How to de-flea your home

Not until this year have I really appreciated how much of a nuisance common flea can be. Since up until now we only had one dog, fleas have always been manageable. Topical treatment and anti-flea collar was usually enough to get rid off these pesky little buggers. But since we managed to expand our animal family by 3 cats over a period of less then a year, come this springtime flea season caught me completely unprepared. I will not lie to you and say it is simple as spraying some insecticide - to de-flea your home takes time, perseverance but most of all patience. It is very important to treat both your pets and your home at the same time. Your home will not be flea-free otherwise.

· Remove all the pet beds and bedding and either wash it in hot water or get rid off it.

· Remove all of your bed linen, in case your pets are prone to jumping on the bed and wash that as well.

· Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Everything. Floors, carpets, upholstery. And do not forget all the nooks and crannies. As I was gathering more information on how to properly de-flea my home I found some information that borax is good for getting rid of fleas. You are supposed to isolate your pets and sprinkle borax over your carpets and upholstery, leave it for an hour and then vacuum. It is supposed to dry out flea eggs. However since I could not find borax, I found information you can use salt with the same effect. I was a bit dubious, but once I have sprinkled salt on the carpets fleas started jumping out like crazy, so I guess it did bother them. Leave salt for an hour or two and then vacuum thoroughly. Some suggest cutting up a flea collar and putting it in a vacuum bag, but I am very attached to my vacuum I could not stand it if something happened to it. Important - once you are done vacuuming it would be best to dispose of the vacuum bag you have used.

· And do not forget to treat your garden if you have it. Flea larvae drop on the ground and it means if you do not treat your garden your pets can be infested again. Find beneficial nematode products and spray them in your garden, as this will help control the flea population.

The good news is, if you have just one pet this should be enough, but I would keep up with daily vacuuming for at least a week. However if you have more then one pet, you might have to repeat this procedure over a period of some 3 weeks to break the flea's life cycle. Fleas are utter and horrible nuisance and as I have found out this year flea bites, well lets just say mosquitoes have nothing on them (hydrocortisone cream works wonders). But with some perseverance they can be exterminated for good. So get that dust buster and get to work and do not forget to treat your pet at the same time. With a little bit of an effort both your pet and your home should be a flea-free zone.