Where do fleas go after being treated with drops on a dog? - briefly
The medication kills the fleas, causing them to drop off the dog or be dislodged during grooming, after which they fall onto the floor or bedding and eventually die in the surrounding environment.
Where do fleas go after being treated with drops on a dog? - in detail
After a dog is given a topical flea treatment, the active ingredients spread across the skin and coat, affecting any flea that contacts the surface. The insects experience rapid paralysis, loss of feeding ability, and eventual death. The dead or dying fleas then leave the host in several ways.
- They drop off the fur and fall to the floor, carpet, or bedding where they remain immobilized.
- Some are removed during the dog’s normal grooming; the animal may ingest them, and the digestive process destroys the bodies.
- Fleas that detach onto soft furnishings become trapped in fibers and eventually decompose or are eliminated by routine cleaning, such as vacuuming or laundering.
- In cases where the medication contains systemic compounds, fleas that bite the dog ingest the toxin and die within the bloodstream; their carcasses are later expelled through normal shedding of skin and hair.
- A small proportion may be crushed by the dog’s movement or by human handling; the fragments are discarded with regular waste.
Overall, the treatment forces fleas off the host, and their remnants are dealt with by the environment or the dog’s own grooming habits, leading to their ultimate removal from the infestation cycle.