Best Way to Get Rid of Fleas in Your House

The best way to get rid of fleas in your home involves treating your pets, vacuuming your home and applying powder or chemical treatments. If your furry friend has fleas, you should also treat your furniture, yard and house.

While fleas don’t carry any diseases harmful to humans, people who are allergic to fleabites experience bad reactions, such as itching and swelling. Take a look at the steps you can take to know the best way to rid your house of fleas.

How to Choose the Best Way to Get Rid of Fleas

Choosing the best way to get rid of fleas in your home requires understanding a few factors, including:

Chemical or natural? Chemical flea killers are more effective but may cause sensitive people some issues.
Carpets, Tile or Hardwood? Removing fleas from carpet takes a little more time and care. You’ll need to vacuum.
Kill or Remove? Most of your treatments kill both the fleas and their pupae.

Best Way to Get Rid of Fleas in Your House

The best way to get rid of fleas in your house involves four steps. They’ll address the issue in your pet, home and yard. These steps include:

Treating your pet
Vacuuming your carpets
Treating your home
Treating your yard

1. Treat Your Pet

Start at the source to fix your flea problem. Your dog or cat might be the cause of your flea infestation. If you don’t have a pet, check your yard or lawn. It’s possible that your neighbor’s dog or homeless dogs visit your property.

You can use a flea comb to remove fleas, but think of this as a temporary measure. Instead, kill them before they become a problem. The best products to get rid of fleas include:

Powders: Sprinkle the powder directly on the dog’s fur to kill the fleas.
Collars: This option can protect your dog for up to eight months, offering the easiest way to control the insects.
“Spot-on” liquids: These liquids are squeezed onto a specific spot on your pet’s skin. They are safe, and there are no known adverse reactions.
Sprays: Unlike “spot-on” liquids, sprays are a topical treatment that’s applied all over the pet’s body to control fleas. This is a quick way to kill fleas.

Keep in mind that it might take several treatments to get rid of fleas on your pet. If your pup or kitten is on a flea control program, call your vet for help. They can suggest flea treatments that only require one dose a month.

You can also take your pet to a vet to get a flea bath. This is something you can do at home using a flea shampoo as well. If you consider washing the pet yourself, be sure to buy a shampoo that contains pyrethrin. This compound is toxic to insects, and it’s used to control fleas, flies, ants, moths and many other pests.

Remember, you should only allow your pet back into the house after treating it properly. This way, it will avoid the fleas that may still be in your yard, which will also need to be treated.

2. Vacuum Your House

Regularly vacuuming your house is the best way to get rid of fleas in the carpet. You need to vacuum your curtains, carpets, furniture and cracks in wood floors. Don’t forget to vacuum where your pet sleeps, too.

Empty the vacuum cleaner contents into a bag, and seal the bag well before throwing it away outside. Vacuum areas that your pet frequents every day. Wash your pet’s bedding in hot water to get rid of the fleas, too.

Using a steam cleaner for your upholstery and carpets is also an effective way to get rid of fleas after vacuuming. The intense heat kills larval and adult fleas, as well as some eggs. The problem with steam cleaning is that its warmth might cause the remaining eggs to hatch. Vacuum well each day after steam cleaning to get rid of any newly hatched fleas.

3. Apply Powder Treatments

Applying powder treatments, such as Enforcer, Hartz UltraGuard, and Adams flea powder, can be the most effective way to get rid of fleas after vacuuming and cleaning your home. The powder will also kill fleas over time as it gets deep in your carpet and crevices of furniture. Powder treatments, however, tend to leave residue in your carpets. Your pets can sniff the residue, leading to coughing.

Once you have cleaned your home:

Sprinkle the flea powder on your furniture while paying particular attention to the crevices.
Sprinkle it around the perimeter of your walls and the floor, too.
Use a broom to brush the powder into the carpets and rugs until there are no visible traces of powder.
Allow the powder to stay in place for 24 hours before vacuuming.

4. Use Chemical Treatments

Chemical sprays are one of the best ways to get rid of a flea infestation because it kills both adult fleas and eggs, so new ones can’t hatch. If you opt to use chemical treatments, look for an insecticide that contains both an insect growth regulator (IGR), such as pyriproxyfen or methoprene, and an adulticide like permethrin.

Permethrin kills adult fleas while methoprene kills pupae, larvae and eggs, making it the quickest way to get rid of fleas at all life stages. Spray every possible area, including the floor, under the furniture and the pet’s bed.

Spray your house while everyone is out, and only allow your family back in when the spray has completely dried, and this takes about 40 minutes. You can also hire flea exterminator near you to treat your home. The problem with chemical sprays is that they can be toxic to pets and humans, triggering symptoms, such as nose and throat irritation and skin blisters.

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Best Way to Kill Fleas in Your House

Most Effective Way to Get Rid of Fleas

Hire a flea exterminator to get rid of fleas effectively. However, if you want to do the job yourself, you’ll need to go through a few steps, including:

Wash clothes, bedding and use a flea shampoo on any pets
Vacuum then shampoo your carpets
Use a chemical flea powder or other cleaner for your home
Dust your yard for fleas with a chemical powder

Easiest and Quickest Way to Get Rid of Fleas

Hire an exterminator to get rid of them quickly and completely. Flea extermination costs $75 to $400.

Safe Way to Get Rid of Fleas

While all flea removal chemicals are safe when used properly, those with sensitivities may want to try a few of these options:

Herbal flea spray
Baking soda
Dish soap
Diatomaceous earth
Rosemary

Hiring a Professional Extermination Service

Grappling with a flea infestation can be an annoying experience for any homeowner. These pesky pests can be quite difficult to control once they spread all over your home. However, with the right measures, it’s possible to rid your home of fleas.

You should start by treating your pet using sprays, powder or shampoo treatments. Follow that up by cleaning and vacuuming your whole house. Then, use powders or chemicals to kill the remaining fleas and keep them from spreading.

Ask a flea exterminator near you for an estimate if the problem persists. Consider ways to keep your yard safe, too. Try putting cedar chips in areas where your pets like to lie down, and mow your lawn regularly to expose the surface to sunlight.

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Best Way to Get Rid of Fleas in Your House

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How to Choose the Best Way to Get Rid of Fleas