What is the flea life cycle and why is it important to know this for treatment?

That's a great question. Knowing the flea life cycle is essential because the fleas you and I see are only one to five percent of the whole flea community’s population. 95% are immature fleas that reside in your house, in areas like the carpet, bedding, things like that. So it's important to know that because not only do we need to treat the animal for at least three months while the immature population matures, but we also need to do a thorough cleaning of your house to get rid of that 95% of the community.

Fleas go through stages. Many times what you see is the adult flea on your pet, but what they'll do is once they take a blood meal, they'll get off of your pet and into the environment. So whether that be in your carpet, couch, bedspread, or your pillows, they'll then lay their eggs. And then those eggs will go through a period of time. And then when the temperature and humidity and the light and everything like that is right, those eggs will hatch and develop into a pupal or a larval stage, and then they'll grow into the adult flea. And so what we want to make sure is that we're targeting the whole life cycle to get rid of those fleas.

The reason that the flea life cycle is important to understand is that knowing where the products work within this cycle is helpful. Does it kill the adults, the eggs, or the larva? Where in the life cycle is it effective? I can think of one product that only has an insect growth regulator. That means that it will prevent the eggs from hatching, but it won't do anything for the rest of the life cycle. For instance, it won't kill adult fleas. Generally speaking, if we are looking for something that will treat and prevent fleas, we want something that will kill the adult quickly. That's how you make sure that the fleas won't feed and reproduce. Even if you don't have fleas in your environment, it's common for fleas to make their way into the environment through humans, especially here in Fort-Worth. They catch a ride on our pant legs, or wildlife can get into the yard. So you do need a product that will kill adult fleas before they multiply.