Fleas: How to Battle and Prevent the Pesky Problem

Back in the day before my first cat joined our household, I had never experienced fleas. In line with my study at the College of Integrated Veterinary Therapies I learnt to ‘test before you treat’ using an old-fashioned flea comb: Molly my first Mini Bull Terrier had never had ‘fleas’!

However, dogs sharing a home with an outdoor cat are more ‘susceptible’ to the pesky flea down to them hanging out with other cats, resting in undergrowth, or from catching mice and birds. It’s common for a flea to hop a ride on your cat into your home. It’s very easy for your home to erupt into a flea infestation.

It’s interesting that there are many flea ‘species’, including dog fleas, hedgehog fleas, human fleas, but 90% of the world’s flea population is the very well adapted ‘cat flea’ otherwise known as 'Ctenocephalides Felix’.

Hippocrates wrote about this flea ‘species’ in 600 BC. He explained that the cat flea had adapted as almost impossible to kill, thriving on any warm-blooded host. Unlike other fleas, it’s the only flea to thrive on a cat, dog, horse even on humans!

We’re in an age where we’re encouraged to apply insecticide ‘spot-on’ treatments as a preventative measure for fleas every month, yet whilst one flea might bite your pooch only once, one bite is all it can take to trigger a severe ‘allergic’ flea reaction.

Whilst an occasional seasonal application is recommended, especially for cats, monthly treatments alone won’t be an adequate preventative. Rather disturbingly 85% of fleas won’t be on your dog or cat, they’ll be nesting in your furnishings, your carpet, your wardrobe, even in your car!

When you are 100% sure your dog has ‘fleas’ from flea dirt on the skin and coat, applying an insecticide is ‘strategic’ and will help in the counter offensive to a flea infestation, but only when combined with an ‘environmental’ approach and understanding the cat flea’s lifecycle.

Fleas are very canny! They’ll remain dormant sometimes for months until they’re attracted to light, movement, heat and CO2 that their hosts exhale when breathing. Springing into action any time one of these triggers’ their movement, but flea activity really takes off when multiple stimuli and potential hosts are noticed.

An adult flea can live for about three months. Providing there’s plenty of hosts to thrive on. A mature, adult female flea can lay between 40 to 50 eggs per day! Nearly half of these eggs may be female. Hatching in about a week, the larvae wriggle around. Hanging out for microscopic flea dirt to munch on, which could be on your dog, in your sofa, or on you! Once the females mature, they mate and lay their own eggs. So, fleas can become a pesky problem very quickly.

The aim is to work to obliterate the eggs and cut the lifecycle. It is a battle and requires a consistent arsenal approach every 48 hours.

It’s advisable to invest in a versatile steamer, a pointy nozzle attachment for your vacuum, silicone based (non-insecticide) spray that suffocates the eggs. Don’t forget about an old-fashioned flea comb, which will reveal if there any ‘flea’ dirt or poop on your dog.

Work in a strict rotation every two days involving spraying to suffocate eggs in the cracks of your sofa, floor crevices, rugs and carpeted areas. Leave for 48 hours before hoovering thoroughly. Then steam all areas, before spraying with the silicone spray and repeat.

Adding Diatomaceous earth into your flea attack is a 100% natural, ‘old-fashioned’ flea exterminator that is deadly to any insect, yet completely harmless to animals. Diatomaceous earth’s mode of action for insect- and parasite-control is strictly mechanical. The microscopically sharp edges of the earth contacts the insect or parasite and pierces their protective coating, so they soon dehydrate and die. The larvae is affected in the same way.

By applying Diatomaceous Earth onto your dog’s skin, in the ‘Human-grade’ edible variety, will work like a natural flea powder. Sprinkle the Diatomaceous earth into rugs, carpets, crevices and around your dog’s bed in lieu of any chemical agents.

In the same way that we might apply a ‘mosquito’ repellent, there’s a raft of natural ‘sprays’ on the market containing ‘anti-flea’ essential oils. A 2017 study published by the Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases found that thyme, myrtle and cedarwood essential oils can repel fleas effectively from fabric, people, and pets.

Interestingly scientists from Imperial College London are urging vets to adopt the strategy practiced in Scandinavian countries, which is to ‘test before you treat’. Their research proved that levels of fipronil and imidacloprid (both insecticides only found in pet parasiticides) are exceeding safe levels polluting British rivers and damaging these ecosystems.

• It’s interesting that there are many flea ‘species’, including dog fleas, hedgehog fleas, human fleas, but 90% of the world’s flea population is the very well adapted ‘cat flea’ otherwise known as 'Ctenocephalides Felix’. Unlike other fleas, it’s the only flea to thrive on a cat, dog, horse even on humans!

• It’s advisable to invest in a versatile steamer, a pointy nozzle attachment for your vacuum, silicone based (non-insecticide) spray that suffocates the eggs. Don’t forget about an old-fashioned flea comb, which will reveal if there any ‘flea’ dirt or poop on your dog.

• Applying a monthly ‘spot-on’ treatment is an inadequate preventative, mainly as fleas hop on and off your dog – they live in your environment.

• Once fleas are diagnosed to apply a ‘spot-on’ is advised as a ‘strategic’ counter offensive.

• The cat flea is almost impossible to kill, but understanding their lifecycle is fundamental to obliterating them, starting with killing the eggs before they hatch.

• It is a battle down to the resilience. But with a rigorous routine, every 48 hours involving steaming, hoovering, and adding Diatomaceous Earth into your armoury.

• In the same way that we might apply a ‘mosquito’ repellent, there’s a raft of natural ‘sprays’ on the market containing ‘anti-flea’ essential oils. A 2017 study published by the Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases found that thyme, myrtle and cedarwood essential oils can repel fleas effectively from fabric, people, and pets.
• As fleas are ‘sugar-junkies’ studies suggest that dogs eating a raw balanced and complete diet are less prone to flea bites than those dogs eating an ultra-processed sugar rich alternative.

Anna Webb – as a Canine Nutrition and Behaviour expert, Anna combines her psychology degree, with study at the College of Integrated Veterinary Therapies (CIVT) and over 20 years of experience. Host of the award-nominated A DOG’S LIFE podcast, she lives in London and is owned by Prudence, a Miniature Bull Terrier, and Mr Binks, a re-homed English Toy Terrier.