Keep fleas and ticks away from your home
FLEA & TICK CONTROL SOLUTIONS
Fleas and Ticks
While fleas have no wings, they have incredibly powerful elongated legs which allow them to jump long distances and travel easily between you and your pets. A good flea control needs care, if you have them, for both your property and your pets.
You can get fleas and ticks on your clothes and these blood-sucking linen parasites cause itchy bites and are typically found on household pets.
In areas such as grasslands, forests and human homes ticks can be found. When all stages of a tick’s life cycle have hatched, they feed on blood. Fleas are insects that are wingless that can’t fly. They have long legs though and advanced jumping abilities which means we can pass through thick fur or feathers. Fleas are popular worldwide with various species mainly residing in households.
Keeping Fleas and Ticks Away
Animals including dogs and cats are the primary cause of infestation by flea and ticks. Prevention of flea and tick on dogs and cats is something the pet owners need to take seriously. Here are several useful strategies for keeping fleas and ticks away from your home or business premises:
- Vacuum regularly.
- Wash pet bedding weekly at high temperature
- Many animals like birds and rats often carry fleas, and they can quickly pick up those fleas and bring them back while your pets are outside, and check them regularly using flea combs. Larvae in carpets, bedding & furnishings feed on organic matter. To avoid fleas you must try to remove any possible food source.
- Inspect carpets and floors carefully for signs of eggs or ‘flea manure’ before moving into a new house. If the previous owners had cats, you might expect the flea larvae.
A female cat flea can lay between 25 and 40 eggs per day after feeding, in the host’s fur or bedding. A single female cat flea in one lifetime will produce up to 2,000 eggs.
Managing Fleas is Tricky
- Coconut fleas may remain dormant for two years. They hatch only when the conditions are correct.
- The flea eggs are small, oval and white (approx. 0.5 mm long). They are almost difficult to see against hard surfaces such as carpets, rugs and bedding for pets.
- The lifecycle of a flea can be anywhere from two weeks to about eight months.
- Fleas can breed quickly. Despite medical support this makes it impossible to avoid fleas absolutely.
Signs of Fleas
Your cat or dog is constantly scratching and biting itself, especially in areas like the back, thighs and around the tail. Is it actually an infection of the head, or could it be fleas feeding from the back? There are a few ways to search for fleas in your house, before you take your pet to the vet.
Can you see your pet’s fleas scratching on the coat? Normally they are reddy-brown, and about 2 mm long. Check your dog’s hindquarters, or your cat’s head and arms. These are the main areas, where you can see signs of flea activity. Check out for small black droppings on your pet’s fur. It is’ flea powder’ or flea faeces for adults which looks like ground black pepper. A reliable way to spot it is to use a flea comb over a sheet of white paper which makes the tiny black specks easier to see. The flea dirt on pet bedding, carpets, or rugs is another sign of a problem.
Infestation Signs
- Your cat or dog is continuously scratching its back, thighs and around the tail.
- You will see reddy-brown fleas crawling on your pet’s coat (usually about 2 mm long).
- On the skin of your pet you’ll find fine black droppings.
- Flea soil is visible in the bedding of your cats, in your carpets and on rugs.
Cat Flea
Cat fleas are also incapable of deciding if a host is appropriate until bitten. If it’s considered unacceptable, the flea drops off early. Cat fleas are wingless ticks 3 mm long, flattened from side to side with long legs which allow them to jump. The adult flea is awakened for potential blood meals by sensing vibration of pet or human motion, pain, heat, noise or carbon dioxide. Cat fleas nest where the host, for example the cat basket, is at its normal resting spot. This is also where the young go to maturity
Dog Flea
Adult Dog fleas feed on dogs and cats’ saliva, and they attack humans sometimes. It is a Dog Tapeworm vector which can affect humans, too. Adult is mostly brownish in colour, but appears reddish–mostly after a meal of blood. The adult dog fleas are between 1 and 4 mm long. The legless larva is off-white with a length of up to 5 mm. They can switch from host to host, since they can hop around 6 inches. They will infest lawns in the garden too.
Human Flea
They’re brownish to black–black, and wingless. Adult fleas are 1-4 mm in weight. Females have a thick, fine proboscis which is used to pierce their host’s skin to feed on their blood. They have a signature motion of jumping. Fleas bite people around the legs and ankles most frequently, usually with 2-3 bites in a row. The bites are instantly felt and can stay painful for as long as a week. As they pass from one host species to another they pose a risk of disease transmission. There are also human fleas found on animals like dogs and rats.
Identifying Fleas and Ticks
For many cat and dog lovers, fleas and ticks are perhaps one of the most dreaded biting bugs, pet owners may become extremely obsessed about these. In your home the idea of fleas is enough to make the skin crawl of most people. Animals will select fleas from other animals or locations, and give them a home ride. When they’re in your home or business premises you’re going to want to get rid of them fast.
Flea has six legs while tick has eight legs. If you couldn’t distinguish between those two, they’re the key differences you could look for. Hosts of common flea include dog and cat while hosts of common ticks include dog, cat, rat, snake, rodent and human. Most people in a home or work setting will want to get rid of fleas and ticks, as they survive by feeding on blood.
