Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Fleas arrive early to plague pets, owners
As if raging wildfires and withered landscaping weren’t enough, here’s one more reason to hate the drought: fleas.
The same balmy winter and historically parched spring that have led to more than 2,000 fires across the state have also been a boon for the tiny bloodsuckers, making pets and their owners miserable.
“We started seeing flea problems in January and February — when it usually doesn’t start until March — and it hasn’t let up,” says Dr. Christine McCully, a veterinarian at Orlando’s Downtown Pet Hospital. “With these conditions, if you don’t treat your yard, all it takes is a [flea-infested] stray cat or possum to wander through — and now you have fleas.”
Other veterinarians report similar complaints.
“We are the flea capital already,” says Dr. Rick Marrinson, owner of Longwood Veterinary Clinic. “Fleas like warmer temps and higher humidity in order to thrive, although they don’t like it too wet, either. There’s a sweet spot.”
So is this a record year for fleas?
“Well, no one really keeps records on these things,” says Phil Koehler, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida. “But all the weather conditions have been right.”
Although much has been made of the enduring nature of the common cockroach, fleas are diabolically hardy. But they need blood to survive.
The adult flea, if it doesn’t get a blood meal, will die after a few days, Koehler says, but the pupae can live for months.
Flea eggs become flea larvae, which become flea pupae — which hang out, just waiting for an unsuspecting host. Cocoons have a sticky outer coating that allows them to hide deep in the carpeting, where they’re likely to escape a vacuum cleaner and even some chemicals. When they sense a potential host — by vibration, body heat or rising carbon dioxide levels — they emerge and start looking for a meal.
“The adults you see are only 5 percent of the total flea population,” McCully says. “And they can cause some serious problems in your pets” — such as anemia and tapeworms.
When you deal with a lot of stray and abandoned animals, as does Judy Sarullo, founder of Sanford’s Pet Rescue by Judy, you see your share of fleas. And you learn to fight back.
“I just had my whole yard and house and car deflead about a month ago,” Sarullo says. “I had picked up some puppies in my car and brought them to my house, and then we found out they had fleas, so it was an all-out assault.”