As the warmer weather starts to set in in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, people, and pets, begin to wander about more often, which can lead to an increased risk of fleas entering your home or business. Fleas are tiny, reddish brown insects that are external parasites and feed off the blood of birds and mammals. Once your pet, home, or business has an infestation, it can be hard to get rid of. The first line of defense against fleas, is ensuring they don’t find their way on your pets and then inside. That makes us wonder, “How do animals get fleas”?
Why are Fleas Considered Pests?
Before we review how animals get fleas, we wanted to review why fleas are even considered pests. As we have reviewed before, fleas don’t just bother your beloved animals, fleas can also bite humans. Fleas can carry an abundance of diseases, making them a health risk for you and your furry friends. Not to mention, the bite of a flea can be itchy and painful, and all together unpleasant.
Fleas, like many other pests, are very hard to get rid of, making an infestation, something you want to avoid. Fleas have tough armored bodies that make them almost impossible to crush, which allows them to survive in homes and businesses for long periods of time, undetected.
How do Animals get Fleas?
Keeping fleas out of your Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan home or business starts by keeping them away from your pets. So, how do animals get fleas in the first place? Let’s review some of the most common sources.
- The Outdoors: Fleas can survive outdoors for long periods of time, especially during our warm, humid weather. They like to hide out in cool and shady places, such as the grass in your yard. Fleas commonly make their way to pets, from their outdoor habitats, at a dog park, kennel, under your porch, in a neighbor’s yard, or, as we mentioned, from your yard. They are hard to see, so they will likely go undetected outdoors until you find them on your furry friend.
- Other Animals: The most common way for your pet to get fleas is through exposure to other animals. Fleas can easily jump onto your pet from other carriers. Common flea carriers are: birds, squirrels, deer, raccoons, and other pets and unwanted rodents. If you take your beloved animal to a shared facility with other animals, fleas may hitch a ride back to your home or business on them.
- Your Visitors: Like bed bugs, fleas can be introduced to your pets and your home or business through the people (or pets) you invite inside. Your visitors may have a flea problem, and may not even know. Fleas could be on their clothing, in their bags, etc. and since they can easily jump from place to place, it is not uncommon for them to find their way onto your pet.
- You: As we said, fleas do bite humans, and we have just enough hair on us, they can attach to us for a short period of time, where we can unknowingly transfer them to our pets. A pet’s own family has the most day-to-day contact with them, so the chances are quite high that someone in the household can transfer fleas to your pets.
There are things you can do to keep fleas away from your pets and out of your home or business: treat your pets, vacuum frequently, check your pets before bringing them inside, regularly wash laundry and linens, amongst other things.
If you find yourself with a flea infestation in Northwest Ohio or Southeast Michigan, Delving Pest Control can help. We are experts at preventing and eliminating pests like spiders, bees, wasps, hornets, moths, flies, ants, fleas, roaches, Sasquatch, occasional invaders, and more.
