Flea Treatment for Santa Rosa Dogs and Cats
Does Your Santa Rosa Pet Have Fleas?
We see a number of pets with flea infestations year round. The most commonly found flea is called the cat flea, though it feeds on dogs and humans too. These bites cause irritation and serious allergies in pets and humans.
We treat pets with fleas in two ways. One is to give them a flea bath, which kills up to 99% of the fleas, then follow it up with a monthly treatment to kill the remaining fleas. One thing to remember is that, for every flea you see on your pet, there are on average up to 10 more that you don’t see.
Using Natural Flea Treatment so Your Pet Stays Healthy
We use Envirogroom Flea & Tick shampoo. This shampoo is protein and lanolin enriched. The main active ingredient is Pyrethrins .045%. Pyrethrins are botanical insecticides derived from chrysanthemum flowers most commonly found in Australia and Africa. They work by altering nerve function, which causes paralysis in target insect pests, eventually resulting in death.
The flea treatment we use is Advantage. When your pet is completely dry, the treatment is applied between the shoulder blades and at the base of the tail. The treatment will last for up to one month.
After treating your pet, you also need to treat your home, or your pet will become reinfested with fleas. Adult female fleas lay up to 40 eggs per day which will hatch into larvae within 5 days. These larvae will hang around areas in your home (like carpet and bedding, even cracks in floor boards) eating organic matter.
Then after 2 weeks, the larvae become pupae, which starts the life cycle again. If the pupae cannot find a meal, (i.e. you and your pet), they will lie dormant for several months until a meal can be found. This is the reason you need to keep up with a monthly flea treatment. It is also important to wash all bedding in hot water and vacuum regularly as this is where the pupae and larvae are most likely to be.
You can add a flea collar into the container of your vacuum so that any fleas you suck up are killed and don’t just live in your vacuum. You can also treat your home by using a flea bomb, sold at local hardware stores. This will kill all fleas in all stages of life in your home.