FLEA CONTROL
(by Dr Jason Smith 2005)
Fleas are a common external parasite that may result in your pet developing a flea allergy dermatitis. 5% of the flea life cycle is a result of the adult stage and the other 95% of the flea life cycle involves the larvae, pupae and egg stages. The female flea has the ability to produce between 20-50 eggs per day. Fleas spend most of there time on your pet, whilst the other 3 stages of the lifecycle are found in the environment which includes the soil in the back yard and the carpets in the house.
If untreated, the female flea will continue to take blood for several weeks. During that time, she will consume a significant amount of blood from the host animal. This can lead to the dog having an insufficient number of red blood cells, which is known as anaemia. In young or debilitated dogs, the anaemia may be severe enough to cause problems.
Many dogs become allergic to the saliva in the flea’s mouth. When these dogs are bitten, intense itching occurs, causing the dog to scratch and chew continuously.
Successful flea control must rid the dog of fleas and it must rid the dog’s environment of fleas. In fact, environmental control is probably more important than what is done to the dog. If your dog remains indoors and you do not have other pets that come in from the outside, environmental control is relatively easy. However, the dog that goes outdoors or stays outdoors presents a significant challenge. It may be impossible to completely rid the environment of fleas under these conditions, though flea control should still be attempted. When the dog is free-roaming or other dogs are allowed access to the dog’s garden, the task of flea control becomes even more difficult.
The most effective and easiest way to rid of fleas from your dog or cat is to use topical monthly flea controls, these include Advantage, Frontline, Advocate, Revolution and Advantix (dog use only). These products are applied to the back of the neck and provide a residual effect for about 4 weeks. Frontline Spray may be more convenient and economical in multi-pet households - the spray has a residual claim of up to 12 weeks instead. Sentinel tablets for dogs and Program injection for cats contain lufenuron and have a different mode of flea control. Lufenuron does not kill the adult flea but rather sterilises the flea and prevent the flea eggs from successfully hatching. Flea bombs for the house and environmental sprays for the yard may also facilitate in reducing population numbers in the environment in combination with the topical flea controls. Collars, powders and cheaper supermarket spot-ons are often not as effective.
Since fleas live all the year round in our warm centrally heated houses, it is important that the product is used regularly. Control of the entire flea population is then possible especially when combined with one of the environmental products to kill adult fleas and the immature stages.
The best way to determine if your dog has fleas is to quickly turn your dog over and look on its belly. If you do not find them there, look on the back just in front of the tail. When the numbers are very small, look for "flea dirt" tiny black dots of digested blood. Fleas are often not seen on cats because they are prolific groomers. Stick fast fleas are related parasites sometimes seen on the ears and around the eyelids of pets. They burrow their heads underneath the skin. Stickfast fleas are often sourced from nearby chooks and chook-pens.
