Start With the Vet
Before anything happens to the house, the animal needs its own treatment. Book the cat or dog in with your vet, or use a product the vet recommends, so it has been done shortly before our visit. A pet still carrying adult fleas will keep laying eggs into a freshly treated home.
If you have more than one animal, every one of them needs treating, including the cat that goes out all day and seems unbothered. Rabbits and other small animals should be checked with the vet too, because not every flea product is suitable for every species.
The Day Before
Clear the floors
Pick up everything that lives on the floor: shoes, toys, bags, laundry baskets, piles of paper, the boxes under the bed. The technician needs to reach the carpet edges, under beds and under the sofa. Anything left on the floor is a patch that does not get treated, and larvae are very good at finding those patches.
Wash the pet bedding hot
Put the pet’s bedding, throws it lies on and any blankets on the sofa through the hottest wash the fabric will take, then dry them thoroughly. A bed too old or too worn to wash is often better thrown away. Bag it before carrying it through the house so the eggs inside do not scatter on the way.
Vacuum everywhere
Vacuum every floor, not only the rooms where the pet sleeps. Go slowly along the skirting boards and into corners with the crevice tool, do the stairs step by step, lift sofa cushions and vacuum underneath, and do the car seats if the dog travels. Vacuuming lifts eggs and larvae out of the pile and the vibration encourages some cocoons to hatch, which puts more fleas in the path of the treatment. Empty the vacuum into an outside bin straight afterwards.
The Morning of the Visit
- Vacuum once more if you can, concentrating on the rooms the pet uses most.
- Put food, dishes, toothbrushes and children’s toys away in cupboards or drawers.
- Shut any rooms that do not need treating, as agreed when you booked.
- Leave access to every room that does, including the landing and the cupboard under the stairs if the pet goes in there.
- Plan where everyone, and every animal, will spend the time until the treated rooms have dried.
People, Pets, Fish and Birds
Everybody and every animal stays out of the treated rooms until the treatment has dried. The technician tells you on the day how long that is likely to be, and those instructions are the ones to follow. For most households it means a trip out for the morning and the pets going with you, to a friend, or into the garden.
Fish tanks, birds, reptiles and small caged animals such as hamsters and guinea pigs must be mentioned when you book. Aquariums usually need covering and their air pumps turning off, and birds are best moved out of the house altogether. We will tell you exactly what to do for your animals before the day.
Babies, pregnancy, and anyone with asthma or another breathing condition should also be raised at booking. There is more on what is used and the rules around it in our article on flea treatment around pets and children.
What Not to Do Beforehand
Do not set off a flea bomb or spray the carpets yourself in the days before the visit. It adds another product to the room, it can leave residues the technician then has to work around, and it tends to push fleas into places the treatment would otherwise have reached more easily. Do not shampoo or steam clean the carpets either; a damp carpet does not take the treatment well.
What happens once the technician has left, including the vacuuming routine and why you will still see fleas for a while, is covered in how long flea treatment takes to work.