Flea control in Brooklyn

Getting rid of fleas in Brooklyn takes three things working together: your vet treats the pets, we treat the house and the outside spots where they rest, and you vacuum regularly for a couple of weeks. Leave any one out and the fleas cycle straight back.

The Brooklyn flea problem

There are two situations we see a lot here. The first is the established family home with a dog or two and a big shady garden. Fleas thrive where pets lie: in the cool soil under a big tree, along the shaded side of the house, under a veranda or a deck, and in the dog's bed. Brooklyn's mature trees create a lot of exactly that kind of shade, and fleas like it far more than they like hot, sunny lawn.

The second is the house that has just changed hands or tenants. Flea pupae can sit dormant in carpets, floorboard gaps and soil for months. When a new family moves in, the vibration and warmth trigger them to hatch all at once, and with no pet in the house yet, the new arrivals bite the people. It happens often enough near the university, where rentals change hands regularly, that it's one of the first questions we ask.

How to tell it's fleas

• Small, itchy bites, mostly around the ankles and lower legs
• Pets scratching, chewing their fur or losing hair near the tail
• Tiny dark specks in the pet's coat or bedding that turn reddish on damp paper (flea dirt)
• Small, dark, jumping insects on socks or light-coloured floors
• Bites that get worse after time in a particular room or part of the garden

What we do

We start by asking where your pets sleep and spend their days, then inspect those places inside and out. Indoors, we treat carpets, rugs, floorboard gaps, pet bedding areas and under furniture with an odourless, non-staining residual product. Outside, we focus on the shady, sheltered spots: under trees and decks, kennels, along walls and anywhere the soil stays cool and dry. We don't spray the whole garden for no reason.

Because flea pupae are protected inside their cocoons, a few new fleas may appear for a week or two after treatment. That's normal and means they're hatching and dying on the treated surfaces. Keep vacuuming.

What people get wrong

Treating the dog and not the house, or the house and not the dog. Only a small share of the flea population lives on your pet at any time. Most of them are eggs, larvae and pupae in the carpet and the garden. The pet needs a vet-recommended treatment, and the environment needs ours.

A tip for Brooklyn gardens

Watch where your dog chooses to lie on a hot afternoon. In a garden with big trees, that one cool hollow under the canopy is often the flea hotspot. Raking up leaf litter there, and keeping that spot dry, makes the outdoor treatment last longer.

Fleas in offices and empty buildings

It isn't only homes. A converted house that stood empty between tenants, with an old kennel or a resident cat next door, can greet the first staff to move in with a crop of hungry fleas. The approach is the same: find where the animals used to rest, treat those areas inside and out, and keep floors vacuumed for a fortnight afterwards.

Before you move into a Brooklyn rental

• Ask whether the previous occupants had pets.
• Have the carpets steam-cleaned or the floors properly vacuumed before you move in.
• If you're bitten in the first week, call us before buying more spray. Hatching pupae won't respond to most supermarket products.

What does flea treatment cost?

It depends on the size of the house, how much carpet there is, whether the garden needs treating and how many pets live there. A small flat with no garden is a short job. A large house with dogs and a big shaded garden takes longer. If you have one pet and only a few fleas, a good vet treatment and a thorough vacuum may be all you need, and we'll tell you that.

See our flea treatment service for Pretoria for more detail, or flea control in Waterkloof, where the big shady gardens cause the same issue. Fleas are sometimes confused with other biters, so read about bed bugs in Brooklyn if the bites are on your upper body. Our Brooklyn overview lists everything else. With 25 years in the industry and SAPCA registration, we stand by a 3-month guarantee: fleas back within that time means we're back too. Call 012 012 5526 or WhatsApp us.