It’s Flea Season!

by pest expert Matthew S. Hess  03/20/2024

As the weather warms up and your pets start spending more time outdoors, fleas can become a problem. Your pets can be exposed to fleas if other animals that frequent the area leave fleas behind. These animals can include other pet dogs or cats, feral dogs or cats, opossums, rats, raccoons, and others. Once these small insects are in your yard, they will be looking for a blood meal, which can mean trouble for your pet, especially during peak flea season!

Early detection and prompt treatment are key to preventing the spread of fleas. If you don’t notice fleas on your pet right away, it could lead to your pet suffering, and indoor infestations might affect your family. If you suspect a flea infestation, it’s crucial to take immediate action. Get your pets treated and consider hiring an exterminator such as Four Seasons Pest Solutions to treat your home and lawn promptly. By being proactive, you can protect your pets and your family from the potential harm of fleas.

If you’re getting bitten but aren’t sure if it’s fleas, here’s a quick tip on how to tell. Simply look for bites at the ankle level, around the waist, in the bend of the knees and elbows, and in the armpits. If you have bites in any of these places, it could be fleas.

About Fleas and Flea Season

It’s crucial to regularly treat dogs and cats against fleas to prevent infestation, especially before and during peak flea season. This is particularly important because dogs and cats are common household pets. Fleas not only pose a threat to animals but can also become potentially dangerous, and even deadly to humans once inside the home. Fleas cause discomfort when they bite and also transmit several diseases and parasites to humans and other animals, including Murine typhus, Cat scratch disease, Plague, tapeworms, and more.

After fleas have infested your pet, they can remain there until they die. The adult female flea will lay 4-8 eggs on the host after each blood meal. Instead of sticking or “gluing” their eggs to something, the fleas will lay them loosely within the pet’s fur. As the pet moves around, these tiny eggs can fall onto the floor, furniture, lawn, or any other area the pet visits frequently. In these areas, the flea eggs will hatch into larvae, and if the conditions are right, they will mature into adult fleas.. The adult female will lay 4-8 eggs after each blood meal. Fleas do not glue or stick their eggs to anything. Instead, they lay them loosely within the pet’s fur. As the pet moves about, these tiny eggs are able to fall into the floor, furniture, lawn, or other area where the pet frequents. Here, the fleas eggs hatch into larvae, and if the conditions are favorable, they will complete their life cycle to become adult fleas.

Flea Infestations

Flea infestations won’t usually disappear on their own. In fact, in most cases it requires the assistance of a professional veterinarian and pest control company. Even then, it may take more than one treatment to successfully eliminate the entire infestation, especially in homes with hard surface floors.

It’s important that two specific steps are taken if you are battling fleas. First, your pets MUST be treated for fleas. This may include either oral or topical dosage and shampoo. Of course you might opt for over-the-counter treatments, but be aware that it is crucial to achieve complete control. This may mean a trip to the veterinarian for professional treatment. Determining the best solution for your pet’s care is important and a good veterinarian will provide much quicker and safer results than any over-the-counter products.

While your pet is out of the home and being treated, hopefully you have coordinated a professional pest control company to treat your home for fleas. Since flease are resistant to many active ingredients, over-the-counter products are not likely to be successful. Four Seasons Pest Solutions offers guaranteed results. We are aware of specific issues that arise with flea control. For instance, did you know that flea pupae are resistant to all known insecticides? This means that once fully developed, a pupal stage flea could emerge as an adult even AFTER a treatment is performed. That’s why it’s important to use IGRs (Insect Growth Regulators) and quality residual insecticides when performing flea treatments.

Additionally, a few steps can be taken by you, the homeowner, before and after a flea treatment. Before a treatment, it’s crucial to remove all non-stationary items from the floor (clothes, toys, books, etc.) so that the floor’s surface can be fully treated. Also, vacuuming before a treatment helps remove dust, dirt, and debris that can absorb portions of the insecticide treatment and render them useless, while vacuuming AFTER the treatment helps remove dead fleas, eggs, larvae, and pupae.

Preventing Fleas during Flea Season

Treating your pets for fleas regularly is the most important preventative step for homeowners. However, there are other methods to reduce the risk of a flea infestation in your home.

