Thursday, November 17, 2011

Choosing The Right Flea Treatment

By Jenson Davies


It's going to depend on a number of different factors when it comes to which is the best flea treatment for your pet. One of the things that you have to think about, for example, is what your priorities are in dealing with the infestation, and another is what kind of pet you have. While the options will be gone through here, it's best to talk to your vet about what is going to be best in your situation.

Chemical Treatments or Natural Treatments?

One of the main decisions that you are going to have to make in terms of what flea treatment to use is whether you want to go down the chemical route or the natural route. They both have their advantages and disadvantages so it really depends on what your priorities are as to which is going to be best.

If you want to get rid of the fleas from your pet as quickly as possible then you are going to have to use chemical treatments. These act quickly and they last for a long time. For example if you feed a tablet to your pet that combats fleas, for quite a while afterwards any flea that bites your pet and sucks up their blood will die from their nervous system shutting down.

There are, however, negative side effects sometimes with chemical treatments though. For example with the tablets, as well as affecting the nervous system of the fleas, it sometimes also affects the dog as well. Or with lotions and sprays, sometimes this results in hair loss.

Due to the potential dangers of chemical flea treatments, some people prioritise making sure that they do not harm their pets with the treatment that is employed. In that case, they have to use natural treatments such as the flea bath. Although that would not be suitable for a cat of course.

The problem with natural treatments, however, is that they don't last as long. So for example after a flea bath there is nothing to stop more fleas from continuing the infestation. And there will probably be plenty in the environment which are going to be ready to do that.

One way in which you can make this determination, if you are not sure which option you should use, is to think about how severe the infestation is. If it is particularly severe then the long lasting relief which a chemical treatment can provide might be worth the risk. Otherwise you might prefer to just give daily flea baths and stay safe.

Flea Control for Your Home

Whichever sort of treatment you choose for your pet though, it is never going to be enough to get rid of the flea infestation altogether. In order to do that you are going to have to carry out a flea treatment for your home as well. That's because when fleas lay eggs, they develop not on the pet but in the environment in which they live.

When it comes to this area as well there are also two different options. In this case though the best choice is quite clear, it is to use pest control operatives to fumigate the area in order to get rid of them all very quickly. Sometimes though people choose to do it themselves, in which case a thorough cleaning regime will be necessary.

The things that you cannot wash you should start off by vacuuming. The best thing to do though is to wash everything that you reasonably can, for example the bedding of your pet. Also your own bedding if your pet ever goes up there. Remember to do the washing at high temperatures.

While vacuuming is going to be a good start as that is going to get rid of all of the eggs, you will have to do more than that to get the larvae. That's because flea larvae are so tiny they can wrap themselves around the strands in a carpet and resist a vacuum cleaner. To be sure of the best results, using a pest control service instead is the best idea.




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