Preventive measures

Conventional wisdom and older studies that studied rat fleas suggest that fleas spend only part of their time on your pet; this is not true. There are different varieties of fleas, and the primary flea infesting dogs and cats in North America and large areas of Europeis the cat flea (yes on dogs, too). This flee, not as well studied as the rat flea actually spends all of its adult life on the host under normal conditions. Eggs are laid on the host and drop off into the environment. Thus you can often find eggs wherever your pets spend time: on their bedding, through the house, in the backyard.

A good preventive method is to put down towels everywhere your pet normally lies and then wash those towels once a week. Deposited flea eggs are therefore cleaned out regularly. Regular vacuuming and emptying of the vacuum bag also helps, independently of any method or methods you choose to do, since that eliminates or reduces food sources for the larvae.

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