Fleas are probably one of the worst side effects of owning a
dog. The dog invariably has to go outside, in for nothing else but to get a
little exercise while relieving themselves. In the grass, the sand, the weeds,
and in fact just about any outdoor surface, lies a little vampire just waiting
for its next victim. It does not care what it is that passes by them, as long
as it is alive and has pumping blood. This is a definite problem while trying
to keep your dog healthy.
With amazing agility and strength, a flea can jump anywhere
within a 6 foot radius, and probably just as high from a stand still position
on the ground. Their legs can propel their bodies amazing distances when
comparing body size to measurable distance. And if they catch a scent of you,
they can hunt you down quickly. All they need is a warm body and blood that can
be brought to the surface.
But most often than not, the dog is the most likely victim.
They are closer to the ground. They walk the grounds more frequently. And what
flea in their right mind can resist all that warm protective fur acting like a
beautiful canopy of protection above the flea as it drinks fresh blood like a
margarita on a beach, barely noticed.
THE COMMON FLEA
The best way to see a flea is in a book. At least, that is
my preferred way. To see a live one usually strikes panic in dog owners. This
is because these really little creatures are rarely seen unless you are
specifically looking for them. They are about the size of the diameter of a pin
(the sewing pins you use to hold material until you sew it). They are varying
colors of light brown to brown. And you can squeeze one with all the strength
you have between your thumb and index finger and not harm it the flea at all.
The flea is absolutely the number one infestation your dog
is likely to come into contact with of all the possible external parasites.
They live by drinking blood. They can attach themselves to skin and hair
follicles easily with barbed legs. Their legs are probably the strongest in the
whole of animal (including human) kingdom, especially when size versus
capability is taken into consideration.
Fleas start off as eggs, hatch, and move through the stages
of their lives quickly, within days. The flea can lay literally hundreds of
eggs each day. In a matter of days these eggs hatch, turn into adults within
days, and then lay hundreds of eggs a day themselves. Like a pyramid scheme on
overdrive, you can see how hundreds producing hundreds that produce hundreds of
fleas within a short amount of days could become troublesome in very little
time.
INDICATIONS THAT YOUR DOG HAS
FLEAS
If you have a dog with fleas, you will start to notice these
things almost immediately.
Scratching – Your
dog will be sitting or laying down somewhere, and what seems like just out of
the blue, whip its head to an area at the base of its tail and starts nipping
with its teeth. It can also start nipping on its stomach, or near the crotch
area and base area of its legs.
The scratching can be continually back leg to behind the ear
scratching. Your dog might even roll over on its back and wriggle all over on
your carpet, even whining in the process.
Skin Irritation –
Fleas, like mosquitoes, have saliva that skin does not tolerate well. It is the
saliva that inflames human skin from a mosquito bite, not the bite itself. The
flea does the same thing to your dog.
If the fleas concentrate in an area, or even worse, your dog
is allergic to the saliva of the flea, the area is going to lose hair and become
inflamed at the minimum. This area could loose all the hair, exposing a bald
spot. The skin in the area could look really dry like a sun burn, flaking off
from your dog. It can even become infected and/or bleeding from the combination
of the attacks, your dog's skin reaction, and your dog's physical reaction of
the fleas (biting, nipping, and scratching).
Holy Crap Batman!
– No, but seriously flea feces is always an indication of infestation. The way
to find out is to inspect the dog's skin at the surface. Move the hairs around
in areas he seems to be scratching. If you are seeing little black specs on the
skin, chances are you are seeing flea feces. You might even see a flea itself,
but don't think your dog is in the clear if you don't. Fleas are hard to
detect.
Another way is to try to use a fine comb near the base of
the hair. After combing the area, try wiping the comb on a napkin, Kleenex,
paper towel, or even toilet paper. As long as it is white. Because if flea
feces is present it will show up on whatever you are wiping the comb off with.
If it is white, you see spots on it, reddish (like drying blood). The main food
source being blood, it only makes sense, right?
PLEASE GET RID OF THESE
FLEAS!
Treating the dog is the first priority. Unfortunately it
does not stop there. Once a flea rides your dog into the house, they have a
tendency to lay eggs everywhere they go. They'll lay eggs on carpet, bedding,
furniture, just about any surface. And more than likely it has been a few days
and you have several generations, or at the minimum stages of ages, of fleas
all throughout your house.
You will have to get something for the dog that kills
everything from eggs to adults. Then you will probably have to buy a separate
attack for the house. There are foggers, powders, and other types that you can
use. Again, the important thing is that it kills all stages from eggs to
adults.
