We start with an age old topic, but one of great importance

FLEAS!

The depths of winter may not seem the obvious time to be thinking about fleas, but within our practice we saw several, “outbreaks” of flea irritation during the winter holiday. To understand why, you have to think about the flea’s life cycle. The female flea will bite her host (dog, cat, hedgehog – or us) and take a blood meal. Within a matter of hours she starts to lay eggs – up to 50 a day (1500 in her lifetime). These eggs then fall off the dog or cat and into your carpets. There they sit, waiting for the warmth of summer to hatch, turn into larvae and eventually emerge as new fleas. The flea larvae don’t know that the warm cosy glow they feel is the central heating being switched on, as they just respond to the increased temperature; and it can take as little as two weeks for the adult flea to emerge. Because of this, flea bite dermatitis, which can be absolute misery for some pets, is becoming a year round problem.

There is a bewildering array of anti-flea products available from many sources, but the best products and advice are to be obtained from your vet. There are many excellent products now obtainable that will control both the fleas you see and the larvae you cannot. The best analogy is the iceberg – you can see the obvious bit on the surface, but there is an awful lot more underneath. For every flea you see, at least another 90 larvae are in your carpets. For effective control of these troublesome pests, you must treat the fleas in the home as much as the fleas on your pets.

Fleas & Worms