A flea outbreak within the home can be of great concern, not only to our faithful friends, but to us as well. When a flea bites humans it can cause inflammation of the skin and generally make us feel run down, not to mention the embarrassment it can cause when visitors come around.

When controlling fleas most people generally fall into two traps. Firstly, they'll buy products which only kill the adult rather than the eggs and the larvae. In order to disrupt the life-cycle of the flea they need be killed at source. If you fail to do this then the eggs will hatch; the larvae will grow into adults and more eggs will be laid again, thus continuing the very life-cycle we a trying to break.

The second of the traps that is continually fallen into is that a lot of people tend just to treat the pet for fleas. This can be a fruitless task because for every flea which is on your cat or dog there are possibly hundreds around the home, which at anytime will be ready and willing to repopulate your pet. Therefore it is imperative that you treat every room over your home.

Now that the obligatory introduction has been done and dusted it's time to take action. Firstly it is very important that you buy the right insecticide i.e. one which won't harm pets or humans in any way at all and a solution, which not only kills the adult flea but the eggs and larvae too.

You should try and use products which come with recommendations I something is tried and tested by an impartial and reliable source, then what can be wrong with using it?

Once you have treated your pets and applied the relevant insecticide to all rooms in your home you should aim to follow the same procedures on a regular basis especially during the summer months when the chances of an outbreak increase significantly. Therefore if you see your pets scratching regularly it's time to act super-fast.

Other ways in which these initial control methods can be supplemented is by ensuring that all cracks, nooks and crannies are filled in thus ridding your home of safe havens in which the fleas can breed safely.

Secondly, you should make it a point to vacuum clean your home regularly, making sure you reach all corners and get underneath sofas, chairs, desks, tables and other places in which fleas are able to hide.

Finally, to reduce the chances of another major outbreak efforts should be made to put an effective flea collar on your dog or cat, the quality of which have improved considerably over the last decade.

Remember if you follow my advice, instead of fighting a losing battle you'll be fighting a winning one instead.

Thanks for listening

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