If you’ve treated your pet with FRONTLINE Spot On or FRONTLINE Plus those fleas will die within 24 hours, and so will have few opportunities to lay eggs (egg laying normally starts 24 hours after feeding), helping you control the infestation in your home. To start fighting the home infestation straight away, you can also use FRONTLINE® HomeGard household spray. It kills fleas and larvae, and also prevent eggs and larvae from developing in your home for up to 12 months. If using FRONTLINE Plus, active IGR technology stops any newly laid flea eggs from hatching and larvae developing in your home, helping to prevent an infestation building up in your home.
Getting on top of a flea infestation is much harder than it sounds. It can take up to three months of diligent treatment of pets and the home before you have really gained the upper hand. We appreciate that the process can be enormously frustrating and it’s one of the reasons we recommend treating your pet regularly all year round with FRONTLINE® Spot On or FRONTLINE Plus® to prevent an infestation becoming established in your home and on your pet. Something that might help is an understanding of what to expect from flea treatments.1. Treated fleas may become more active before they die The ingredient in FRONTLINE Spot On and FRONTLINE Plus that kills fleas makes them hyperactive before they die. So you may see fleas come to the surface of your pet’s coat and your pet might feel a bit more itchy than usual until those fleas are killed.
Flea products don’t kill fleas instantly – the flea has to come into contact with the ingredient, absorb it and then start to feel the effects. It’s a little like you catching a cold – some time will elapse between you having contact with the infection and then becoming ill. Although it may happen a lot quicker it can take up to 24 hours for fleas jumping onto your pet to be killed.
2. Fleas are hatching out in your home and jumping onto your pet There are usually many more immature flea lifestages (eggs, larvae and pupae) in your home than adult fleas on your pet. Flea eggs can be constantly hatching out when the temperature and humidity are right and new adult fleas are always emerging from cocoons (pupae). These new fleas only hatch out when a host animal (your pet!) is nearby, as they have to have a blood meal to survive and breed.
Even once you are on top of any flea infestations in your home it is possible for your pet to pick up fleas outdoors, for example in your garden or during walks (and in the car?). Flea eggs and pupae can also be brought into the home on shoes or clothing. If you are treating regularly with FRONTLINE Spot On or FRONTLINE Plus, any ‘hitchhiker’ fleas will die within 24 hours of jumping onto your pet.
Is It Safe to Reapply a Flea Treatment Early?
If you are finding fleas on your pet even after applying your pet’s topical flea treatment, you might consider reapplying it early. However, this solution is not always recommended and may lead to an overdose in some rare cases.
There are so many different products available on the market, so it is difficult to speak to all of them in broad strokes. To be safe, you should always follow the instructions on your specific topical flea medication package.
Flea preventions typically use one or two active ingredients to do the job of preventing fleas. Each brand will use different active ingredients, and these ingredients will work in different ways to prevent fleas.
An overdose for most flea preventions could result in the following:
Your Flea Medication Has Become Ineffective
While you can reapply flea treatment early in some cases, you should talk to your veterinarian to find the best and most effective flea treatment for your pet.
Your vet will know which products are working well in your region, as some that may have been effective at one time may no longer be killing fleas the way they used to. They may also have personal favorites or recommendations based on your pet’s particular needs.
Fleas In Dogs | Vet Explains
When pet owners are asked what they dread most about the summer months, the topic that invariably comes up most is fleas!
These small, dark brown insects prefer temperatures of 65-80 degrees and humidity levels of 75-85 percent—so for some areas of the country, fleas on dogs are more than just a summer problem. In many areas of the southern United States, fleas can survive and bother your pet year-round.
Dogs often get infested with fleas through contact with other animals or contact with fleas in the environment. The strong back legs of this insect enable it to jump from host to host or from the surrounding environment onto the host. (Fleas do not have wings, so they cannot fly.)
The flea’s bite can cause itching for the host, but for a sensitive or flea-allergic animal, this itching can be quite severe. It can lead to severe scratching and chewing that causes hair loss, inflammation and secondary skin infections. Some pets can be hypersensitive to the fleas saliva and will itch all over from the bite of even a single flea.