It usually goes something like this: 1) treat the dog (bath
using flea shampoo, combing, and then treatment) 2) house attack. 3) wash all
bedding, clothing, drapes, towels, etc. 4) vacuum floor to suck up dead and
eggs. 5) treat carpet again in the morning 6) vacuum at night. 7) repeat 5 and
6 until you are confident new eggs, hatchlings, newbies, and soon to be adults
survived.
That covers the household inside. Now you have to complete
the tasks by spraying or fogging your yard. I bet you forgot about the yard.
This is where the dog picked up the fleas more than likely. If you do not want
to continue to go through the above steps in your house from spring to late
fall, you definitely want to hit your yard too.
Hopefully, the two fold attack on both the inside and the
outside of your house will eliminate the flea issue.
IS THERE AN EASIER WAY THAN THIS?
Well, actually there is a much easier path to take than what
is described above. The name of the path is called, "prevention". Remember the
old adage, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? It holds true for
fleas too.
The best thing to do is to get with your vet, or maybe use
800 pet meds or a web site to purchase a topical flea solution. The most
commonly known and used ones are Advantage and Revolution. I am not sure which
one it is, but one of them has the commercial with the cute little puppy going
to summer camp singing, "There ain't no fleas on me…"
Some vets, especially down south where sandy areas produce a
higher amount of fleas and ticks, offer flea dip baths. This is where you can
bring your dog to the vets to literally "dip" your dog in a bath of water and a
pesticide that kills fleas, ticks, and other pests. You may even be able to
purchase some of it to be able to make your dip bath at home.
When I lived in Oklahoma
one summer, many farms had a huge horse watering trough with a wooden cover.
The farmers would bring home the dip around February and make a bath in the
trough, dipping all their animals to protect them. Dogs, cats, rabbits, even
goats!
Which brings up a rather good point to mention, if you have
other animals in your house besides dogs, like say cats, ferrets, whatever, you
are going to have to either use prevention or cure each of them. If you do not
take care of all of them at once, the fleas will just "transfer" back and forth
from pet to pet. You will never get rid of them then.
WHAT ABOUT OVER THE COUNTER FLEA CONTROL
Honestly, although I wish no ill will towards the
manufactures of such products, you really should use the topical. It works the
best, and no other company can really dispute it. Maybe use a flea shampoo from
over the counter, but the rest of the stuff does not seem to be effective.
Sorry, it is what it is. Nothing sucks worse than trying to
fight a flea infestation using all these over the counter products and have
them only temporarily work. They may kill the adult fleas and the
soon-to-be-adult fleas. But as soon as the eggs hatch a new batch of fleas, the
battle starts all over again.
Definitely do not use the over the counter, or any for that
matter, flea collars. The only good use of a flea collar is in the collection system
of your vacuum as a secondary back up when vacuuming the floor. The collars
work, usually only just around the area that the collar comes in contact with
the skin of the dog.
Furthermore, it is now believed that the collars can cause
more damage than good. The strong pesticides and other toxins used in the
collars stay in contact with the dog's skin. This can not be good if you think
about it. I am almost positive if a human wore one of these collars that they
would develop some sort of skin cancer in the future (NOTE: this is my opinion
only, and is speculative, there is no scientific evidence backing my opinion).
One final point about over the counter products, and vet
products as well. If you keep using different products on the dog because the last
one did not work, eventually you will "poison" your dog. Not intentionally, of
course. But introducing chemical after chemical to your dog obviously can not
have a positive effect.
SUMMATION
Fleas cause your dog pain and suffering. This comes in the form
of itching and inflamed skin, a dull coat, and bald spots. In some rare cases
the flea infestation can be so large that they literally drain your dog of too
much blood, causing many health issues. You might see other effects like
sluggishness, sickly fevers, and even forms of paralyzing in some extreme
cases.
Signs of fleas are your dog scratching, biting, and/or
nipping certain areas on the body, especially around the base of the tale,
their belly, their crotch area, and around their ears. Inspection of the pet's
skin closely might reveal the little black specs indicative of flea feces. A
fine comb and a white paper product can be used to find evidence of fleas by
combing the suspected area and wiping the comb with the paper product. If red
colored specs or blotches form on the paper, it is evidence of flea feces.
Prevention is the best approach to stop a flea infestation
to begin with. Use vet recommended topical solutions that kill all stages of
fleas, from eggs to adults. Over the counter products (other than perhaps a
shampoo) are not recommended to use on your dog. If any other animals are part
of the family, they need treatment and/or preventative measures as well. Don't
forget to get the yard and other areas outside your pets frequent.
Once in the middle of an infestation, you need to
attack both the inside and the outside of your house to be effective. Make sure
you clean all possible materials that fleas and there eggs may be. This
includes bedding (both human and pet), carpets, furniture, and other surfaces
throughout the house. Several attacks and vacuum sessions on the carpet
especially is recommended. |
