Fleas on pets - get them under control quickly

The first indication that most pet owners have that there is an issue with fleas in their house or on their pet is that they actually see a flea. Now that sounds obvious, but is it?

You see, when you study the flea life cycle you would realize that those few fleas that you seen on your pet are just the tip of the iceberg. Vets will often tell you that the adult flea represents only around 5% of the fleas in an animals environment. A very scary 95% of flea life stage actually live off the pet.

If you wait to plan your flea control strategy by waiting to see adult fleas on your pet, then you are waiting far to long - and you already have a flea problem.

When there are very few fleas in a pets environment, most owners will not notice that their pet has fleas. The reasons for this are that: - fleas move quickly, - fleas may be removed from the pet by grooming, - some animals are quite tolerant of flea bites.

The worst situation is where you first notice quite a number of fleas when on the day you first notice them - you (and your pet) are in trouble. By the time a flea infestation has grown to a big problem you are past the point of a quick and easy fix. Even if you use the most effective flea killer immediately, there are so many flea stages such as flea eggs, larva and pupa in the surroundings of your pet that, while you may immediately kill all the fleas on your pet, there will be more that can reinfect them by the next day. It may appear that the flea control product is not working but if it's an effective one it probably is.

What should you do when you notice fleas on pets?
- Start with a fast acting flea control - Capstar is an oral medicine that kills fleas on your pet extremely fast but it does not work for very long - but it will give immediate relief.
- Move onto longer term product such as Advantage which is a spot-on treatment
- Wait - once you've started to use an effective product you may have to wait a few weeks before you see big in roads to the flea population
- If things are really bad, you may need to get a professional pest control service or use a do-it-yourself spray for your house and garden.

But as with many medical issues, prevention is always better than the cure. So start your flea control program BEFORE you see fleas on your pets. It always pays to make sure you don't give fleas the chance to breed early in the season - your pet will thank you for it!