If you have pets – whether you have outdoor cats or your dog is your best friend, they likely spend quite a bit of time in your yard.
Maybe you play fetch with Spot or you let your cat, Romeo, enjoy the sun on your patio.
And while your beloved pets are outside, you want them to be safe. In fact, you might be wondering as they enjoy the backyard exactly what’s out there lurking that could potentially harm your pets.
Among the many pests that can make your Northern Virginia backyard home are fleas. And if you’ve ever had a pet that’s had fleas, you likely know how hard it can be to eliminate those tiny, nasty pests from your dog or cat … not to mention your home.
In fact, it almost feels like fleas can appear without warning. You might be wondering how they got there. Unfortunately, they can easily catch rides on rodents or other animals traveling in and out of your landscape and make your pets susceptible to infestation.
But this doesn’t mean you should be spending more time worrying about these potential pest threats. You should be able to enjoy your backyard without stress over fleas. The very last thing you need is for your pet to accidentally bring fleas into your house.
Yard flea control treatments can keep fleas out of your landscape and off of your pets. But as you consider these applications, you might be asking yourself, “Is yard flea treatment safe for pets?”
Let’s look at what flea treatments entail and how they can safely help save your pets from infestation.
Learning More About Fleas in Your Northern Virginia Yard
First, let’s talk about fleas in Northern Virginia landscapes.
Fleas are wingless insects with long, flat bodies that feed on blood from pets, wild animals, and people.
These pests become active when daytime temperatures remain consistently at or above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Also at this time, more wild animals start foraging and moving about -- think deer, rabbits, squirrels, mice, possums, etc. And fleas hitch rides on these critters as they move in and out of your backyard.
Then once fleas go from your yard to your pet and into your house, they can quickly make homes in your carpets and furniture. That’s why finding a pet-safe flea treatment for your yard is important.
Fleas Can Bring Disease in Addition to Itches and Scratches
Fleas can be hard to spot in your yard, so you might not know they are there until you start to see some classic signs from your pets.
It typically starts with itching and scratching. You might even see some hair missing from a pet’s fur or have unusually tired cats or dogs. Pets allergic to fleas may also cause red skin or red bumps.
The worst part about fleas is they can bring something a lot worse than itches and scratches. They are also a common source of some pretty serious illnesses, such as typhus or cat-scratch fever, among other things. This is a big reason why using a safe yard treatment for fleas can also save you from the diseases they carry.
How Fleas Operate
Fleas wait around for a blood snack to pass by. When they latch onto a host for blood, they transfer small bits of saliva over in the process. This saliva enters your bloodstream, and that’s how they spread diseases like typhus.
Even though they are hard to spot because they are tiny – 1 to 3 millimeters in length – fleas are great jumpers, being able to move 8 to 20 inches at a time. This is why many people don’t even know they have a flea problem until fleas have laid eggs and are already moving throughout your lawn, your pet, and your home – multiplying quickly. A female flea can lay 2,000 eggs in one lifetime.
Fleas prefer shady, moist areas. Your pet can pick up fleas outdoors in areas that have these humid conditions where they can thrive, including in grasses, which is why yard flea control can help.
How to Safely Battle Fleas in Your Northern Virginia Yard
Safe and effective yard flea control starts with basic outdoor maintenance. But if you have a larger infestation, professional pest control treatments can offer more help.
Follow this advice to keep flea numbers down in your Northern Virginia backyard, while also keeping your pets safe.
Keep Plants Pruned
When you have an environment that encourages fleas, it’s more likely your pets will encounter them and bring them into your home.
This is why safe yard treatment for fleas starts by cutting down tall grasses and vegetative brush to discourage flea hangouts. Trimming tall grasses, particularly near property edges, is important. Also, if your home backs up to a woodland area where other wild animals are more likely to come in, you want to keep these edges neat and tidy to discourage overgrowth.
The same can be said for areas where your pets and family members hang out most frequently, including patios, fire pits, and playgrounds.
Part of this task includes regularly mowing your lawn during the growing season. Weekly mowing is necessary in summer to keep your lawn to that ideal 3- to 4-foot height.
Minimize Excess Wildlife in Your Yard
Fleas regularly travel on rodents, squirrels, mice, and small and large mammals that frequently wander into and out of your yard.
Keeping your lawn mowed and tall grasses trimmed can help limit these flea carriers from hanging out in your landscape too frequently.
You can also limit wildlife activity like this in your yard by keeping trash sealed in plastic containers with secure lids.
These practices are certainly pet-safe flea treatments for your yard.
Hire a Professional to Help With Safe Yard Treatments for Fleas
Pet-safe flea treatments for your yard in Northern Virginia usually start when the pests become active around April. And they are applied every three weeks until the pest activity dies down, typically through October, amounting to roughly 12 treatments.
Since introducing more chemicals into your life is not always a welcome option, Turf’s Up prefers using an organic flea control option for our landscape customers. It’s a cedar oil product that is completely organic, which means it’s harmless to you and your pets. And the best part: It’s super effective against fleas.
This natural, professional-grade product blocks the scent receptors of fleas, disrupting their bodies’ systems and functions and drying them up.
Using their knowledge about these bugs, our technicians target the product to regular flea hangouts to ensure we reduce your pest populations.
Synthetic products can naturally make you a bit more nervous, especially considering yard flea control is applied near your playground and patio areas. But as a safer option, cedar oil can be applied beneath decks and near your property without making you worry too much about your pets’ safety.
When you choose a professional option like Turf’s Up for your flea control, you may also save some money in the process when compared to trying to battle fleas yourself or choosing another option that is not as natural.
Turf’s Up, for instance, charges $40 monthly, which adds up to a 10% savings compared to competitors’ prices. By targeting local customers, we can offer competitive rates while providing a safer option.
Choose a Safer Yard Flea Control Option in Northern Virginia
If you’re looking for a safer, efficient, and effective way to tackle fleas in your yard, then opting for a company that offers a professional-grade, cedar oil-based product is an option that certainly makes sense.
You want your pets to enjoy the outdoors without worrying about flea infestations, but you also want to make sure your furry best friends are safe during the process.
If you’re looking for a safe yard treatment for fleas, and you’re not sure what to do, give Turf’s Up a call. We can educate you on what cedar oil can do and how it can help not only reduce your flea problems, but also be kinder to your pets at the same time.
Go ahead. Limit your worries and keep enjoying your backyard with Rover. We’ll keep the fleas down so you can keep playing fetch.
Ready to learn why Turf’s Up could be your totally awesome choice for flea control services in Northern Virginia? We’re stoked to learn more about you and help you eliminate your mosquito problem once and for all. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your yard.
Image Soure: Flea
