HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

The snow is blowing against the kitchen window, but no one told that to the lone mosquito in the house. Did he or she sneak in here in the autumn, looking for a place to hide, or was this mosquito somehow hatched domestically? The other creatures that don’t realize its snowing are fleas. They can live quite happily indoors once they arrive on a pet in the summer or fall and begin to lay eggs. They settle in to carpet, bedding and even infest people. Fleas are an itchy predicament, and some owners write them off as not fatal or troubling, but left untreated, a dog can develop a tape or round worm infestation. Fleas can also be near, fatal with a dog with severe flea allergies.

Flea larvae, which are newly hatched fleas, ingest tapeworm eggs. As the flea matures and infests the dog, the dog licks and bites the irritated spot. When the dog inadvertently eats the flea, the tapeworm egg begins to hatch inside the dog. When tapeworms appear in large numbers, a pet can lose weight rapidly.

Standard flea treatment for dogs involves a topical preventative. However, if fleas are actually spotted on a dog, a shampoo treatment kills the fleas on the coat and an oral medication, such as Drontal, kills round and tape worms growing inside the body as well as flea eggs that were laid. When someone tells me flea shampoo doesn’t work, I tell them that it is working, but often only kills fleas presently on the dog. It does not repel newcomers, and sometimes a few eggs are missed that later hatch. Therefore, a multi-step approach with shampoo, oral medication followed later with preventative keeps the intruders out.

In most climates, flea and tick preventative is not warranted during the cold months. However, this does only means that the flea threat moves indoors. Before topical flea preventatives are discontinued in the fall, wash your dog or cat’s bedding. Regular vacuuming also helps. Starting fresh in the fall and winter will make you and your pet more comfortable.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.