How Dangerous Is It to Have Fleas in My Washington D.C. Home?
11/22/2021
Once fleas enter your home, they can cause serious issues with both your pets and your family. To rid yourself of this annoying pest, ongoing preve...
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Are you scratching your head wondering how fleas are getting into your home? Sometimes, even when you think you have done everything to protect your home, your pets, and yourself from fleas, they still manage to find their way in to plague you mercilessly. It is not uncommon for us to hear from frustrated homeowners who have "tried everything" to get rid of fleas, only to be invaded time and time again with these tormenting pests. Hopefully, this article will give you some answers on how to better protect yourself from the usual summer plague of fleas.
Ways Fleas Find Their Way Inside
Fleas are not like most other household pests. They don't crawl up to your home, crawl around on your walls, or squeeze in through gaps and cracks into your exterior walls. They don't fly or jump through open windows or doors, and they don't ride in on plants or produce. Fleas need a furry creature to hitch a ride on in order to make it inside a home. Typically, they will ride in on dogs or cats, but they can also make their way in on rodents or other furry creatures that find their way into crawl spaces, wall voids, or attics.
If fleas are entering your home on your pets, it may be easier to take care of the problem because you have control of where they roam. With rodents and other wildlife, however, it may be more of a challenge, as you may not know how they are getting in, where they are inside your structure, or what to do to get them out and keep them out.
How Can Homeowners Keep Fleas Off Pets
- Be sure to get high-quality flea control products from your veterinarian to keep your pets protected.
- Bathe and groom your pets often.
- When your pets are outside, keep them either in fenced-in areas or leashed inside a pest-controlled environment as much as possible.
- Make your yard less inviting to rodents and other wildlife by removing clutter, eliminating overgrown areas, trimming grass short, and keeping all trash in tightly sealed containers.
- If furry animals are kept away from your yard, your pets will be less likely to pick fleas.
Dangers Of A Flea Infestation
- According to the CDC, fleas are still able to transmit the plague. This disease causes symptoms such as fever, headache, chills, weakness, and one or more swollen, tender, painful lymph nodes. If not treated properly, the plague can lead to death, though this is not likely in the United States due to the availability of health care.
- Fleas can carry typhus. (This can also be spread by mites and ticks.) Symptoms include a headache, fever, chills, and a rash.
- Fleas can also carry spotted fever. Symptoms include a high fever, chills, severe headache, muscle aches, vomiting, and insomnia.
- In pets, fleas can cause flea allergy dermatitis, hair loss, and skin irritations. If the infestation is large enough, fleas can also cause anemia, especially in kittens or puppies.
- Fleas can carry tapeworms. Usually, these tapeworms only affect pets, but they may be found in children if fleas, or portions of fleas, are consumed.
2 Ways Professional Treatment Can Help
Rodent control: American Pest offers rodent extermination services. Eliminating rodents from your home and property will greatly reduce the chances of pets picking up fleas and bringing them inside. Our 5-step process includes inspection, sealing of entry points, installation of SMART rodent extermination traps, interior/exterior rodent treatments if needed, and a follow-up inspection. The rodent traps used in this process are state-of-the-art mechanical and electrical traps that don't require bait. This makes ongoing extermination effective and efficient.
Flea treatments for your property: While there are DIY treatments for fleas, it is important to keep in mind that any chemical treatment, if not done properly, can have harmful consequences for humans and pets alike. At American Pest, our pest control professionals are educated in the proper use of pest control products to achieve the best, and safest, results. All products used in our treatments have been thoroughly checked by the EPA and registered for pest control use; your pest management professional will follow all established safety protocols when applying treatments.
If you are tired of dealing with the usual summertime invasion of fleas in your home, reach out to American Pest. We will be happy to answer any questions you might have or get you started with pest control services right away to help keep your home flea-free.
