The two pests that wreak the most havoc for our pets are fleas and ticks. They bother us year-round, but as spring turns to summer, it’s prime time to prepare for the yearly ambush.
Fleas and ticks are biting, bloodsucking, and irritating and they can cause dangerous diseases like anemia, tapeworms, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease.
How does flea and tick prevention work?
The most important thing to understand for effective prevention of fleas and ticks is how fleas and ticks find and attach to your pet.
Most fleas attach to your pet outside of your home. You may bring fleas in on your pants leg or your shoe, or you could have a visiting dog that brings fleas in, but usually, fleas ride into your home on your dog or cat.
Once an adult female flea has had a blood meal, she starts laying eggs. These eggs fall off of other animals and land in your yard. Fleas can be on a wide variety of mammals that scurry across your lawn. The eggs soon hatch into larvae. These tiny worm-like pests evolve into cocoon-covered pupae. This is the point at which fleas are most likely to find their way onto your pet.
When the pupae are ready to hatch, the young fleas immediately seek out a host and a meal. Vibrations on the ground, heat, and carbon dioxide signal to the pupae, “Hey, come on out, here’s some food!” and the cocoons hatch. Your innocent pet just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fleas will jump up on humans for a snack to help them get by, but they continue to see out their ideal host, which is your pet or another small mammal.
Most people think ticks jump or hide out in trees waiting to fall on animals and people when they pass by. It seems this way because of the strange places we find ticks, like in our hair. Ticks are most commonly found in tall grass, weeds, and bushes. As we come hiking through with our pets, we brush against them where they attach.
Ticks can go without a meal for a full 3 years so there are many out there waiting patiently for the opportunity to eat. Once they are on board, they bite and begin to feed with the help of a secreted glue-like substance that keeps them firmly attached.
How to Prevent Flea and Ticks From Getting on Your Pets?
Flea and tick prevention is critical for maintaining the health of your pet. The first thing to know is that you should use an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach for prevention.
This means you need to consider all of the areas where your pet could pick up fleas and proactively monitor them for activity. You also should use pesticides when needed, but not unnecessarily.
Learning about the common pests in your area, understanding their life cycles, and responding appropriately to prevent infestations are recommendations to keep your pets and your family safe.
Fortunately, there are many products available to help. Flea and tick prevention formulations for your pet can be found in shampoos, sprays, drops, pills, wipes, collars, tags, and powders.
How To Prevent Fleas and Ticks For Dogs
If you don’t have a flea infestation, you may not want to give your dog pest control medications and formulas designed to kill fleas. These products include strong pesticides and chemicals for eliminating outbreaks. You may prefer gentler repellents or all-natural products without synthetic substances. Pet owners need to be careful to not use too many pest control products at once.
Read Also: What’re the best flea collars for dogs?
A flea collar, flea spray, lawn treatment, and in-home spray can easily be too many toxins for your dog to handle. Using natural options when you can gives you some peace of mind. The trade-off is that you may need to apply these products more often, and make a commitment to carefully watch your dog for fleas.
It’s recommended that you brush your dog’s coat often (at least weekly if not daily) and use a flea comb as well. A flea comb is a specially designed fine-toothed comb that pulls fleas out of the fur so you can see remove them manually. Simply have a bowl of water with some dish soap nearby to drop the fleas into.
Read Also: What’re the best tick collars for dogs?
How To Prevent Fleas and Ticks For Cats
The most important thing to know here is that you should not use dog formulas on your cat. Dog products contain higher concentrations of pesticides, which can be deadly for cats.
Read Also: What’re the flea collars for cats?
Some common ingredients in all-natural products are essential oils like lemongrass, clove, cinnamon, and peppermint. Cats don’t have the capability to break down larger amounts of these compounds as quickly as dogs and humans.
Cats become overwhelmed and can succumb to the toxicity. Always choose a product specifically formulated for cats and always ask your veterinarian which products would work best for your situation.
There are cat flea treatment products that take into account the fact that most cats don’t like water. Fine mists, wipes, collars, drops, or powders may work better than bathing depending on your cat and how many scratch marks you are willing to endure.
How To Prevent Fleas and Ticks Around Your Yard
Yards and outdoor areas are often overlooked when it comes to flea and tick prevention. Here are a few simple yard tips to keep pests at bay.
