No one wants to discover their beloved pet is infested with fleas. These pesky parasites cause your pet discomfort as well as potential health problems. However, the sooner you discover you have a flea problem, the sooner you can begin to get on top of it. 

Fortunately, you can check your pet for fleas in 4 easy steps. All you need is a flea comb and a damp, pale sheet or kitchen roll (preferably white). And your pet of course...

Step 1: Lay the wet sheet or kitchen roll on the floor. We suggest a room with tiled or solid flooring, such as the kitchen or bathroom, so it's easy to clean up afterwards.

Step 2: Stand your cat or dog on the sheet. This ensures any flea dirt that falls from your pet’s coat will land on the sheet.

Step 3: Use the flea comb to firmly but gently comb deep into your pet’s coat. Be sure to do this all over, but pay particular attention to the groin (1), armpits (2), neck (3) and behind the ears (4). These are warm, moist areas which provide fleas with the ideal environment to reproduce.

As you comb through your pet’s fur, specs of dirt will fall onto the sheet. If needed, remove any hair or debris that gets trapped in the comb and place this on the sheet as well.

Step 4: Check the sheet for signs of fleas. If pink/red circles form around the dirt and debris from your pet’s coat, this means it is flea dirt. Flea dirt is flea faeces (poo), and the pink/red circles that form are undigested blood from the fleas that have been feeding on your pet.

Depending on the severity of the flea infestation, it could take up to 90 days to get completely on top of it. The sooner you discover an infestation, the quicker you can get rid of it!

1. Treat your pet AND your home

A common misconception is that you can solve a flea problem by just treating your pet. But this only deals with part of the problem:

• Just 5% of fleas are on your pet
• 95% of a flea infestation is in the home

Only adult fleas live on your pet. Fleas from the other stages of the flea life cycle – flea eggs, flea larvae and flea pupae – are found in the home. Using an on-animal flea treatment will kill the fleas on your pet, but if you don’t treat your home as well, your pet will become reinfested from fleas living in the environment.

During an active flea infestation, we recommend using Beaphar FIPROtec® Spot-On to treat your pet, and Beaphar FLEAtec Household Flea Spray to treat your home. Beaphar FIPROtec® Spot-On kills the adult fleas on your pet. Beaphar FLEAtec Household Flea Spray kills adult fleas, and prevents flea eggs and flea larvae from developing in the home.

Once you have got your flea problem under control, you can continue to use Beaphar FIPROtec® Spot-On and Beaphar FLEAtec Household Flea Spray as a preventative measure. Alternatively, you can use a combination flea product such as Beaphar FIPROtec® COMBO. This kills adult fleas, and prevents flea eggs and flea larvae from developing, getting the job done in one treatment.

2. Follow the instructions on your chosen flea treatment carefully

To conquer your flea problem you must use the products correctly. If you don’t, the treatment will not be as effective, and it will take longer to solve your flea infestation. This is particularly important when it comes to on-animal flea treatments.

⚠️Do not repeat an on-animal treatment sooner than advised. Doing so could result in an overdose and cause your pet serious health problems.⚠️