The warmer weather means flea season is still here and will linger for a few more months. It’s always smart to take proactive steps to prevent fleas from biting your pets (and you!). But if you didn’t take any preventive steps and now have biting fleas, all is not lost. You can stop the biting, kill the fleas and keep them from coming back.
The first thing you’ll need to do is treat the source, your pet! Give your pet some relief by treating it with Martin’s Flea Plus IGR Trigger Spray. This amazing product does much more than just keep fleas off your pets, Flea Plus IGR Trigger Spray can provide up to 90 days of flea protection for dogs. Stops and prevents infestation of fleas and ticks (brown dog ticks, American dog ticks, lone star ticks, and deer ticks, which may transmit Lyme disease).
Fleas biting your pets are constantly laying eggs. The female lays eggs 24-36 hours after her first blood meal. Fleas lay up to 50 eggs a day, which is equal to their body weight. They can lay this many eggs because they suck up 15 times their body weight in blood daily. Flea eggs will fall off into the environment, whether that’s your pet’s bed, the carpet, or your yard. Utilizing products that contain an insect growth regulator (IGR) can help keep fleas from reaching their full life cycle. Treating your pet with a product such as, Flea Plus IGR Trigger Spray means flea eggs are exposed to the IGR before they fall into the environment, and they do not hatch – BREAKING THE FLEA’S LIFE CYCLE. What is an IGR? You can learn more about insect growth regulators here!
Before you treated your pet, eggs laid by its flea were falling off in all the places your pet frequents – carpet, furniture, pet beds and your yard. These eggs hatched, the larvae grew into biting adult fleas, and these fleas found a new host – your itching, scratching pet. And if fleas are also biting you, that’s a sure sign of a flea infestation in your house or yard.
To eliminate fleas infesting your home, first vacuum, vacuum, vacuum…to ensure you’re removing pet dander and flea larvae from the carpet, furniture and pet bedding where they live. Make sure you dispose of your vacuum bag or empty the vacuum canister immediately and place in a trash bin outside of the home (not in the garage) to prevent additional flea introduction in the home. Second, wash your pet’s bedding in HOT water. Then treat your carpet, floors and furniture with Martin’s Viper & I.G.Regulator COMBO PACK.(always read and follow label directions). This will kill adult fleas and prevents flea re-infestation for up to 7 months!
Don’t forget that flea larvae can live and grow in shaded areas of your yard, especially in areas where your pets like to hangout. (Flea eggs fall off here, too.) Martin’s Permethrin 13.3% is a great product for fast knockdown and quick kill of fleas outdoors. Permethrin 13.3% controls insect pests for up to 4 weeks, and one quart makes up to 48 gallons for contact and residual sprays.
A final word . . . in addition to being a biting, annoying nuisance, the fleas that infest your pets can carry a parasite that affects dogs and cats and can occur in people - the tapeworm Dipylidium caninum. Here’s the tapeworm’s life cycle: Infected adult flea release tapeworm eggs in their feces (undigested blood) into the environment. Larval fleas ingest this material and the tapeworm eggs, become infected ,and stay infected when they emerge as adults. When a dog or cat ingests an infected flea while grooming, the parasite is liberated, causing a tapeworm infestation in the animal’s digestive tract.
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Read all label directions of use before applying any Martin’s brand product.
