Fleas: How To Rid Your Pet Of Them
There are several different types of flea, but by far the most common is Ctenocephalides felis felis, also known as the cat flea. Though it is called the cat flea, it is the species most often found on dogs as well. Unless your pet has a severe infestation, he/she is probably not bothered by the odd flea, unless he/she has a flea allergy. However, since these unpleasant insects also bite humans we are, not surprisingly, somewhat intolerant of them. This article discusses how to tell whether your pet has fleas and, if they do, how to eliminate them from your house.
It is not always obvious when your pet has a flea problem. You may see an adult flea crawling around on your pets skin, especially if they have a pale coat. However, the easiest way to check for the presence of these pesky critters is to look for flea dirt. This is actually flea feces, and appears as tiny black specs near the base of hairs on certain parts of your pets coat, particularly around the rump (on the back, in front of the tail). Since fleas feed on blood, their feces is basically dried blood. When these little black specs come into contact with water, they turn reddish brown. So, try this: moisten a piece of white paper kitchen roll thoroughly and place it on a hard surface. Then, lift your pet above the paper and vigorously rub and scratch his/her back, going against the direction of hair growth, so that as much scurf and debris falls off you pet as possible. Afterwards, examine the wet paper closely. If your pet has fleas, the dried black flea dirt will have fallen onto the wet paper and turned into little red spots.
If you have seen a flea on your pet, or have found flea dirt as described above, then you have a flea infestation to deal with. Do not fear, the problem can be easily resolved by following these simple steps.
1. All pets in the house must be treated with an effective flea treatment.
2. The house must be sprayed to kill any fleas and flea eggs in the environment.
It sounds simple. However, I have lost count of the number of times clients say to me that they have done that already, when in fact they did not do it quite properly and so their flea infestation continued.
1. If one of your pets has fleas, you need to treat them all simultaneously. Your goal is to wipe out every flea in the house, so make sure there is no safe host for them to live on. Remember dogs and cats require different doses of flea treatment products.
Many owners believe that applying a flea product they have bought in a pet shop or supermarket will kill all the fleas in their house, or that a flea collar will provide adequate protection for their pet. Wrong. Purchasing these products is certainly better than doing nothing, but they are nowhere near 100% effective. They are comparatively weak compared to the products you can get from your veterinarian. There are many veterinary recommended products, here is a list of some of the best: Frontline
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