Control Fleas on Your Pet, in Your House, and in Your Yard

If you own a dog or cat, you will have to control fleas. Even light flea infestations are annoying to pets, and some dogs and cats develop skin problems because they are allergic to flea bites. Heavy flea infestations can cause pets to be unthrifty and cause anemia in puppies and kittens. Fleas may also host tapeworms, and pets become infected when they ingest infected fleas while grooming. The dog tapeworm may rarely infect humans if they accidentally eat infected fleas (primarily only a problem in children). Other than potential infection with tapeworm, fleas are generally not vectors of any human diseases east of the Mississippi River. Fleas also bite people, and heavy infestations in the home or yard can make life miserable for pet owners and their family and friends. Although there are many different species of fleas in the world, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, is the species that most commonly occurs on dogs and cats in the United States.

To control fleas successfully, you need to control them in all areas where they occur: on the pet, in the house, and in the yard. Not allowing pets inside the house is the surest way to avoid having fleas inside the house, but not all pet owners favor this method. Whether or not pets are allowed inside, the first step in flea control is to treat the pet(s) with an effective and appropriate on-pet treatment.

Fortunately, there are several highly effective treatments that can be applied to pets for preventive flea control. Good, on-pet flea prevention, combined with frequent cleaning of pet bedding areas, can keep fleas from becoming established in the house or yard. But if pets are infested with adult fleas, the house and yard will also be infested with immature fleas, and these areas will need to be treated, too.

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This work is supported by the Crop Protection and Pest Management, Extension Implementation Program, award no. 2021--70006-35580/CRIS Number 1027242, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.

The information given here is for educational purposes only. References to commercial products, trade names, or suppliers are made with the understanding that no endorsement is implied and that no discrimination against other products or suppliers is intended.

Publication 2597 (POD-01-26)

Reviewed by Santos Portugal, PhD, Assistant Professor, Agricultural Science and Plant Protection. Previously revised by Blake Layton, PhD, Extension Professor (retired), Jerome Goddard, PhD, Extension Professor, and Joe MacGown, Scientific Illustrator, Agricultural Science and Plant Protection.