Flea Eggs

If I smash a pregnant/gravid flea, and eggs spill out, can those eggs hatch? Sometimes I find them on my cat and smash them, but I don't want to spread eggs if this is the case. (But it's so satisfying to smash them)

Yes, they can and will hatch if they leave the female flea’s body intact.  Considering that a female flea will lay about 50 eggs a day, there are probably always eggs ready to hatch on your critter, so even if you were successful in smashing the egg(s) inside the female, there were a LOT more that you didn’t squish already in the animal’s coat hair, or on your couch, carpet, or bed.

Why it is so weirdly satisfying to smash them is one of life’s little mysteries. When I have had this issue with my zoo, I can often hear myself mumbling swift death wishes to each tiny invader.  

You probably know this already, but food grade diatomaceous earth is the safest and best long term flea control available. It’s super cheap ($1.49 for 1 lb at my health food store), and easy to use. Just dust your critter and anywhere the animal sleeps or wanders. It doesn’t kill the fleas like a traditional chemical pesticide…the tiny particles penetrate the hard shell of the flea and they dehydrate fairly quickly. Best to not make giant clouds of it around the eyes and nose while applying.

Although I haven’t tried it, I know folks that also mix the powder with a minimal amount of water to make a paste and feed it to their pets on a spoon for internal parasites as well (worms).

For bad infestations, I use one Comfortis tablet. It is as natural as you can get in the veterinarian prescribed oral flea controls. It’s derived from organic RUM, of all things, so it is safer than those super popular brands that are made of a toxic soup. One tablet lasts a whole month, and I don’t use them unless I have to. The directions say to dose once monthly, but unless you have ‘re-infestation’ issues, I really don’t see the need. A little pricey, (6 tablets for $95) but my last box lasted me 18 months on 4 cats.

I say, ‘Squish away!’ and give Kitty a spa treatment with some diatomaceous earth powder.

I have been searching the net for a solution to the flea problem on my cat.  I adopted her last month and the people failed to tell me she was loaded with fleas, poor thing.  So I have been using a flea comb and literally getting about 10 fleas and loads of eggs daily.  Every time I think it is under control, there are more.  So today, I found this guys site and this was the most informative site I have found on using diatomaceous earth so far.  I would like to share this with anyone who is experiencing this little problem.  I doused my carpets today.  Fortunately I have been adding the food grade stuff for years to smoothies and had a lot of it on hand.  I buy the stuff on Amazon for about $10 for ten pounds.  I give it to the kitty in her water too.  Not too much to make it too cloudy but just enough to irritate the intestinal parasites.  I have read that this is good for that.  That is why I take it, but not too often.  Only about once a week.  It seems to be enough but then I have never looked in my intestines to see what is actually happening.  Anyway, here is the guys site on using this stuff for flea control.  https://richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp

How do you kill a flea cycle?
Checklist—Target Flea Hideouts!
Help your pet break the flea life cycle with a flea treatment.
Clean the house thoroughly on the same day.
Wash all your pet's bedding at a high temperature.
Vacuum your carpets and furniture to remove eggs, larvae and pupae and discard the vacuum cleaner bag.
https://www.wikifleas.com/2018/10/the-flea-life-cycle.html

Bayne Kittey wrote:How do you kill a flea cycle?
Checklist—Target Flea Hideouts!
Help your pet break the flea life cycle with a flea treatment.
Clean the house thoroughly on the same day.
Wash all your pet's bedding at a high temperature.
Vacuum your carpets and furniture to remove eggs, larvae and pupae and discard the vacuum cleaner bag.
https://www.wikifleas.com/2018/10/the-flea-life-cycle.html

If you have access to a steam cleaner... that can help a lot. I used a flat iron to eradicate well.... not fleas but a close relative in my own hair, in combination with vinegar. If I had to do it now I'd steam clean everything I could and add diatomaceous earth after it's dry. I'd bathe my pets in vinegar, blow dry their coat and rub diatomaceous earth into their fur, especially around their neck. I'm careful not to make clouds of it near their nostrils or to get it in their eyes, though. BTW I de-loused my mother and sister as well, with vinegar and flat iron and managed to get rid of them with much less time/effort/money than is typical. I also boiled all the combs and brushes so if you have any grooming implements for your pets it can help if you boil those.