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Eeeek! My Dog has fleas!Well, you are not alone. While we all try to be careful and keep our dogs in clean environments, fleas have six powerful legs that allow them to jump distances 200 times their body length—over 12 inches. So your dog can catch a flea on your daily walk. Fleas come into our backyards from wildlife and wandering felines. A visiting friend can have an infestation at home and bring young fleas over to your house on their clothes. Since adult fleas prefer not to leave a host once they find one, dogs generally get fleas after being in an environment with newly emerging adult fleas, rather than by making direct contact with another dog with fleas. Fleas feed exclusively on blood and can ingest up to 15 blood meals in a day. That means if your dog has just 10 fleas on it, they can be bit up to 150 times a day. Ouch! Young kittens and puppies with severe flea infestations can lose enough blood from fleas to need transfusions. |
Life of a flea |
Fleas prefer warm, ambient temperatures and moderate humidity, making your home a prime environment. There are four stages in the fleas’ 3-week life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Adult fleas mostly live on animals, while the other stages are found in the environment.
Each female flea lays about 40 eggs per day on animals’ skin, and these eggs can easily roll off into the surrounding environment. Larvae hatch from eggs and seek dark, warm areas such as carpet fibers, where they form a cocoon and become pupae. Pupae can remain undisturbed for months and cannot be killed with insecticides, freezing or drying. Adults emerge from cocoons when they sense that a potential host is nearby, by detecting vibrations, light or carbon dioxide. The adult fleas crawling on your pet represent only 5% of the total population, with eggs 50%, larvae 35%, and pupae 10%, total making up the other 95%. This means that for each adult flea you can see, 19 others are lurking in your home’s carpet, bedding, and furniture. |
What do i do? |
What to do about it? While your pet is at the grooming salon you need to be home cleaning. Wash any pet beds, blankets, or other items your pet sleeps on. Vacuum your furniture, floors, and along any crevice like the bottoms of baseboards.
When finished vacuuming go outside to change the bag or dump the contents of the canister into a bag and throw away. Fleas will easily crawl out of a vacuum or immediately jump back onto the floor when you open the canister. Don’t forget to call your vet to get your dog on a flea preventative. If your pet is allergic to the meds call an exterminator to treat your yard and home for fleas. If you cannot have chemicals inside the home pet safe diatomaceous earth to sprinkle on carpet and fabrics then vacuum. A flea trap that has a light and sticky paper underneath works well too. Sources: Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center CDC.gov PetMD Countryside Veterinary Hospital |