We took out all the carpet because our dog brought fleas in the house and we could not get rid of them. They kept popping up every few weeks. The exterminator wanted to keep using the poison to kill them but I didn't want all that soaked in the carpet, cleaning wouldn't get it out. If we couldn't get rid of them in the carpet they would eventaully go into the walls. No carpet, the fleas disappeared. The dogs and cats now get a once a month pill to stop the flea cycle. The outside pets have no fleas on them at all since taking the pills. Expensive, you bet, but that's part of having animals in the South.