Some tips for controlling fleas:

• Sweep tile or wood floors, and vacuum carpets, rugs, and furniture.
• Vacuuming will not eliminate flea populations, but will help keep them reduced. Vacuums remove eggs, larvae, adults, and flea dirt, but not pupae, which stick to the carpet fibers. Steam cleaners are usually more effective.
• Use carpet spray – Spray carpets and upholstery in the home.
• Fleas love dark places, so spray under furniture and in crevices.
• Fleas also gravitate to where your pet sleeps. Clean that area thoroughly and regularly.

What we do to control your flea problem

Heath Pest professionals will treat your home taking care to remove eggs, larvae, pupae and flea dirt as well as the fleas themselves. In that same treatment period, we treat the outside of the home and surrounding yard to remove fleas and create an unfriendly environment for them. This reduces the likelihood of their re-entering your home for several months.

Particularly if you have an indoor-outdoor pet, we recommend regular treatments to keep the fleas away.

Cat Flea

The most common type of flea in Florida is the cat flea. Found all over the world, the cat flea is the one typically found on dogs and cats in the United States. The wingless insect is reddish brown to black and compressed from side to side to allow them to travel through thick fur. Their strong legs are built to jump and run through the hair, fur or feathers of their hosts. Cat fleas live up to 25 days on hosts as adults, feeding on blood that helps them produce eggs. They can cause allergic dermatitis and tapeworms. Though it rarely happens, they can also transmit murine typhus or plague to people.

Dog Flea

The dog flea is more common in Europe than the United States, but a few have been found in Florida. They are so similar to cat fleas that differences can only be seen under a microscope. Found mostly on dogs, wolves and foxes in Europe, Africa and Asia, they are capable of producing the same diseases as cat fleas.

Human Flea

Thankfully, the human flea was more common in the 1500s when conditions were less sanitary, but they are still found on short-haired domestic animals such as pigs and dogs. They are the type of flea that feeds on human hosts and can carry illnesses including dermatitis, allergic reactions, tapeworms, and plague. While cat and dog fleas can also feed on humans, they aren’t built to live on creatures with as little hair as humans, but the human flea is able to hang onto humans well enough to live on them.

Sticktight Flea

Sticktight fleas are known to burrow their heads underneath the skin of animals such as birds, dogs, cats, pigs, horses, and humans, making them difficult to remove. In this way, they are similar to ticks but much smaller. Often found around the eyes, comb, and waffles of chickens and on bare spots of other birds, sticktight fleas can spread to dogs that are around poultry, sticking in their ears and between the toes. Though not known to carry disease, the dark brown flea can cause infections that lead to swollen eyes, while young animals can develop anemia when sticktight fleas feed on them.