Lawn Visitors

You might believe that you and your pets are the only ones on your lawn, but the reality is quite different. Stray dogs and cats, wildlife, and other pets and animals may frequently “visit” your yard, bringing fleas and flea eggs straight to your doorstep. If these visits occur often, it can lead to a continuous source of fleas.

Flea Prevention Outdoors

There are several ways to discourage and prevent animals, including pets and wild animals, from entering your lawn. By doing so, you can also prevent the introduction of fleas to your property. Here is a list of preventive measures to reduce unwanted animal visitors in your lawn:

  • Keep the grass mowed short and clean
  • Eliminate weeds and undergrowth along wood lines
  • Pick up and discard any nuts, seeds, leaves, fruits, and limbs that fall from trees
  • Store garbage in animal-proof receptacles
  • Do not feed pets free-choice
  • Stop discarding scraps outside
  • Allow proper drainage of water from the lawn
  • Permit adequate sunlight to penetrate to the lawn
  • Reduce clutter in the lawn
  • Eliminate any potential harborage areas (where animals could spend the night)

These are just a few simple ways to help reduce unwanted animals from entering your lawn. By doing so, you eliminate the sources of many flea infestations. If there are no fleas in your lawn, there probably won’t be fleas on your pet.

Flea Prevention Indoors

Of course if you have prevented fleas outside your home, the chances of having them inside are almost completely eliminated. However, visitors to your home, especially those with pets, could be a source of infestation. Additionally, visiting other places with or without your pet, could be a potential source. So how can you be assured that you won’t end up with fleas inside?

Avoid visiting places where fleas are known to infest

Don’t allow guests to bring their pets to your home

Vacuum regularly

Keep home decluttered

Wash pet bedding regularly

Regularly treat your pet

Practicing these few steps will greatly decrease the likelihood that you’ll face a flea infestation in your home.

Seeking Professional Flea Treatment

When flea season arrives, preventative pest control treatments can greatly lower the chances that you’ll experience any flea problems. Professionals not only have access to high quality insecticides, but are also trained on how, where, and when to apply them and specifically, which products perform best. Furthermore, a professional pest management team can inform you on what to expect from a treatment. For instance, although the treatment will eliminate all existing adults, eggs, and larva, there is no insecticide able to penetrate and kill the pupal stage. This means that within a few days to a few weeks, you may begin to find fleas again. However, if proper treatment has been performed and IGRs and residual insecticides have been used, it may not be necessary to perform a follow-up treatment.

Preparing for a Professional Flea Treatment

If you find yourself in need of a flea treatment, there are several steps that YOU should take prior to treatment. These steps help ensure that the treatment plan is successful, and no areas are left untreated:

  • Vacuum ALL floors (even hard floors) to remove dirt and debris
  • Vacuum upholstered furniture and under furniture, especially where pets frequent
  • Declutter
  • Pick up all non-stationary items from the floor (clothes, toys, etc.)
  • Remove everything under all beds and furniture
  • Strip and clean all pet bedding, washing in hot water and drying on high heat
  • Remove vacuum bag (or contents) and place in garbage bag, seal, and remove to exterior receptacle

Failure to perform these crucial steps will void any warranties that may be offered with a flea treatment and could render the treatment ineffective.

After completing these steps, you, other household occupants, and any pets must leave the home during the treatment process and for about two hours after it is done. In other words, plan to be out of the home for around three to four hours on the day of treatment. Make sure to cover fish aquariums and bowls immediately before treatment, and turn off the pumps.

What to Expect After Treatment

After the completion of the treatment, all adult fleas, eggs, and larvae will be eliminated. However, the pupal stage will still be present and can continue to emerge as adult fleas. You may notice these emerging fleas over the next few days to weeks. Please do not panic. The treatment will keep killing these emerging fleas for several months. If you find the emerging fleas unacceptable, you can easily resolve this by vacuuming daily or a couple of times daily. No further treatment is necessary at this time.

Just as the treatment will continue to eliminate emerging adult fleas from the pupal stage, it will also prevent any NEW fleas from completing their life cycle, thus preventing infestations for the entire guaranteed period. What more could you ask for from a flea treatment during flea season?”

Four Seasons Pest Solutions is always ready to assist you with any pest issues you may encounter. Don’t let flea season leave your pets irritated, your family unhappy, and your home or lawn infested with fleas. Trust the professionals and find out why everyone says that it’s good to have For Seasons on your side!