All About Fleas
How do they spread?
Fleas are picked up from:
How do I know if my pet has fleas?
1. Behavioural signs: restless and scratching, licking or chewing on certain areas of her body. Shaking the head often and scratching at the ears is another indication of a possible flea infestation in your dog.
2. Check the skin and haircoat: The armpits and groin are two areas that tend to be warm and protected, making them preferred spots for large flea populations.
3. Get a flea comb and run it through the hair on your dog’s back and legs. To tell the difference between regular dirt and flea "dirt" is to wet any black specks that fall off the pet and if they turn a dark reddish-brown color, you are seeing the digested blood that the flea has passed through its body and excreted.
4. Check the environment: examine the pets feeding area and bedding area for signs of flea dirt or fleas
Health Problems
In addition to extreme discomfort, fleas and ticks can also cause serious health problems in pets and people.
Treating Flea Infestation
There are many products available to treat flea infestations but remember prevention is better than cure. Call into us for advice on the best possible prevention and treatment regime for your pets. The important things to remember in treating an infestation are below:
Fleas are picked up from:
- Other pets through direct contact
- Visiting places where fleas may be present (They like to live in crevices and cracks), houses, and in areas where other pets or wildlife are found.
How do I know if my pet has fleas?
1. Behavioural signs: restless and scratching, licking or chewing on certain areas of her body. Shaking the head often and scratching at the ears is another indication of a possible flea infestation in your dog.
2. Check the skin and haircoat: The armpits and groin are two areas that tend to be warm and protected, making them preferred spots for large flea populations.
3. Get a flea comb and run it through the hair on your dog’s back and legs. To tell the difference between regular dirt and flea "dirt" is to wet any black specks that fall off the pet and if they turn a dark reddish-brown color, you are seeing the digested blood that the flea has passed through its body and excreted.
4. Check the environment: examine the pets feeding area and bedding area for signs of flea dirt or fleas
Health Problems
In addition to extreme discomfort, fleas and ticks can also cause serious health problems in pets and people.
- Flea allergy dermatitis: When a flea bites your dog, it deposits a small amount of saliva in the skin. Your pet can develop a reaction to this saliva, which causes severe itching. In addition to your pet scratching or biting excessively around the tail, groin or backside, scabs or bumps may also appear on your pet's neck or back.
- Anemia may occur in pets if too many fleas suck their blood. The signs of anemia include pale gums, weakness and lethargy in your pet.
- Dogs may become infected with tapeworms by ingesting an infected flea. Pets may have intense anal itching, and tapeworm segments may be seen around the anal area or in the feces.
Treating Flea Infestation
There are many products available to treat flea infestations but remember prevention is better than cure. Call into us for advice on the best possible prevention and treatment regime for your pets. The important things to remember in treating an infestation are below:
- Kill adult fleas that are already on the pet.
- Kill newly-arriving adult fleas on the pet. It may take three or flour months to kill all the fleas emerging from pupae in the household environment.
- Inhibit the hatching of viable flea eggs and prevent the development of larvae into adult fleas.
- Clear the home and the environment of flea eggs, larvae, and pupae that are already there.
Flea Life Cycle
The Life Cycle of the flea:
1. The adult female lays eggs on the animal and takes a blood meal for the eggs to develop
2. The eggs fall off the pet’s coat into the environment of the animal(pet beds and pet bedding, carpet, couches and outdoor settings: garden beds and sheds)
NOTE: This is why it is important to treat the animal (host) as well as the environment
3. The Flea egg hatches releasing a first stage Flea Larvae (after about 2 days). Over 9-15 days, the first stage flea larva develops to become a third final stage flea larva which lives in the host's environment where it feeds on flea dirt and dander.
4. The final stage flea spins a cocoon and becomes a pupae in order to change into an adult. This is the most long-lived stage of the flea lifecycle - taking anywhere up to a year or more to hatch. The pupa is the life cycle stage of the flea that is the most vital to a flea population's persistence in a host environment. Flea cocoons generally only hatch in the presence of a host animal.
NOTE: The fleas will simply lie dormant in their cocoons and wait - they can wait for many, many months for a host to reappear. Cocoon eradication is, thus, very important if an environment is to be rendered completely free of fleas
1. The adult female lays eggs on the animal and takes a blood meal for the eggs to develop
2. The eggs fall off the pet’s coat into the environment of the animal(pet beds and pet bedding, carpet, couches and outdoor settings: garden beds and sheds)
NOTE: This is why it is important to treat the animal (host) as well as the environment
3. The Flea egg hatches releasing a first stage Flea Larvae (after about 2 days). Over 9-15 days, the first stage flea larva develops to become a third final stage flea larva which lives in the host's environment where it feeds on flea dirt and dander.
4. The final stage flea spins a cocoon and becomes a pupae in order to change into an adult. This is the most long-lived stage of the flea lifecycle - taking anywhere up to a year or more to hatch. The pupa is the life cycle stage of the flea that is the most vital to a flea population's persistence in a host environment. Flea cocoons generally only hatch in the presence of a host animal.
NOTE: The fleas will simply lie dormant in their cocoons and wait - they can wait for many, many months for a host to reappear. Cocoon eradication is, thus, very important if an environment is to be rendered completely free of fleas