterproof and provide protection against fleas and ticks for up to 8 months.
Note: Point procedures and flea collars should not be used together. Choose one or the other and stick with it, because using both of them at the same time is unnecessary and potentially harmful.
Well, this applies to almost everything you need to know about how to get rid of fleas on dogs and get rid of them forever. If you follow all the instructions, you will never have to revisit this post. Good luck and don’t let the fleas bite!