A flea or tick infestation, in addition to creating disturbance to your living room, threatens the health and safety of your family and beloved pets. Do you ever find your cat or dog bites so hard that red patches are formed on your skin? It may be one of the signs of warning your pet may have fleas or ticks. It’s important to know the symptoms of fleas and ticks before an infestation gets worse. Ticks lay thousands of eggs at once, and their lifespan may be as high as 3 years.
Flea Bites
Although flea bites can cause pain and discomfort on humans, your pets sometimes suffer a great deal more. You may see your dog or cat struggle trying to bite the fleas in their fur desperately.
A flea bite isn’t especially painful, but as soon as you’ve been bitten you’ll always be conscious. However, you can develop some itchiness around the bite which, depending on your sensitivity, may become uncomfortable.
What Are the Symptoms of a Flea Bite?
There are many common symptoms present in flea bites. They’re really itchy, and the skin can become sore or painful around each scratch. You may be having hives or developing rash near a bite site. In addition, extreme itching may cause an infection.
How to Identify Flea Bites
| How to find bites? |
| Check for tiny black spots, surrounded by a reddish region with much less swelling around the bite relative to other bites of insects. |
| Where do bites occur? |
| Popular locations on the feet or lower legs to acquire flea bites are. Typically fleas leap for food from cats, carpets, bedding or furniture. |
| Immediate awareness |
| A flea bite is generally instantly felt, with a single flea sometimes biting in the same area two or three times. |
| No initial pain |
| The actual bite just doesn't hurt. It is the itchiness which results from the reaction of the body which causes the discomfort. |
| Who is at risk? |
| Children are at a higher risk of being bitten by fleas, particularly while playing on the floor, particularly carpeted areas and/or on rugs. Children also appear to be more prone to biting than adults. |
Tips on Getting Rid of Fleas and Ticks
The DIY choice needs that a flea and tick spray to be purchased and used correctly at any possible corner of the infested area. First, you’ll need to inspect your pet, find places that have been bitten and carry them to a licensed veterinarian to treat. Remove bedding, carpet or blanket from the pet as these may be places to hide for fleas and ticks. If you catch the problem early enough, there are some things you can do to get rid of fleas or ticks. Here is our list of to-does to get rid of fleas:
- The vacuum carpets, furnishings, holes in the floorboards and properly upholstered furniture before you do anything else. This should kill not only adult fleas but also their eggs and larvae. The larvae feed on adult flea faeces and other organic matter, collecting in items such as carpets and rugs. Removing the food source is an essential step.
- Remove the vacuum cleaner from the house very carefully because the fleas are still alive.
Regularly groom your pets with a flea comb, and wash their beds every week (ideally at or above 60 ° C). - Whether it’s scratching or chewing your pet’s hair you should talk to your doctor. They may suggest using the best flea sprays or powders to treat your cat.
- Place the repellent collars on your pets as an added defence against ticks for your pet.
While DIY flea control can provide you with some sort of assurance by thorough testing and spraying, there are limitations to effective control as you may miss out on a crucial hiding hotspot. With qualified pest control professionals, the best flea and tick management initiative is improved to provide sound guidance and administer effective treatment to keep an infestation under management.
How to get rid of Flea problems
Killing fleas at the source
Many flea infestations are caused by pets, so start combing your pet with a flea comb, with a special emphasis on your pet’s neck and tail. Drop any fleas that you comb off into soapy hot water to capture. Please be sure to discuss flea prevention options with your pet doctor.
Destroy Pet Bedding
It is recommended that all pet bedding be discarded in case of heavy flea infestations. For milder flea infestations, soapy water should be used to wash the bedding thoroughly in hot water to kill the fleas and destroy the larvae and eggs.
Get rid of fleas in the carpet
Use a vacuum to clean the house to the max. Be sure that you pay special attention to carpet areas where your pets spend a great deal of time. Vacuuming can trap flea eggs and larvae, as well as destroy the fleas. This will also help to get rid of dried blood and flea-producing faeces, which will eliminate the food sources for any fleas that emerge.
Benefits of a Professional Flea and Tick Control
Removing Fleas and Ticks in Homes and Businesses
When a flea or tick infestation gets worse, you and your family run the risk of being bitten and these biting bugs are also a health and safety concern in addition to being a nuisance. Your dog or cat risks health problems, such as inflammation from extreme skin itch, particularly for domestic pets. The condition can worsen in some cases, causing harm to the health of the pet.
Flea can spread diseases such as Bartonellosis, and Tapeworm. Tick triggers diseases including Lyme disease and spotted fever in the Rocky Mountains. Skilled pest control companies conduct spraying and/or misting treatment along the skirtings of the premises and damaged areas. A skilled pest control system will manage the infestation situation easier, there are hidden spaces and places that are hard to find and treat using DIY solutions. Pest control companies in Singapore have appropriate coverage and security with specialised experience in flea and tick management for a peace of mind.
Inspection & Identification
We can include inspection of the property both inside and outside, as ticks on clothing and pets may be brought inside. The inspection will involve recognising tick species.
Informing You
We will provide tick habits, activities, habitats and life cycle information. We’ll also tell how to spot ticks, and how to prevent exposure to ticks. We will also include instructions for contacting your doctor or veterinarian for advice on the use of tick repellent and treatment items on your pet, if necessary.
Tick Habitat Modifications
We may suggest how to change tick habitat areas in shaded areas as exposing an area to sunlight may reduce moisture and further reduce tick breeding in their habitat, thus helping to eliminate it.