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FLEAS
Fleas are among the most common health problems of dogs and cats. In the long run, it is much easier and more cost-effective to prevent fleas on your pets than to have to treat a major infestation of fleas in your house. Regular use of flea products will take care of the occasional flea your pets may encounter in the yard and should prevent you from having to spend large sums of money on foggers and exterminators. Treating a bad flea infestation in your house usually costs upwards of several hundred dollars. Fleas will bite your pets, causing an itchy allergic reaction, which can become quite severe. Flea allergy dermatitis is seen in the following picture, with loss of hair around the hindlimbs, tailhead, accompanied by severe itching.
Fleas can also carry viral and bacterial diseases. In small animals, especially puppies and kittens, the anemia they cause from feeding on the animal’s blood can be fatal. They also carry tapeworms. Tapeworm segments in the stool or around the rectal area look like small grains of rice. If your dog or cat has fleas, chances are good he has tapeworms – and vice versa. Wildlife, as well as other cats and dogs bring fleas into your yard. Pets and people can then bring the fleas into the house. Birds nesting in the attic or mice seeking shelter can also bring fleas into your home. Fleas also travel on their own, as much as a mile an hour. They will hop inside through an open door or window and are often small enough to come through a window screen. Once inside your home there is no place a flea cannot to. Adult fleas spend most of their time on your pet, but the remainder of the time they are roaming your house and laying eggs – thousands of them! If you’ve never been lucky enough to see a flea, they are about 1/8 inch long, reddish brown and shaped like a sesame seed with legs. They are usually found on your pet’s head, belly or lower back. If you ripple the hair backwards and look at the skin they can be seen scurrying through the base of the hair coat. The droppings they leave behind can be seen in clusters. They look like grains of pepper. If you place some of these on white paper toweling, wet it and mush it around it will turn the toweling red. This is because flea droppings contain digested blood. Plain dirt stays black or gray when wet.
PREVENTION
Fleas can usually be prevented by treating all pets who go outdoors so they don’t bring reproducing fleas into the house. If you had fleas in previous years it is wise to spray some insecticide in the house as well, especially on the ground floor near doors and windows. This will kill the occasional flea that hops in on its own. Many flea products sold in grocery and discount stores are wasting your time and money. Some are even harmful to pets. Most compounds strong enough to be effective are sold only through licensed veterinarians and exterminators, who are properly trained in their use, and are regulated by the state and the EPA. Insecticides should be used only according to label directions. If it doesn’t specifically say safe to use on cats, don’t use it on your cat! Care is needed to ensure that toxicity does not develop due to the concurrent use of other drugs, pesticides or chemicals, or because the compound used was not safe for a particular age or type of animal. Some of our clients choose a long lasting flea spray to use on their pet to control fleas.
New sprays are available that are waterproof for dogs who swim or are outdoors in the rain. Modern polymers enable some sprays to be effective for as long as 60 days. Several different ointment type products are now available for both dogs and cats. These products are applied to a small area of skin and spread over the whole pet themselves. Some kill ticks as well as fleas and they can remain effective for up to 1 month. Cats may prefer a flea mousse or powder. Cats often don’t like the sound of spray. For both dogs and cats, it is best to treat the face and head by spraying a sponge or cloth and then wiping the spray on, avoiding the eyes. Many insecticidal flea collars available in stores are not very effective and often cause dermatitis on the pet's neck. Flea shampoos and soaps are great for cleaning a dog or cat with fleas but they have no residual effect. They only kill fleas present on the pet at the time the bath is given. As soon as the animal dries off, fleas will hop right back on. For long-term control you need a product that safely stays in or on the body for days or weeks at a time. Only 5% of the fleas in your house are adults; the rest are other stages that you can’t see. An adult female flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs, none of which you will be able to see! Eggs and larvae can live in the ground and in your house for several months and don't mature until the conditions in the environment are optimal for them. That is why so many people stop using flea control in the winter months and then have a resurgence of fleas in the springtime!
Products on the Market
There are some products on the market, which are changing the way we deal with fleas. The only monthly oral flea product for dogs that our office carries is Comfortis, a flavored tablet that kills fleas by affecting their nervous system. This drug does not affect the egg or larval stage, but kills fleas before they are able to lay eggs. This has been a very popular and efficient product when used appropriately! It starts working within 30 minutes of administration and can be used with a tick collar if ticks are also a problem in the dog's environment.
Growth regulators are also present in the house sprays and foggers we well, to help break the fleas’ life cycle as well as killing the adult fleas. Ointment treatments called Vectra and Frontline ® are applied to the skin on the back of the neck or in multiple sites depending on the size of your dog. The animal’s own skin then takes care of distributing it all over the body. Frontline ® and Vectra for dogs will kill both fleas and ticks! Vectra for cats does not protect against ticks. Revolution is a monthly topical medication that protects against fleas, heartworms and ticks; this medication would require that the dog or cat be tested negative for heartworms before applying. It is important to realize that if you are seeing an increase in number of fleas AFTER you start applying any of these medications, you are most likely seeing the fleas that have matured that were present in the larval or egg stage in the environment. This does not mean the medications are not working! Continue using some form of flea & tick control monthly in order to control the population within your environment!
TICKS
Most flea products kill or repel ticks but ticks are tougher than fleas. They require higher levels of insecticides to kill them, so flea products usually have to be applied more often to control ticks. The easiest longest lasting tick control is a product called FRONTLINE or VECTRA for dogs. This product is available through veterinarians and works most effectively. If you are considering beginning a flea or tick control program for your pets, please consult with us. We are more than happy to help!
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