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Fleas are a nuisance. These tiny, blood-sucking parasites irritate your dog and infest your home — often before you realize that fleas have moved in. Many dogs are allergic to flea bites, which can cause intense scratching, red and flaky skin, scabs, hot spots, and hair loss. Fleas can also cause tapeworm and anemia.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fleas prefer animal hosts but will resort to biting people when animals are unavailable. They can transmit germs that cause disease by feeding on hosts or through fecal contamination, when infected flea feces are scratched into an open wound.
If you and your dog are scratching your heads, and you’re wondering how to kill dog fleas, we’ve got you covered. Here are the four steps you need to take to eliminate these unwelcome freeloaders.
Understand the Flea’s Life Cycle
The first step is understanding the enemy. Fleas go through four life cycle stages:
The adults live on animals like your dog, where they digest blood and lay their eggs. One female flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs. These eggs hatch in 1-10 days and spread throughout your home and yard every time your dog scratches, shakes, or lies down.
They then hatch into larvae that can move on the host and feed on blood and flea dirt (digested blood from the adult fleas). During the pupa stage they form cocoons, where they wait for several days or up to one year — preferably for the fleas in the comfort of your carpet, sofa, or bed — until a warm-bodied host appears. Then they hatch, become adults, and infest their animal hosts – such as your dog.
It’s important to know about these stages because different flea treatments for dogs address different parts of the flea’s life cycle, so make sure you read the label of any flea elimination products and follow the directions before use.
The best way to deal with fleas is prevention. Flea and tick preventatives kill fleas that come in contact with your dog, preventing your pup from bringing them home in the first place. There are several options out there, from flea collars to topical liquid applicants and pills. Talk to your vet about the flea preventative that is safest and right for your puppy or dog.
If your dog already has fleas, these preventatives will still kill them, but you may need to take more aggressive action, like a prescription preventative. You can also use a flea shampoo or a fast-acting chemical treatment, such as a flea pill that kills the fleas on your dog within hours. Again, it’s important to ask your dog’s veterinarian for recommendations.
What about the outdoor areas where my dog spends a lot of time?
Concentrate on dark, shaded areas and the areas where he sleeps, including his bedding. Spray a product containing an IGR and repeat every 14-21 days for three to five applications. Using a flea preventive recommended by your veterinarian is also very important to keep fleas away from your dog while he is outside.