There are several steps that you should take to get rid of a flea infestation in your house, and the first thing you should do is get all the pets in your home on a first-class monthly flea medication such as Frontline.
These medications are the number one tool and the most effective way to get rid of fleas for the long-term, because they interrupt the lifecycle of the flea infestation by killing all the adult fleas before they have a chance to lay eggs and reproduce.
Your dog or cat acts as a sort of magnet or vacuum cleaner for fleas in the home because fleas require a blood meal from a host in order to reproduce, and if they do not successfully find a host they will die.
They are acutely sensitive to the presence of a suitable host in their environment and will quickly make their way to the coat of an animal when they detect its body heat or carbon dioxide emissions from breathing.
When the fleas do find its way to the coat of a cat or dog that has been treated with flea medication, it is quickly killed by the pesticides within a matter of hours. So your pet is constantly attracting and killing the fleas in your house as it moves through your home.
I would estimate that for about 90% of people, getting your dogs and cats on flea medication will be the only step that you need to take in order to get rid of fleas in your home for the long-term. Really. I’m not kidding.
The one drawback to flea medication is that it only kills adult fleas, while flea eggs and flea pupa can live for months hiding in the carpeting and upholstery of your home, only to come out of dormancy later when they detect a host. So it can take a few weeks to a few months to fully eradicate the flea infestation.
There are other products that can kill the immature stages of the flea life cycle, such as flea eggs and flea larva, and you may use them inside your house as well in order to speed up the process. You may reference my complete list of flea control products for more information.
There are flea powders that you can spread in the carpeting of your home, flea sprays that you can apply to furniture and bedding of your pets, and there is also flea insecticide that you can spray in your yard and around the perimeter of your home to kill a flea infestation outside.