How to Get Rid of Fleas in Your House, and When to Call a Professional

How do you get rid of fleas in your house fast?

Give each dog and cat a spot-on or oral flea product your vet recommends, wash pet bedding and throw rugs, vacuum carpets and furniture thoroughly, then spray carpets and pet resting spots with a product that contains an insect growth regulator.

Speed comes from doing all of it at once. The fleas you see are the adults, and the University of Kentucky guide to flea control and prevention says the adults spend most of their time on the pet, while hundreds or thousands of eggs, young fleas and cocoons sit elsewhere in the home or yard. The flea on dogs and cats is usually the cat flea, which Kentucky’s entomologists call the most common flea on both, so every animal in the house gets treated, not just the one scratching.

Washington State University’s Pestsense puts numbers on that split. A typical flea population in a home is 50 percent eggs, 35 percent young fleas, 10 percent cocoons and only 5 percent adult fleas, so the 5 in 100 you can see are the smallest part of the problem.

The step-by-step way to get rid of fleas in the house

1. Treat every dog and cat at the same time as the house with a spot-on or oral product from your vet. Never use a carpet or yard spray on a pet, and never put a product containing permethrin or amitraz on a cat.
2. Pick up toys, clothes and stored items from the floors, under the beds and in the closets, so every carpeted spot can be reached.
3. Wash pet bedding and throw rugs in hot, soapy water, and keep washing the pet bedding at least once a week.
4. Vacuum carpets, upholstered furniture, under the cushions, beneath the beds and along the edges of every room. Vacuuming picks up eggs and young fleas and makes the cocoons hatch sooner. Seal the bag and put it in the outdoor trash.
5. Spray carpets, rugs, the floor under furniture and every spot a pet sleeps with a flea product whose label lists both an adult flea killer and an insect growth regulator such as methoprene or pyriproxyfen. Hardwood and tile usually only need vacuuming. Keep people and pets off the carpet until it dries, which may take a few hours.
6. Keep vacuuming every day or two for the next 2 weeks, and do not spray again for at least 4 weeks. The fleas that show up now are hatching into the treatment, not a sign it failed.

Skip the bug bombs. Kentucky’s entomologists say total release foggers seldom work against fleas, because the spray goes up into the air instead of down to the base of the carpet where young fleas live.

How long does it take to get rid of fleas?

Kentucky adds that treating again may be needed if adults are still showing up beyond 4 weeks.

The clock is set by the flea life cycle. The University of California Pest Notes on fleas put the full cycle from egg to adult at about 18 days at normal room temperature, with eggs hatching in about 2 to 5 days and the young feeding for 8 to 15 days before they spin a cocoon.

Why do fleas keep coming back after you treat?

Treating only the pet, or only the adults, leaves that stage untouched.

Up to 12 months that a fully formed flea can wait inside its cocoon in cool conditions, then hatch when warmth or footsteps signal a host Source: University of California Pest Notes, Fleas

That is why a house left empty for a while can greet the next people through the door with a wave of fleas. The other common reason is a spray with no insect growth regulator in it. UC Pest Notes says sprays without one often fail against young fleas, because the material never reaches them at the base of the carpet fibers.

Do you need to treat the yard for fleas?

A yard treatment belongs where pets rest outdoors, under decks, along fences, beside the foundation and in doghouses, because young fleas rarely survive in full sun.

A simple test tells you whether the yard has fleas at all. Both universities suggest walking the pet’s favorite spots in white socks pulled up to the knee, where any adult fleas show up against the white. Around McKinney homes, start with shaded beds and the cool ground under a deck, because young fleas rarely survive on open lawn in full Texas sun.

Doing it yourself versus a professional flea treatment

Both routes rely on the same pet treatment and the same weeks of vacuuming. The difference is how much of the house the spray reaches and whether anyone looks for what is bringing the fleas in.

The pet is treated through your vet either way.

How Pest Me Off handles fleas

Pest Me Off’s flea and tick control starts with an inspection of every room where the pets sleep, to find where the eggs and young fleas are building up. A technician then treats the carpets, rugs, the floor under furniture and cushions, the baseboards and the shaded outdoor spots where pets rest, with an adult flea killer paired with a growth regulator, so the next generation never grows up. We ask that every pet is on a vet’s flea product the same week, and we tell you to keep vacuuming while the last cocoons hatch.

When there are no pets in the house, the fleas are usually coming from wildlife. Kentucky’s guide names raccoons, opossums, skunks and squirrels living in an attic, a chimney or under the home, and our technicians check those spots. Flea bites and the no-pets puzzle have their own article, Flea Bites on Humans, and Why You Can Have Fleas With No Pets. Same-day service is available for McKinney and the surrounding cities when you call before noon, with no-contract options.