How to Get Rid of Fleas Indoors & Outdoors

Fleas can be a real problem for your pet, and for you. They may seem fairly harmless, until they multiply and you find that you and your pets cannot stop scratching because of all the flea bites. If you have fleas inside of your house, you can bet your animals picked them up from outside of your house. To completely get rid of all of the fleas, you will need to treat outside and inside on the same day.

Things You'll Need

• Dish soap
• Water
• Vacuum
• Trash bag
• Salt
• Mask
• Gloves
• Food-grade diatomaceous earth
• Cedar chips

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Instructions

Indoors

• 1

  Fill your bathtub with an inch or two of lukewarm water. Add some dish soap. Place your pet in the soapy water and lather him up. Keep the animal soapy for a total of five minutes. This will be enough time to kill any fleas on your pet.

• 2

  Dry your pet off, but keep her in your bathroom. You need to treat the rest of your home and the outdoors so that your pet doesn't become infected again. Just make sure your pet has a food and water dish in the bathroom.

• 3

  Vacuum the entire house. Immediately remove the vacuum cleaner bag and place it in a garbage bag. Tie the garbage bag tight and set it in an outdoor trash can with a lid. This will remove a good portion of the fleas.

• 4

  Mix 1 1/2 lbs. of food-grade diatomaceous earth, 1 1/2 lbs. of borax and 1 cup of salt together. Sprinkle the mixture throughout your home and allow it to sit for a day or two and then vacuum it up. This will kill the rest of the fleas, because the diatomaceous earth is sharp and will pierce the skeleton of the fleas, and the salt and borax will suck up all the moisture in the environment.

• 5

  Wash your pet's bedding with hot soapy water while you are waiting for the salt to work. Then you can begin treating your yard.

Outdoors

• 6

  Put on a mask and a pair of gloves.

• 7

  Throw food-grade diatomaceous earth all across your yard. This will work just like it did indoors, except you won't have to vacuum it up.

• 8

  Sprinkle cedar chips around the perimeter of your lawn. Fleas hate the smell of cedar and will stay clear of your lawn in the future.