Just as parrots cannot live in the Arctic, bears cannot live in the desert and humans cannot live on the moon, fleas cannot operate outside their own environment.  That is, they cannot live in environments that is clean, or where their predators abound, or where, generally the conditions are unkind to them.  This is the realisation that underpins flea control. 

To get rid of fleas once they have appeared on your pet is, however you choose to deal with it, a pain.  It is a pain for them in terms of itchiness and general discomfort, and it is a pain for you in terms of all the stuff you have to buy, research you have to do (reading sites like this!), making sure people don’t go too close to them, making sure you don’t get fleas from them... it’s just one big headache.  If you operate flea control, however, yes it takes some effort and it will cost money, but the upside is that you shouldn’t have to worry about your pet actually contracting fleas. 

So flea control is about making the environment your pet lives in hostile to fleas.  In the house this means maintaining cleanliness, of which more later, however in the garden “cleanliness” as such is not an option.  Start vacuuming the grass and see how long until the nice men in white coats turn up.  There is, however, something you can do.  It doesn’t sound nice - but we’re dealing with fleas here, so the only “nice” solution is to leave it to someone else to deal with – but what you can do is introduce into your garden the nematode worm.  This worm feeds on flea larvae, quickly taking care of any problems before they begin.  Of course they will have to be replaced every now and then, as once they have eaten all the larvae they will quickly die out.  Another option for dealing with fleas in the garden is diatomaceous earth, a special soil made up of crushed algae fossils, and it kills fleas.

Just as you shouldn’t vacuum the garden, bringing worms into your living room obviously is not an ideal solution.  However you do not have to stop at vacuuming, which will not always be effective.  You can also use Precor, or Methropene (same thing, different names) or FleaBusters, made from sodium borate to treat your carpets.  For other alternatives, ask around, ask your vet, and get the best solution for you.  With flea control, anything you can do to make the environment hostile to fleas is a good thing.