Have you recently noticed your dog scratching itself excessively or losing some hair? If so, it's likely due to flea eggs, and we understand the level of frustration both you and your pup must be experiencing. According to The Pet Vet, fleas are the most common external parasite in dogs, and every wagging tail is likely to suffer at some point in their lives. Then, a study from the University of Liverpool shares the most recent practice-level survey in the UK that some 14.4 % of dogs are infested in early summer. You must be wondering why dogs are usually its target. The reason is that your furry fellow appears to be an ideal host for adult fleas, offering warmth and an immediately available food source. Furthermore, you will often see these eggs on the ground because they are designed to fall off and rarely cling to your dog’s fur.
As a dog parent, you’ll want to learn what flea eggs look like and how to get rid of them, so your dog can stop that constant scratching. To do this effectively, it’s important to understand the flea life cycle, particularly the egg stage. Don’t worry, this blog is here to share all the relevant details you need, including what flea eggs look like, where to find them, and how to eliminate them for good.
Understand The Flea Life Cycle
If you want to remove those fleas, then it is important to understand their life cycle, which consists of four stages:
Egg
Egg means the initial stage, which is the start of the flea’s life.
Larva
After the egg hatches, the larva appears and feeds on debris that is organic in nature.
Pupa
The larva is covered in a cocoon and then enters the pupal stage.
Adult
The last stage is adulthood, where adult fleas come in ready to feed and reproduce.
What Do These Eggs Look Like?
Flea eggs are extremely difficult to spot. Hence, dog parents usually determine through their symptoms, such as too much scratching, itching, bald patches, flea dirt or white specks in their fur. Their size only assists them in rapidly spreading throughout their fur. So, what do they look like? Let’s unveil:
Size
Flea eggs are extremely small, being 0.5 millimetres long, which you can say is similar to a grain of salt size.
Appearance
These eggs are oval in shape, with a smooth, glossy, off-white to pearly-white colour. At first glance, you will consider them as a speck of dust, sand, or even dandruff and might overlook that it’s going to remove itself.
Characteristics
Flea eggs have a non-sticky and smooth surface. This only makes them fall from your dog’s fur and scatter wherever your dog goes, or you take them.
Where Can You Find These Flea Eggs?
Since these eggs are not sticky at all, they tend to fall off your doggy’s fur into the surrounding areas. What are these areas? Let’s discuss:
Bedding Of Your Dog
Your dog’s bedding is one of the major locations. Why? Because your pet spends a lot of time over there. Therefore, the fleas consider it as an opportunity.
Carpets and Rugs
The carpets and rugs in your home consist of fibres that serve as the perfect hiding place for these glossy things.
Furniture
If you have a variety of furniture in the shape of couches, chairs or upholstered pieces, then yes, that can also invite flea eggs to hide.
Cracks
Even small cracks and crevices, where there is no light, tend to be a paradise for flea eggs, knowing nobody can reach them there.
Outdoors
Does your home consist of a few shady spots where your dog likes to spend their time? Or even somewhere outside, while you both are walking and stop for a few seconds to rest, then even such areas have fleas and can infest your dog’s fur.
Flea Dirt vs. Flea Eggs
Many dog parents often mistake flea dirt for flea eggs. The thing is that flea dirt is their stool, which is quite dark in colour. If you place them on a wet paper towel, you will see how it produces a reddish-brown colour.
How To Get Rid Of Flea Eggs?
We know that you are curious about how you can get rid of these annoying eggs, which have been making your furry fellow miserable, resulting in lots of scratching and creating bald patches as well. Now, you need to know that completely eradicating flea eggs demands you to take a multi-faceted approach that targets every stage of the life cycle of these fleas. How? Let’s spill the beans:
Look After Your Pet
In this situation, your dog’s well-being should be your first priority; therefore, you need to look after them in the following ways:
Consult Your Vet
As soon as you doubt that flea eggs are bothering your furry friend, then instantly schedule an appointment with your vet instead of taking any big step on your own. The vet will thoroughly examine your dog and ask you a few questions, like for how long have you been watching your dog in this condition, or do you have any other pet who has the same? Tell them everything as only that will assist them in providing you with some recommended flea treatments. For instance, they might ask you to get topical treatments, oral medications, and flea collars:
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Topical Treatments
You must apply topical treatments directly to your dog’s skin. The medication should be between its shoulder blades, where it is challenging for your dog to lick it off. The longer the medication stays, the more effective it is.
How Do They Work?
Topical treatments come ahead with insecticides or insect growth regulators. Insecticides kill adult fleas, while insect growth regulators hinder the flea’s life cycle, stopping their eggs and larvae from developing. In short, the medicine doesn’t let them grow to an extent that compels your dog to start itching itself.
Advantages
The treatment is easy to apply and usually provides protection from the infestation of flea eggs for a month.
Vet’s Suggestion
Avoid experimenting with the dosage; your vet will suggest how to go about it. For instance, the correct dose and the number of times you need to give them based on your furry fellow’s health and weight.
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Oral Medicines
Oral medicines are next. They must be given as chewable tablets or pills.
How Do They Work?
Oral medicines operate in their own manner. Once you give your dog a chewable tablet or pill, the active ingredients are absorbed into your dog’s bloodstream. Thus, even if fleas bite your wagging tail, they will unwittingly ingest the medicine, too, which will ultimately kill them. In this way, all fleas will gradually perish, leaving no eggs behind.
Advantages
These pills and chewable tablets play a crucial role in offering fast flea control. You will be amused to know that some of these oral medications also protect against ticks and other parasites as well. Therefore, you can use the same tablet for that purpose as well.
