Fleas will certainly live in human hair given half the chance, therefore ensuring that your dog is free from fleas is imperative for the health and hygiene of both your pet and family. Even if you don’t have pets, fleas can still find their way into your hair via other means, and so knowing how to prevent and cure yourself of them is certainly worthwhile.
What Are Fleas?
Fleas are small brown insects that have evolved to suck the blood out of animals and reproduce very quickly, with hundreds if not thousands living on a single host. They have tiny pincers that allow them to pierce skin, and long hind legs that enable them to jump from host to host if they are in close enough proximity. Unfortunately they can survive in everything from bedding to carpets, and are resistant to regular shampoos and water.
What Do Fleas Do?
Fleas can cause a huge amount of irritation to both humans and their dogs. When they feed they cause little inflamed red bumps to appear which can be incredibly itchy, more so if you’re allergic to the bite. If you continue to scratch hard enough you can cause additional swelling, which can become painful and lead to blisters that may get infected, making it harder to treat the problem.
How Can You Treat Them?
If you have contracted fleas from your dog then you need to treat them first, as they will more than likely be running around the house and jump up at you, which means you make contract them again. First off invest in a good quality anti-flea dog shampoo and give your companion a good bath. The chemicals in the shampoo should help to kill off the adult fleas and their eggs to stop them from reproducing. Secondly buy yourself a good quality dog-grooming comb, you can get regular ones that just help to maintain your dogs coat, and dedicated flea combs that are a lot finer and will remove both fleas and their eggs. Just make sure you shampoo first and comb after to remove the dead insects. If you want to take extra precautions try using a citrus or lavender scented shampoo on your dog after the flea wash, the smell of these essential oils may discourage fleas from attaching to a host.
Treating Fleas in the Home
Once you’ve treated both yourself and your pet you’ll want to ensure that the fleas don’t make a return. To do this make sure you wash bedding and fabric furniture covers in hot water to kill any stray fleas and eggs. You can even go a step further and use Borax powder as a carpet treatment. Just sprinkle it liberally over the carpet and leave for a couple of hours before vacuuming up. Just be sure to keep your pet away from the powder, as it’ll take a while for it to kill the fleas. Finally make sure you throw your vacuum bag away to ensure they don’t repopulate the home.
