Feathers & fur
Top tips for flea control
As we welcome the warmth of spring, we look forward to longer days and a chance to fire up the barbecue. However, the warmer weather can also bring parasites, including fleas.
For fleas to hatch out of their protected eggs, they need warmth, movement, carbon dioxide and a little moisture. When these ideal conditions are met, the flea life cycle can take as little as 21 days to complete.
This means, as we are killing the adult fleas we find on our pets, thousands of new eggs may be hatching to take their place. Every spring, it feels like we are taking on the flea battle all over again.
FLEA FACTS
There are some important points to note about fleas:
Their life cycle never actually stops – it just slows down in winter
Under ideal conditions, eggs can take as little as 21 days to hatch and form mature fleas
When conditions are not ideal, as in the cold of winter, eggs can lay dormant for many months
It is important to distinguish between a flea burden, which is when there is an excessive number of adult fleas on a pet, and FAD (flea allergy dermatitis), where a single flea can keep your pet itching for a week
Pets that are affected by FAD are allergic to flea saliva
Fleas can live and feed on many types of animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets. They prefer the blood of animals, and only bite humans when they become desperate
The pupal stage of the flea life cycle is resistant to every product on the market
A single adult flea can lay thousands of eggs during its short lifetime
TREATMENTS
It’s important to kill adult fleas on your pet, using products called adulticides, while also treating the environment, as you need to stop the eggs from hatching. Without environmental control, a problem that started with a few adult fleas escalates into one involving masses of fleas.
Over the years, there have been many products to treat persistent flea problems. One of the original adulticides was good old Malawash, which stank like crazy and was dangerous to humans. About 60 per cent of fleas are now resistant to it.
Fipronil sprays and spot-ons modernised the market about 20 years ago, finally giving us some relief from the neverending flea problems we face. However, now there’s speculation that some of these products have also lost effectiveness.
Some products claim to be all-in-one treatments to prevent heartworm, kill fleas, worm pets and possibly offer tick protection. Unfortunately, though, there is still not a single product to cover all those issues. They are either missing tick protection (although this may not be a concern for some pet owners) or they
don’t include treatment for tapeworm, which is one of the intestinal worms that infect both dogs and cats. You often have to read the packet very carefully to see what is not included in the formula.
Recently, we have seen the launch of two highly effective flea products, which come close to answering all our prayers, at least from a flea perspective. They kill the pests so quickly that adult fleas don’t have time to lay eggs, effectively offering much-needed environmental control. These treatments are given either monthly or every three months, depending on the product.
Unfortunately, they are only registered for use with dogs, but we are hoping a similar cat product will be released soon. At least we are having some success with winning the flea battle.
Remember: the flea cycle never stops – it just slows down in winter – so it’s important to use year-round control to prevent a flea burden developing in your home.