Vet’s Suggestions
Again, refrain from experimenting with the dosage. Seek your vet’s guidance, as they can better advise you on the appropriate dosage based on your furry fellow’s age, breed, and other underlying health conditions.
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Flea Collars
Is it the first time you are reading about flea collars? Then, you can say these are medicated collars that release insecticides or IGRs onto your dog’s skin and coat. Sounds fascinating, right?
How Do They Work?
The collars contain active ingredients that carry the potential to spread throughout your dog’s body, resulting in either killing or repelling the fleas. Hence, you will notice your dog coming back to normal.
Advantages
Flea collars are beneficial because they offer long-lasting protection for several months. If you want to see your dog playing or moving around without being bothered, this approach is not a bad option.
Vet’s Suggestion
Keep in mind what your vet suggests. They can assist you in selecting the safest and most effective flea collar that suits your dog’s skin. There are many flea collars on the market, but it’s hard to know which ones might cause skin irritation or other allergic reactions in your dog. Furthermore, they can help with the fitting and usage of the collar, especially if you’re new to this. Additionally, you can rely on your vet for information about the latest flea collars, as older versions may not be advanced enough to effectively combat these fleas.
Give Regular Bath
How many times a week or a month do you bathe your dogs? If the count is less, then we suggest you increase it and add flea shampoo to their bathing routine. Why? The shampoo will do wonders in removing those adult fleas and their eggs as well. But, still, you need to embrace a long-term solution to control the infestation, or else it might bother your dog in the future as well.
Frequent Grooming
You might be used to grooming your furry fellow with their normal kit, but when it comes to flea eggs, the situation becomes problematic. Therefore, you must buy a flea comb designed for your dog to brush off fleas, eggs, and flea dirt from your dog’s fur. You need to be consistent with this in order to see convincing results.
Clean Your Home
Once your dog’s care is sorted, you have to clean your home as well. This involves vacuuming, washing their bedding, steam cleaning, and much more in the following ways:
Vacuum
Grab that vacuum cleaner from your storeroom and switch on the machine, as you need to do some heavy cleaning. For instance, you need to take the machine to clean all the carpets, rugs, furniture, and crevices, especially in those spots where your pets like to spend most of their time. After thoroughly doing what is needed, it's highly recommended that you throw the cleaner bag in a properly sealed plastic bag to prevent re-infestation. Otherwise, brace yourselves to undergo the whole situation from scratch.
Wash Bed and Linens
Where does your dog sleep? Have you given them separate bedding or blankets? Or do they share your bed? As you will be washing everything. Yes, you need to wash their bedding, blankets, linen sheets, and even your bedsheets. Simply fill your washing machine with hot water and, turn by turn, keep putting these layers. Water’s temperature will help in killing a few flea eggs. Even when you dry them, make sure to set them to the highest temperature to end any remaining larvae. Hence, don’t ignore this factor.
Cleaning Via Steam
You might have seen how individuals use steam for cleaning as well. So, you have to do the same. Steam is hot, and that heat helps kill flea eggs and larvae; therefore, clean your carpets and furniture via steam, irrespective of their number on your end. And see the drastic difference in how your dog stops scratching itself.
Insecticides
Don’t use any random insecticide to remove flea eggs. You must have a flea-specific one. Get one in the form of spray or powder designed for indoor use. Read the instructions mentioned on the product carefully and focus on safety precautions to prevent yourself from doing something wrong. Take that insecticide and sprinkle it on your carpets, rugs, furniture, and baseboards, where these fleas' eggs breed and multiply in the blink of your eye.
Use Environmental Flea Control Products
Then, feel free to make the most out of environmental flea control products. These involve products consisting of insect growth regulators. These regulators interrupt the flea’s life cycle, which doesn’t allow the eggs and larvae to develop further. Hence, use them inside your home to end the hassle for your dog and yourself as well.
Treat Your Yard
Now, come outside in your yard as you have to clean this area as well in the following ways:
Use Outdoor Insecticides
You will be relaxed to know that there are insecticides specifically made for outdoor purposes. Therefore, you can invest in them to treat your yard. These are either in the form of spray or granules that you can easily put in shaded areas, under bushes, or in any of the places where your dog spends most of their day.
Maintain Your Yard
Try to maintain your yard as much as possible. Ask your gardener to mow the lawn more than once a month, or if you don’t have one, do it yourself. This will remove debris and prevent fleas from making your yard their breeding ground.
Hire Professional Pest Control
If you believe that the flea situation has gone way beyond your control, then ask your neighbours for professional pest control, or you can search the internet to tell you about the best ones near your area. Calling them to help you will offer you a sense of relief that your home is in safe hands, and they know how to get rid of the flea eggs. Otherwise, you may see yourself struggling in the situation, which we believe you don’t.
Some Things To Consider
We talked about the appearance of these flea eggs and the various ways you can use to get rid of them, but now it’s time to list a few things that you need to consider during this chaos:
Stay Persistent
You need to stay persistent with your efforts, as flea control is not as easy as it seems. You must often use those insecticide sprays or granules to disturb the flea's lifecycle. Otherwise, the minute you stop doing the hard work, the fleas will again begin to multiply.
Give Medicines To All Pets
How many pets do you own besides your dog? Because you are required to give medicines to all pets at your home, regardless of the fact that they don’t have fleas. You can’t afford to take any sort of risk here; hence, it is necessary to do so.
Use Flea Prevention Products
If you want to see your dog stay itch-free throughout the year, then it is recommended that you continue using flea-prevention products. In this way, you will keep your dog and other pets safe from future flea attacks as well.
Conclusion
We have reached the end of this blog. Now you know about the appearance of flea eggs, where they are often found, and several ways to get rid of the infestation. Therefore, do what is necessary while following what your vet says, and you will be good to go.
