Sanitation, insecticides and common sense are keys to efforts to control fleas. Good sanitation measures are important in conjunction with appropriate flea control products used according to label directions on the host or in the host's habitat.
Insecticidal pet shampoos and dips, flea collars and total release aerosols, and powders can control cat fleas. Control is best achieved by using several products concurrently so that the flea infestation is attacked both on and off the host. Dipping or shampooing coupled with fogging the home and fitting the treated pets with flea collars is advisable.
Normally, no single product is sufficient to control an infestation of cat fleas. For example, treatment of the pet only will not combat fleas present in immature stages in the carpet. The immature stages will emerge as adults and cause reinfestations. Thus a combination of a pet treatment and a house treatment, including the area where the pet sleeps, is usually needed so the cycle can be prevented from recurring.
- A veterinarian, professional groomer or the pet owner can apply these products according to label directions. Shampoos are applied and rinsed off after a short time. Dips are 'leave on' products.
- Flea collars are impregnated plastic strips that allow the slow release of the active ingredient. Collars rely on migration of the active ingredient over the coat of the pet, possibly aided by grooming, to reach the fleas.
- Foggers are designed to fill a room with fine particles that settle on exposed surfaces and can penetrate to hidden interior surfaces. Fleas attacking the pet are often also found on the floor, especially in carpet and places where the pet sleeps and rests. Use of a total release aerosol is a convenient means of treating flea infested rooms uniformly and completely. Of course, people and pets should not be in the room during fogging. Be sure to read and follow the directions.
In recent years insect growth regulators have been added to foggers and to other flea control products. These materials interrupt the flea's life cycle before adult fleas emerge to become a nuisance. Because IGRs are slow acting and do not affect the adult fleas, they are normally coupled with a conventional insecticide so that adult fleas can be controlled immediately.
- These aerosol products have valves that allow the can to be used in an inverted position so floor areas can be easily sprayed. They are useful for treating limited areas or where foggers might be inappropriate.
- Powders applied to the pet are the dry equivalent to dips in that the powder is left on the animal. They also are easier to apply than dips.
- A successful innovation in flea control has been an orally or dermally administered insect growth regulator in pill form for dogs and liquid or gel for cats. Available only from veterinarians, the IGR is administered once a month, preventing eggs from hatching and breaking the life cycle. Since a systemic has no effect on other life stages, including adults, control is not immediate. A conventional adulticide treatment is needed before the IGR can control an infestation.
- Traps with small lights aim at luring fleas to adhesive coated sheets to which they are to become stuck. The impact of these types of traps on flea infestations is unknown.
- Control of fleas that may carry plague or other diseases is the responsibility of state and federal public health authorities, which routinely conduct surveys for plague, recording the incidence of plague antibodies in wild and domestic hosts. When surveys have indicated the need, dusting the burrows of rodent hosts with suitable insecticide dusts has controlled potential plague-carrying fleas. The rodents themselves may be controlled by rodenticides.
People in western states should avoid contact with wild rodents because of the possibility of contracting plague. Backpackers and campers should be particularly careful. Use of an aerosol insecticide is a wise precaution against rodent fleas. Wood piles and similar cover for the rodents near dwellings should be removed.
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