Fleas are awful. They bite, they spread disease, and they are extremely difficult to get rid of. Having pets means getting fleas in the house is a real possibility. They hide out in the grass outside and can get on your pets when they are in the yard. Or other animals can transfer fleas to your loved one. Here are some tips on preventing flea infestations and what to do if you have one.

You can use a flea comb and soapy water to clean your pet’s fur or check for fleas. The fleas will leave droppings in the form of small black specks called flea dirt. If you see live fleas or flea dirt on your pet, it is time for a bath and a spritz of safe essential oils. If one pet has fleas, you should treat all of them. Fleas move from pet to pet easily.

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Citronella, eucalyptus, peppermint, and geraniol are your friends. These are safe oils that fleas hate. Geraniol is the primary ingredient in citronella, so they are really the same chemical. Geraniol has a rose smell to it and roses are one of the sources for it. Eucalyptus and peppermint also have distinct and pleasing smells, at least to us. You can buy these essential oils online in bottles large and small. Fleas do not like these essential oils, so they are a fantastic way to keep them away. Put a few drops in a spray bottle with ten fluid ounces of water and shake it up. Spraying this on your pet’s coat will make them unattractive to would-be unwanted passengers. No need to worry, these chemicals are not at all harmful to dogs and cats. Be careful of other essential oils though. Geraniol is one of the few that is safe for pets. Do not assume any other essential oils are ok for pets. They could be toxic, or your pet could have an allergy to them.

Flea collars are a standard deterrent. They are impregnated with chemicals fleas do not like. The wonderful thing about flea collars is you put them on your pet and that is it. No need to reapply or bother with it until it is time for a new one. The downside is flea collar chemicals are toxic to humans and your pet. So, the chemicals will be on your pet’s fur and transferred to you. Studies have shown that pets have unsafe levels of chemicals on their fur for weeks after they are no longer wearing flea collars.

Even worse than flea collars are pills given to your pet to make them unattractive to fleas. These treatments have been known to damage pets’ nervous systems and in general, anything you put in your pet’s body to combat fleas is not going to be healthy for your pet. There are some foods that your pet can eat like brewer’s yeast, garlic, or citrus which makes them less attractive to fleas, but I would not use any chemical product to achieve this.

If you do get fleas here are some helpful tips on getting rid of them:

1. Vacuum well and often. Fleas like to hang out in carpets and bedding or in any area that is not regularly trafficked. Fleas lay eggs that will be dormant for weeks. Just when you think you have gotten rid of them the eggs hatch and they are all over the place again. Also, adults will put themselves in a cocoon and wait for good conditions to come out again. They can stay in their cocoons for months. Vacuuming will suck up a lot of the eggs and cocoons, just make sure to throw away the bag outside away from you and your pets.

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2. Clean everything with soap and water. Soap drowns fleas. It will also release its hold on fibers and flush them out. Cleaning everything regularly will keep them from forming an infestation, but it will not get rid of them completely.

3. Here’s a homemade flea trap that works fantastically. I can attest to it since I used it myself when our cat brought fleas into the house. It is a shallow dish filled with water containing a little soap and a desk light pointing down at the water. The soap makes the surface tension of the water such that any fleas who jump into it sink and drown. They cannot get out of the soapy water. The light provides a source of warmth. The fleas think it is a warm body and hop in, to their doom. I used a terra cotta flowerpot bottom for my dish but anything that holds water will do. It should be at least 12″ in circumference though so there is lots of room for the fleas. The first night I put this out I had several hundred fleas to dump, the water evaporates a bit from the heat lamp, so you will need to refill it. After a couple of weeks, it was four, then two, then none. Since it is near impossible to get all the eggs and cocoons this is a terrific way to follow up on your initial cleaning efforts. When the fleas hatch, they hop over the trap and drown themselves. When you stop seeing flea bodies in your trap, they are gone.

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