Hi, I'm Buddy and I'm talking FLEAS!

Welcome to my first blog.  I'm not sure how interesting I'll be but my parents think I'm "all that".  I'm a pretty lucky dog, but that doesn't stop me from complaining time to time.  I live in a house where I am the center, I get to go to work with my mom because she works at a veterinary hospital - this is where I will sometimes complain about having to lay around all day in her office when actually, I should realize the alternative is to be left alone at home.  The highlight of my day is my trip with dad to the dog park where I am, once again, the center of it all.  I'm silly, friendly and really cute so I draw a lot of attention.  I would like to blog about myself, but mom says I need to write informative and interesting posts that will benefit pet owners. 

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about fleas.  These tiny little creeps bite us and make us itch. 

Fleas are one of the most troublesome problems that can afflict us and our people. However, they are also one of the easiest to prevent if you just take a few simple precautions.

Despite their tiny size, fleas can inflict outsize misery on us. The continual itching and scratching that fleas can cause can make us miserable, especially as the weather grows warmer and fleas become more common.
In some unfortunate animals, fleas can also set off an extreme allergic reaction that can cause hair loss and skin lesions. These kinds of severe dermatologic problems can be difficult and costly to treat. In some rare cases, they can even be life-threatening. The bite of just a single flea can cause this kind of reaction in some highly allergic pets.  Again, I'm lucky that I'm not allergic, but just annoyed.

As if that isn’t bad enough, fleas can also transmit some nasty infections, such as tapeworm, to pets and people. In rare cases, they can play a role in the transmission of an unpleasant disease, called cat scratch fever, between humans and cats.  And in severe infestations, especially in old, ill, or young animals, feeding fleas can remove so much blood from a pet that they can cause debilitating anemia.

The Circle of Life

Over the years, fleas, like many other insects, have developed a remarkable life cycle that allows them to adapt and survive even under unfavorable conditions. While fleas are generally intolerant of the cold, certain stages of their life cycle have features that help them deal with that weakness.

Keep in mind, too, that our modern lifestyle is relatively flea friendly. We live indoors in warm houses all through the winter, and that means that fleas are enjoying the good life along with us, too. For example, flea larvae often burrow into crevices, bedding, or rugs in the house, where they spin a cocoon and wait in the pupal stage until conditions are just right for them to emerge as adults.

Under ideal conditions, that can happen in as little as two weeks. Otherwise, they can exist in a sort of suspended state for weeks or even months. Once they are stimulated, however, by the right combination of heat, humidity, detectable movement, or the presence of a warm body, they emerge, eager to hop onto us and begin feasting and laying eggs.

Adult fleas, on the other hand, are able to overwinter on us or on the local wildlife that is likely to be living in suburban backyards. These characteristics account for why flea infestations are a year-round problem throughout most of the United States, as well as for why they can be so difficult to get rid of once an infestation has taken hold.

Signs of Fleas

Surprisingly, fleas can be hard to detect. As a result, many owners don’t realize that we even have a flea problem.
In severe cases, our misery and skin irritations will make the presence of fleas more obvious. In mild infestations, however, it can be easy to be misled into thinking that we are scratching or licking as part of our normal grooming. This can be particularly true with cats, who like to groom themselves frequently. Here are some hints on how you can tell the difference:

• First, carefully look for adult fleas behind our ears, around our head and neck, at the base of our tail, and "armpits" and "legpits." You will sometimes see small, dark fleas scurrying around beneath the hair coat. Don’t be misled if you don’t see any fleas, however, because they are very good at hiding in fur and skin folds.
• Next, you can check your us for "flea dirt." Your veterinarian can do this during an exam, or you can do it yourself by running a special flea comb (you can get these at pet-supply stores) through our hair coat in some of the above-mentioned locations.
• Periodically dump any loose hair or litter you collect in the comb on a piece of white paper towel. When you’re done, sprinkle a few drops of water on the debris. If any small, dark specks leave rust- or red-colored stains on the white towel — tada! — you’ve found flea dirt. This is actually flea feces, and it’s composed of the leftover, dried portion of the blood meal that the fleas have taken from us. The flea dirt that falls off of us then becomes the food that feeds the flea larvae that are developing in our bedding or environment.

Prevention Is Key

Whether you see signs of fleas or not, most veterinarians recommend treating pets routinely in order to prevent fleas in the first place. That’s because, once fleas have become established in your home, they can be very difficult to eradicate. It can also take months to completely remove them.
Today, there are several easy-to-administer, preventive medications that are very effective at removing the threat of fleas. These medications can be topical (meaning you apply them to our fur), oral (table or liquid form), or injectible. Some medications kill the adult fleas on your pet, while others will prevent eggs and immature stages — larvae and pupae — from ever developing into adults. Some medications will kill fleas on contact, while others will begin to affect them after they ingest a blood meal from us.
For severe infestations, it may also be necessary to treat our environment. In these cases, agents are available to kill fleas in your home and yard. It is also important to remember to treat all of the animals in your home, not just the ones that are scratching.
The best thing to do is to talk to your veterinarian about what is the most effective type of flea control for us in order to keep it happy and flea free!

The Flea "Pyramid"

The adult fleas you may see on us may account for only 5 percent of the likely flea population in your home. Flea eggs, flea larval stages, and pupae add up to all the rest. Infestations can quickly build because a female flea lays up to 50 eggs a day. Just 10 female fleas can produce up to 3,500 eggs a week! Multiply that by the fact that a flea can live on us for months, and you can see why it’s important to prevent fleas before they ever appear.

For more information - ask your veterinarian.