Flea treatment for homes that reaches the carpets and sofas

Find fleas, and most people bath the cat or buy the dog a flea collar. A week later the bites are still there. Treating the pet matters, but the fleas on it are a handful compared with the ones on the floor.

The fleas you see are a small part

Adult fleas live and lay eggs on the animal, and the eggs drop off wherever it walks or sleeps. The larvae hide deep in the carpet pile, under sofas and in floor cracks, then spin cocoons. So most fleas in a house aren’t on the pet at all. They’re eggs, larvae and cocoons on the floor, and if you only treat the pet, the floor keeps producing new ones.

The cocoon holds out

The cocoon is the hardest stage. Its casing protects it from most products, and the flea inside can wait a long time until it senses movement, warmth or vibration before coming out. That explains two things people find strange. Fleas increase a little a few days after spraying, and a flat that was locked up for months is full of fleas the moment someone walks in. It’s also why treatment usually takes two visits.

Ordinary insecticide stops at the surface

A supermarket powder or spray kills the fleas it touches on top of the carpet, but never reaches the larvae further down. Our spray includes a product that stops eggs and larvae developing, so even the ones that survive never grow into fleas that lay eggs. Vacuuming before and after the spray helps the product get deeper.

Pet and home in the same week

If the pet is treated this week and the house next month, the fleas just move back and forth between them. We ask that your vet sees the pet at roughly the same time as the spraying, and that its bed and blankets are washed in hot water. If the pet goes into the garden or onto the roof, its outdoor spots go into the plan too, the kind of work you’ll see in our garden videos.

Street cats and stairwells

In apartment buildings, the source is sometimes cats sleeping on the landing or by the front door. If that’s the case, the technician sprays the entrance and the doorstep and tells you how to cut down the places where cats sleep near your door.

Sometimes cats have nothing to do with it. Rats and mice carry fleas, and if one is in the light well or false ceiling, or has died somewhere out of sight, its fleas leave it to find someone else to feed on. Then the rodents have to be dealt with first, or the fleas will come back however much we spray.