How to get rid of those pesky fleas...

The plague of every pet owner, are their best friends pesky parasites: Fleas. There are many natural and commercial remedies. What ever method you choose, you will have to treat for them several times before your infestation is gone.

 Understanding their life cycle is important in eliminating them. Also understanding how a flea works will help in making them not work. 

What is a Flea? 

A flea is a tiny,  flat, wingless insect with an amazing jump . They have hard plates called sclerites that cover their body. This protects them from injury when they land after a big jump, to protect from dog teeth and other dangers. The exoskeleton is also covered in tiny hairs that point backwards. This allows them to move about on the pets body easily, but to hang on if the dog shakes its body, or if the coat is brushed. The flea has several tiny mouth parts that work together to cut and puncture the skin and suck the blood. The flea uses suction pumps in its mouth and gut to get the blood into its body. Are you grossed out yet?!

There are two, well three, ways to kill a flea. The first is to breakdown the exoskeleton and cause dehydration. The second is by poison. Lastly, you can squish them between your finger nails. 

Treating Your Pet

Flea collars are a thing of the past. I personally never found them very useful. My favorite product is Capstar®. Its a very safe pill that you give your pet orally. It can be used for cats and dogs and it begins working within 30 minutes. It can be used on puppies and kittens and pregnant and nursing puppies. There are side effects to pets allergic to Nitenpyram, the active ingredient in this product, so be sure to do your homework. I prefer to use this product when pets come in for grooming. The pill works for up to 24 hours and creates a great buffer between the grooming and when its recommended to apply a topical treatment.

There are 1,000 flea shampoos sand dips that can be used during the grooming process. Many have harsh chemicals and its is best not to use them if you plan to use a topical. I prefer to use more natural ones and salt dips. Salt dips use an abrasive to kill fleas. Many are non-toxic. 

When it comes to topicals ( flea and tick products placed on the back of the neck) , I cannot stress enough,  do not skimp on these. In my personal research, Advantage® is the safest most effective topical flea treatment. Frontline® is recommended only when ticks are also an issue. My personal opinion is to stay clear of the off brands and never never never, give a cat a dog treatment. Always check. Just today, a client was telling us he had to put his cat down as there was a simple careless mistake and they gave their cat a product specified for dogs. 

Other ways of battling fleas on your pets is to use repellents. Garlic and brewers yeast added to your pets diet can help keep the pests away. 

Treating Your Home 

I personally prefer non-toxic or low-toxic ways to treat the home. Boric acid, salts and diatomacious earth are all safe and effective methods of flea control. I recommend vacuuming frequently. These products are safe to use and you can get food grade diatomacious earth for indoors. These are excellent products especially if you have young children crawling on the floors.

If you want something a bit more powerful most insect control products have a line for fleas. Look for ones that contain and IGA. Insect Growth Regulators will help prevent the cycle of the pupa.

Always remember the life cycle and plan to treat again in a few weeks to ensure you have it under control. 

Grooming Drop Coated Dogs

Drop coat refers to a long, straight and flowing coat. Dogs breeds such as Shih Tzu's, Lhasa's, Yorkshire Terrier and Maltese all have drop coats. These coats have their pro's and con's. One benefit of these breeds is that they are single coated, meaning one hair per follicle. These breeds shed less and they are less allergenic. I use a light mist of conditioning spray to keep the hair tame and free from static.

While these coats can be stunning, its alot of work to maintain them. The photo above shows how I brush out most drop coated dogs. As you can see, I am using a comb. I use a slicker brush on mats and the comb on the rest of the coat. If you are brushing regularly, you may just need to run a comb through their hair every day or every other day. Once you get into a routine, I should take 10 min or less. Pets coats grown in layers, so be sure to hold up the hair as you see here, and comb through each layer and work my way around the body. I use a black anti static teflon comb.

Many pet owners keep their drop coated dogs in short haircuts. These are cute and easy to maintain and can be of any length. Most owners have their pets in short pet trims ranging from 1/4" and longer. This Maltese is kept in a long scissor cut.

This Shih tzu mix is in a short hair cut

Lets talk Fleas

Fleas are the lice of the animal world. And like children, if you have pets, you will have to deal with fleas at least once, if not more.

A flea has amazing skill and can jump 200x its body lenght, about 13 inches. Fleas live not only on pets, but wild critters as well. So even if you dont have neighbor dogs, or wandering cats, the squirrels will make sure you don't miss out on all the flea fun.

A andult flea starts off as an egg. Flea eggs account for about 50% of your flea population. After a feeding, a female flea will lay about eggs, usually about 20 a day and about 600 in her lifetime, preferably on her host.Flea eggs are white and are the smaller than a grain of salt. They are round and usually fall off the coat of the animal and fall into carpet, furniture, grass, etc, whereever the pet lays.

After a few days or even a few weeks, the larva emerges from its shell. The flea larva make up about 35% of your flea population.  They have no legs so they dont move far and they feeds on flea feces. This is the "black dirt" you find on your pets body. It looks like black salt. Since fleas feed on blood, they poop blood. If you were to wash this off of your dog, the water would have an orange to red tint, that is from the "flea poop".. Gross, isnt it...

The larvae begin to pupate and form a cocoon. Fleas are almost impossible to detect and even harder to kill at this stage. The pupae make up about 10% of your flea population. They stay in the cocoon until the timing is right. They can detect heat, carbon dioxide and movement. This means a host is nearby. This is when the fleas will emerge from their shells and begin feeding on their hosts..

If an adult flea can live on dead skin cells etc, they do not have to suck blood. If a flea never feeds on blood they can live an extensive amount of time. However, once it has a blood feeding it has to feed every few hours or it dies.

Fleas excrete a saliva before they bite that makes feeding easier. This saliva compound causes an allergic reaction, some more severe than others.

Once the flea begins feeding on blood, it is able to start the flea life cycle. This lifecycle can be two weeks to two years, depinding on enviornmental factors. This is why flea treatment in several stages is important. We will talk about flea treatments later....