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By Andrew Montague M.V.B. Cert. Small Animal Medicine
Home Page: Dogs: Skin: Fleas
How to keep your pets Flea-Free
Posted 15th June, 2000
Is your cat grooming excessively? Does your dog scratch
incessantly? It could be fleas. Check your pet's coat and you might see fleas
scurrying through the hairs.
The bad news is that your whole house may be infested. Fleas only visit your pet to feed, spending most of their lives in your pet's bedding. Pets deposit their fleas wherever they lie down, leaving fleas in your carpets, your rugs and even your bed. That is why treating fleas is such a difficult task. You must treat your pets and you must treat their environment.
I have found the following products effective for getting rid of fleas:
Frontline (fipronil, Merial)
Advantage (imidacloprid, Bayer).
Program (lufenuron, Novartis Animal Health).
Acclaim (methoprene and permethrin, Sanofi).
These products are available from veterinary surgeons. Frontline and Advantage are topical insecticides, that is they are applied directly to your pet's coat where they kill the fleas that live on your cat or dog. Program is given by mouth either in tablet or liquid form to your pet. After it gets into your pet's blood stream, fleas absorb the active chemical which prevents flea eggs from hatching thus stopping the fleas from reproducing and eventually ridding your pet of fleas. Acclaim is sprayed onto the environment killing the fleas in your pet's bedding.
"...your whole house may be infested."
These products can be used individually or in combination depending on the severity of the flea infestation. In mild cases, where an occasional flea is spotted and where your pet is not scratching excessively I would advise the use of just one product. Frontline, Advantage and Program are all excellent choices.
In severe cases, where a cat or dog is scratching so much that they are damaging their skin, or where the owner is getting bitten by the fleas, I would advise a combination of products. One of the topical insecticides, such as Frontline or Advantage, in combination with either Acclaim or Program. In extreme cases three products may be needed: a topical insecticide (Frontline or Advantage), Acclaim and Program.
Hoovering the environment is helpful, but it is important to throw the hoover bag out after vacuuming, as fleas have a nasty habit of crawling back out into the environment again. Unfortunately, washing your pet's bedding is not very effective at killing fleas.
When treating fleas it is vital that every cat and dog in the household is treated. A common mistake is to just treat pets that scratch. Some pets aren't bothered by fleas. These pets may have an abundance of fleas that they pass to the other pets in the house. If they are not treated, the problem will not go away.
Fleas are often considered a trivial problem, but they can cause severe skin irritation to pets. Some pets are allergic to fleas and a very small flea burden can result in severe skin damage. In out of control situations the flea numbers can get so large that the owners can get bitten. However, by following the advice given here it should be possible to keep fleas under control.