PREVENTING 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 occa-sional 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 $250 - $300.
Fleas will bite your pets, causing an itchy allergic reaction that can become quite severe. They 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 get 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 haircoat. 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 insecti-cide 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. Care is needed to ensure that toxicity does not develop due to the concurrent use of other drugs, pesticides or chemi-cals, or because the compound used was not safe for a particular age or type of animal. Most of our clients choose a topical application type of product 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 at least one month.
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.
CURRENT PRODUCTS ON THE MARKET
Today’s oral and topical products are changing the way we deal with fleas. The oral products are called growth regulators. They don’t kill adult fleas but they break the life cycle by preventing flea eggs from hatching.
Programã is an oral medication given to your dog or cat once a month. It circulates in the pet’s bloodstream and is ingested by the flea when it bites the pet. The medication is a flea hormone, which will prevent the eggs that fleas lay from hatching out. This hormone has no effect on mammals so Programã has no side effects or contraindications.
Also on the market is Sentinalã, a combination product with an oral growth regulator and a heartworm preventative together in one monthly pill. The problem with both Programã and Sentinalã is that the pet has to get bitten by the flea for them to work. If your pets have more than just the occasional flea you will still need to use another insecticide to kill the adult fleas. The great thing about these products is that they WILL prevent your home from being infested.
Other new products are the topical or “spot-on” type of preparations. These are insecticide chemicals that do kill adult fleas as well as repel fleas for about one month. These products are safer and much more effective for residual control as well as easier to apply than older sprays.