Fleas are considered an ectoparasite, meaning they live outside the body. Flea infestations are one of the most tedious things to treat because it can take 6-9 months, but why? Fleas live on wildlife and untreated pets, this includes deer, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits and many others. It only takes a matter of seconds for a flea to jump off one animal and onto our beloved pets, which is why it is so important to have all pets on a flea preventative. Even if your pet does not go outside, fleas can actually get tracked in by us, just by doing daily activities. 

Lifecycle:
The life cycle of a flea can take 6-9 months from egg to adult, which is why it is very important to use flea prevention year long. An adult flea jumps onto our pet and the flea feeds off of our pets blood and lay eggs within the fur, those eggs hatch within 2-3 days and turn into larvae, where they will typically leave your pet and find a spot within carpets, bedding, laundry and even curtains to turn into a pupae in 5-7 days. The pupae live 5 days to 6 months within a cocoon, where they then emerge into an adult flea and the process starts all over again for the next 1-2 months. What makes flea infestations hard to deal with is that flea prevention is only to kill some stages of a fleas life cycle, mainly the adult, meaning even if you are not seeing adult fleas, there are still little pupae in cocoons through out the house.

Treatment:
Treatment of fleas is actually using a preventative like Frontline Gold, Nexgard, or Revolution along with daily vacuuming, laundry, bathing, and sometimes using a flea bomb or flea spray through out the house. The preventative will kill the adult fleas that will be hatching from their cocoons over the next several months, vacuuming and laundry will help get rid of the pupae and larvae that are in the environment, and bathing will help get rid of some of the fleas and eggs that are on your pet.

Prevention:
The best prevention for fleas is, you guessed it, using a preventative such as Frontline Gold, Nexgard or Revolution. There are other products out there like flea collars that can be bought at big box stores, which we as a veterinary industry have found to not be nearly as effective. Flea collars can work, but have a very short time of effectiveness and often only will protect your pet from having fleas near the collar, fleas will often just move to a different area of the body such as the belly or face.