Flea problems are of ever increasing significance to the dog and cat owner. In order to deal with this parasite, it helps to have some understanding of the facts behind the problem:

1. Cat and dog fleas are 2 separate species of Ctenocephalides, but in reality their behaviour is such that there is no difference to the pet owner, or their pets. Either species affects both dogs and cats, but they are of little significance to other household pets - humans apart!

2. Fleas spend much of their life off the animal, and are happy in a well heated and carpeted house.

3. Fleas move quickly throughout the house, and populate it thoroughly.

4. Fleas occasionally visit the pets for a "feed".

5. Fleas are an all year round pest, but there are more of them in the summer months. And every summer my clients tell me that this year is the worst flea epidemic ever!

6. Not all dogs and cats are itchy when they have fleas - only the pets that have an allergy to fleas will scratch.

7. Black sooty particles in the base of the fur are a symptom of long-standing flea infestation.

8. Treating the animals alone will not solve the problem. There are usually around 10 times as many fleas in the house as there are on the pets. Unless you deal with household problem too, the pets will quickly become reinfested.

9. Approach the problem from 2 angles a.) The pets b.) The house.

10.a) The pets should be regularly treated with an appropriate insecticide:

"Spot-on" preparations on the neck such as "Frontline" or "Advantage" are excellent. They are easy to apply, and are thoroughly effective. However they must be repeated at the recommended intervals. Please note that "Frontline" lasts longer on dogs than on cats.

Aerosol sprays can also be very useful. For many years "Nuvan top" spray was the mainstay of flea control. And it is still highly effective. It has two problems however - cats often hate aerosol noise, and Nuvan Top contains an organo-phosphate agent. OP's are now on the "nasty" list of chemicals which are best avoided, so you may like to avoid this one.

"Frontline" however is also available as a spray - not an aerosol, but a pump-action spray (which means it's fairly quiet in use). When used in this way, you should wet the fur of the pet, and then leave the Frontline to dry out. In this form, Frontline lasts longer than when use as a spot on, but it is rather less convenient. If you have a number of animals to treat however, you'll find the spray to be more economic than the spot on.

10. b) The House This is where the real problem lies!! Firstly, vacuum the whole place absolutely thoroughly. This does two things - it mops up the majority of the infestation, and it also vibrates the eggs and larvae left behind, which encourages their development into adults. In that form they are more vulnerable to insecticidal attack. Having finished vacuuming, empty the vacuum cleaner, and dispose of the contents - preferably by burning them. A bin bag full of fleas is a potent flea bomb!

Secondly, you will need to spray the whole place with a LONG-ACTING insecticide. Many over-the-counter spray only last a week or two, and if you buy one of these, you'll need to repeat the treatment that often! Which is a pain in the neck. So ask your vet for one that lasts 6 to 12 months.

Products such as "Staykil", "Vetkem Acclaim", and "Indorex" will all be suitable. And when you spray the house, spray every square inch of every carpet in every room of the whole house. And under the suite, under its cushions, on top of them, the bottoms of the curtains, under the mattresses of the beds, in the pets beds, and everywhere else that's made of fabric. And if your dog(s) go in the car, then spray inside the car aswell! Do it once. Do it well!

OK that's it!! So you want something easier? Well there is one option......

11. "PROGRAM" is the ONLY treatment which you can give to the pets, which will reliably get rid of the fleas in the house as well. And it works like this:

"Program" is a fertility drug for fleas. It DOESN'T kill fleas. It stops them getting out of the flea egg. And there they die. So no more fleas. Eventually.

You must give "program" to every dog or cat that ever has access to your house. Miss out one and it won't work at all. It's is given to dogs as a pill once a month. For cats it can either be given as a small tube of liquid IN THEIR FOOD every month, OR they can have an injection every 6 months. From time to time, fleas in the house "visit" the pets, and "feed" off their skin. In doing so, they will pick up the "program" drug which is so sensitive that it will sterilise the fleas at this time. Of course this method takes time - the length of time will depend on many factors local to your own flea problem. An existing flea problem will probably take a few months to die out by this method. But once you start on it - keep it up. And then if the pet picks up any more fleas from outside contacts, they will immediately be rendered infertile!

"Program" is just what it says...it is an all-year-round programme for flea control. And it's easy to use.

12. And finally......if your pet is sore, itchy, and fed up with fleas, take it to the vet. Under these circumstances, your pet is showing an allergy to fleas. And it will probably need short term treatment with steroids and perhaps antibiotics, to relieve the acute symptoms, while you attack the long-term problem with proper flea control.

Tim Mainland MA, VetMB, MRCVS
www.vetontheweb.com

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