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If you don’t subscribe to the Dutch journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, you might have missed the news about fleas: the best way to get rid of a house full of cat fleas is to reach for the vacuum cleaner. The old upright is not only lethal to adult bugs, but it completely wipes out their young. Scientists from Ohio State University had set out to determine what additional measures might be needed to kill a bunch of Hoovered-up fleas: burning, freezing, poisoning, maybe even a little good old fashioned stomping. But it turns out that getting sucked into a vacuum bag does the whole job.
The researchers were so surprised by the results, they repeated the study several times. In each experiment, they sprinkled a kitchen carpet with 100 cat fleas, either adults or juveniles. And they found that the vacuum snuffed out pretty much all of them. What makes vacuuming so deadly is hard to say. The researchers admit that they did not conduct a postmortem on any of the deceased. But they think it was the physical trauma of being sucked through the brushes that gave fleas a one-way ticket to the chitin-yard. Now, if only scientists could come up with a safe way to vacuum the cat.
--Karen Hopkin
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11 Comments
Add Commentthat's awesome and confirms how I was able to rid my house infestation this past summer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI do think you could use the vaccuum on the cat - use the least threatening of the vac. attachments and gently pet cat while running vac over cat. It may not get all of the fleas but does get many of them. Even better is the flea stuff you can get at the vet that kills the parents fleas and the babies too but its topical and needs to be reapplied monthly. Great news that the vac works too!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe that the fleas are suffocating in the dust storm , killing a very light insect who is wearing external body armour would be quite a challenge. insects are known to be quite adjitated by dust particles the same size as thier mouth parts. you can eliminate ants the same way by sprinkling baby powder and suffocating them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat explains why my cat loves to have her fur vaccumed: she knew it was bad for fleas all along!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFleas also do not like table salt very much, either. I used it instead of chemicals, when my children were toddlers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have definitely seen live fleas when I cleaned my vacuum. I doubt that adult fleas die from vacuuming - they are pretty tough. On the other side - it is normally difficult for fleas to get out of vacuum - so whether they are dead or alive in vacuum is not so important.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDiatomaceous earth (Diatom Powder) kills fleas and lice through suffocation, so I kind of believe the dust-storm hypothesis. Spicules are tiny little pores, and I can see them getting clogged in a cyclone vacuum.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA great way to really take care of fleas is to cut up a flea collar and place it in the vacuum cleaner bags. I am not sure if this is possible in bagless vacuums however. I would never use a flea collar on the cat or dog, but it kills any remaining adult fleas that may survive the sucking, dust-storm process.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA great way to really take care of fleas is to cut up a flea collar and place it in the vacuum cleaner bags. I am not sure if this is possible in bagless vacuums however. I would never use a flea collar on the cat or dog, but it kills any remaining adult fleas that may survive the sucking, dust-storm process.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA great way to really take care of fleas is to cut up a flea collar and place it in the vacuum cleaner bags. I am not sure if this is possible in bagless vacuums however. I would never use a flea collar on the cat or dog; but putting one in the vacuum bag kills any adult fleas that may have survived the sucking, dust-storm process.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry about the repeated posts. I must have inadvertantly gotten click-happy.
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