07/25/2025
FLEAS - (pic is of dried blood from fleas) If you find a few fleas, use the drops that go on the back of the neck. Once treated, any flea that bites the pet dies. (Read the directions. Don't shampoo within 24 hours of using.) Use no more than once a month.
Products safe for ferrets: Revolution, Selapro, Selamectin, Frontline II, Advantage Multi and Advantage II (NOT Advantix). Use 1 1/2 drops per pound of weight (1-1.5 #/2 drops, 2-2.25 #/3 drops, 2.5-3 #/4 drops). It doesn't have to be exact. EXCEPT Advantage Multi, you can use the one for dogs or cats. It's virtually identical and cheaper to buy the one for large dogs. Just store the leftover upright in a sealed container. If buying dog product, DON'T get one that kills ticks. It has different chemicals and may harm the ferret.
Use a flea comb to get fleas off the pet, even if they look dead. Put in a bowl of liquid soap to kill them.
Wash anything cloth the pets come in contact with in hot water and with bleach to help kill any imbedded fleas, larvae or eggs. (1/4 cup bleach in the bleach dispenser is a disinfectant and parasitic and doesn't fade colors.)
If you find a lot of fleas, you must act very fast and be very thorough. Everything should be done the same day and every pet treated.
Use a good quality home pest spray. Spray flooring of the entire house. Move things and spray underneath. Spray inside closets, under beds, etc.
If possible, pets should be removed from the house when spraying. If you can’t, place in a room you'll spray later, close the vent and put a heavy towel at the base of the door. This keeps fumes from getting into the room.
When the flea spray has dried, a few hours after spraying, release the pets and then spray the room. Put a towel at the base of the door and don’t let the pets back in there for a few hours.
If the fleas are really bad, you may consider using foggers. If you use them, you must use enough. Every nook and cranny, including in closets and under beds has to be reached to be effective. If there are places for the fleas to hide (closet, under furniture, in blankets), then the fogger chemical can't get to them. If you fog, you must remove the pets from the house.
Before you fog or spray, vacuum the house well. Empty the canister or bag into the trash. Use flea spray on the contents. Tightly tie the trash bag and put in an outside trash container. A few hours after spraying or fogging, vacuum again. This picks up any fleas not been completely killed and more larvae and eggs. Be sure to put the vacuum contents outside.
Treat for fleas outside as well. There are outside products not harmful to wildlife, so check into that. Diatomaceuous powder is safe for birds. It kills insects, both good and bad.
If you have squirrels, do what you can to discourage them. You'll always have flea problems when squirrels are around. Fleas get on your clothing and come in with you.
The biggest mistake made when treating for fleas is to not treat often enough. Flea eggs are not affected much by any product. Once the eggs hatch in ten days, the entire cycle starts again.
Ten days after first spraying or fogging, you must spray and treat the house and yard again. This catches the larvae as they're hatching. It also catches the larvae turning into adults before they begin laying eggs. This is an important time. Be diligent again about spraying everywhere. You don’t have to be as diligent about vacuuming before and after or washing all the bedding, though it's better to.
To be safe, treat again ten days after that (20 days after the 1st time). After that, until it's cold weather, treat every 30 days. Once warm weather comes around, get a head start by giving the pets flea treatment right away and treating regularly every 30 days.