- Keep a 3 foot buffer between your yard and surrounding bushes or woods. You can cut the grass very short here or use mulch or gravel to fill it in.
- Make sure your yard is free from debris such as wood piles, cardboard, and lawn trimmings. Pests flourish in these areas.
- Mow your lawn regularly and don’t allow the grass to get high.
- Consider plants that naturally repel pests.
- Keep your yard dry. Pests like moist environments.
Yards and outdoor areas are often overlooked when it comes to flea and tick prevention. Here are a few simple yard tips to keep pests at bay.
Top 5 Best Flea And Tick Removal Products
Here are a few reviews of some popular flea and tick prevention products. For the products listed for dogs, there are also versions for cats available as well.
- Bayer K9 Advantix II, Flea And Tick Control Treatment for Dogs
- Vet’s Best Natural Flea and Tick Home Spray
- Bayer Seresto Flea and Tick Collar for Dogs
- Beloved Pets Flea and Tick Prevention Treats
- Cy-Kick CS
Bayer K9 Advantix II, Flea And Tick Control Treatment for Dogs
This product is a spot-on treatment that comes with vials of drops. You place these drops on the back of your dog’s neck once per month. These topical treatment drops have Imidacloprid, Permethrin, and Pyriproxyfen to kill fleas, ticks, eggs, and larvae.
It is a strong and comprehensive preparation, but it also may be more than what you need for just prevention. I would recommend it if your dog has had serious outbreaks in the past in your area. Otherwise, you may want to use something gentler.
Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Easy Spray
Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Home Spray is an environmentally safe and all-natural product that kills fleas, ticks, and flea eggs. This spray does not have pyrethrins, permethrins, or cedar oil, which are a few ingredients that can irritate sensitive dogs.
You can use Vet’s Best on your dog, their bedding, your home, your yard, and yourself. It is effective as a repellent and pesticide, but essential oils are volatile and evaporate quickly so you have to use it repeatedly and as needed.
Beloved Pets Flea and Tick Prevention Treats
Now there’s a delicious way to protect your pets from fleas and ticks without flea collars, drops, or sprays. Beloved Pets has introduced their soft treats to provide daily protection and control against fleas and ticks.
These tasty snacks for dogs combine several ingredients to take on biting pests naturally without chemical sprays or messy collars. This all-natural formula includes:
- Red rice yeast
- Garlic powder
- Hemp
- Vitamin B1, B6, and B12
Beloved Pets Flea and Tick Prevention Treats are safe to use every day and contain no GMO, cellulose, canola, palm, or soy. They’re easy to administer and are suitable for dogs of any age.
Bayer Seresto Flea and Tick Collar for Dogs
As a more recently available product, the Seresto Flea and Tick Collar for Dogs is comparable to monthly topical applications and spot-on treatments.
It is the first collar in many years that offers an effective alternative to having to remember to put drops on each month.
The collars are non-greasy and unscented and provide flea and tick control for up to 8 months.
Cy-Kick CS
Sometimes the flea or tick problem does not originate on the dog or the cat but from outside around your house in either shady areas or places with tall grass. I’ve had many clients in the past who have their dog or cat on flea and tick medicine but still have a flea problem in the house.
What is happening is that either the homeowner or pets are carrying the fleas inside where they jump off, and then they lay eggs and become a nuisance by biting the people when the pet isn’t nearby.
How do we solve this problem? Get ahold of a handheld or backpack sprayer of your choice, mix up a gallon of Cy-Kick CS at the ratio the label recommends for fleas and ticks and go treat the aforementioned areas around your house.
Some of the great things about this product are that it lasts for three months at a time, so once you’ve treated an area, it’s residual effects should keep the flea problem to a minimum if not eliminate it altogether.
Additionally, because this product is a concentrate, you can start at a rate of 1 ounce to a gallon and treat, and then in three weeks, if the problem hasn’t been resolved, you can make a new mixture at a slightly higher concentration than before and reapply as needed.
Once dried and if used according to the label, this product is pet friendly and safe for people to be around as well. That being said, you will need to read the label for full instructions to make sure it is used properly, get a hand sprayer to apply it correctly, and wear the personal protective equipment the label lists to prevent any accidents to the applicator or others.
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