Fleas are probably one of the worst side effects of owning a dog. The dog invariably has to go outside, for nothing more than a little exercise while he relieves himself. In grass, sand, weeds, and in fact just about any outdoor surface, a tiny vampire lies waiting for its next victim. He doesn’t care what happens next to him, as long as he’s alive and pumping blood. This is a definite problem when trying to keep your dog healthy.
With amazing agility and strength, a flea can jump anywhere within a 6-foot radius, and probably just as high from a motionless position on the ground. Their legs can propel their bodies to incredible distances when body size is compared to a measurable distance. And if they detect your scent, they can quickly hunt you down. All they need is a warm body and blood that they can bring to the surface.
But more often than not, the dog is the most likely victim. They are closer to the ground. They walk the grounds more often. And what flea in their right mind can resist all that warm protective fur that acts as a beautiful canopy of protection over the flea as they drink fresh blood like a daisy on the beach, barely noticed.
THE COMMON FLEA
The best way to see a flea is in a book. At least, that’s my preferred way. Seeing a live one often causes panic in dog owners. This is because these really small creatures are rarely seen unless you are specifically looking for them. They are about the size of the diameter of a pin (the sewing pins you use to hold the material until you sew it). They are of different colors, from light brown to brown. And you can squeeze one as hard as you can between your thumb and forefinger and not hurt the flea at all.
The flea is absolutely the number one infestation your dog is likely to come in contact with of all possible external parasites. They live by drinking blood. They can easily attach themselves to skin and hair follicles with spiked feet. His Legacies are probably the strongest in the entire animal kingdom (including the human), especially when you factor in size vs. ability.
Fleas start as eggs, hatch and go through their life stages quickly, in a matter of days. The flea can lay literally hundreds of eggs each day. In a matter of days, these eggs hatch, become adults in a few days, and then lay hundreds of eggs per day. Like a pyramid scheme in overdrive, you can see how hundreds producing hundreds producing hundreds of fleas in a short period of days can become problematic in a very short time.
INDICATIONS THAT YOUR DOG HAS FLEAS
If you have a dog with fleas, you will start noticing these things almost immediately.
Scratching: Your dog will be sitting or lying down somewhere, and what seems unexpected, he turns his head to an area at the base of his tail and begins to bite with his teeth. It may also start nibbling on your stomach, or near your crotch area and the base area of your legs.
The scratching may be continuous from the rear leg to behind the ear. Your dog might even roll over and squirm on your carpet, even whimpering in the process.
Skin irritation: Fleas, like mosquitoes, have saliva that is not well tolerated by the skin. It is saliva that inflames human skin from a mosquito bite, not the bite itself. The flea does the same thing to your dog.
If fleas concentrate in one area, or worse, your dog is allergic to flea saliva, the area will lose hair and become inflamed at the very least. This area could lose all of its hair, exposing a bald spot. The skin in the area could look really dry like sunburn, peeling off your dog. You can even get infected and/or bleed from the combination of the attacks, your dog’s skin reaction, and your dog’s physical flea reaction (biting, nipping, and scratching).
Holy shit Batman! – No, but serious flea droppings are always an indication of infestation. The way to find out is to inspect the dog’s skin on the surface. Move the hairs in the areas you seem to be scratching. If you see little black spots on his skin, he’s probably seeing flea feces. You might even see a flea, but don’t think your dog is safe if you don’t. Fleas are difficult to detect.
Another way is to try using a fine comb near the base of the hair. After combing the area, try wiping the comb on a napkin, tissues, paper towels, or even toilet paper. As long as it’s white. Because if there’s flea feces, they’ll show up on whatever you’re cleaning the comb with. If it is white, you see reddish spots (like dried blood). The main food source is blood, it only makes sense, right?
PLEASE GET RID OF THESE FLEAS!
Treating the dog is the first priority. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stop there. Once a flea mounts your dog indoors, he tends to lay eggs wherever he goes. They will lay eggs on carpets, bedding, furniture, just about any surface. And chances are it’s been a few days and you have several generations, or in the tiniest stages of age, of fleas all over your house.
You’ll need to get something for the dog that will kill everything from eggs to adults. Then you will probably have to buy a separate attack for the house. There are nebulizers, powders, and other types that you can use. Again, the important thing is that it kills all stages, from eggs to adults.
Usually it goes something like this: 1) treat the dog (bath with flea shampoo, comb, then treat) 2) attack the house. 3) wash all bedding, clothes, curtains, towels, etc. 4) vacuum floor to suck dead and eggs. 5) Retreat carpet in the morning 6) Vacuum at night. 7) Repeat 5 and 6 until you are sure new eggs, hatchlings, fledglings, and soon-to-be adults survived.
That covers the inside of the house. Now you need to complete the tasks by spraying or misting your garden. I bet you forgot about the garden. This is where the dog more than likely picked up the fleas. If you don’t want to continue the above steps in your home from spring to late fall, you’ll definitely want to go to your garden as well.
Hopefully, double attacking both the inside and outside of your home will eliminate the flea problem.
IS THERE AN EASIER WAY THAN THIS?
Well, there is actually a much easier path to take than the one described above. The name of the road is called, “prevention”. Remember the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? It is also valid for fleas.
The best thing to do is consult your vet, or perhaps use 800 Pet Medicines or a website to purchase a topical flea solution. The best known and used are Advantage and Revolution. I’m not sure which one it is, but one of them has the commercial with the cute little puppy going to summer camp singing, “I don’t have fleas…”.
Some vets, especially in the south where sandy areas produce higher numbers of fleas and ticks, offer flea baths. This is where you can take your dog to the vet to literally “dunk” your dog in a bath of water and a pesticide that kills fleas, ticks, and other pests. You can even buy some so you can make your own soak bath at home.
When I lived in Oklahoma one summer, many farms had a huge horse trough with a wooden deck. Farmers would bring the bath home around February and make a bath in the trough, submerging all their animals to protect them. Dogs, cats, rabbits, even goats!
Which brings up a pretty good point to mention, if you have other animals in your home besides dogs, like cats, ferrets, whatever, you’re going to have to either use prevention or cure each one of them. If you don’t take care of them all at once, the fleas will simply “transfer” from one pet to another. Then you will never get rid of them.
WHAT ABOUT OVER-THE-COUNTER FLEA CONTROL?
Honestly, while I don’t wish any ill will on the manufacturers of such products, I really should use the platitude. It works better, and no other company can really dispute it. Maybe I use an over-the-counter flea shampoo, but the rest of the stuff doesn’t seem to be effective.
Sorry, it is what it is. Nothing sucks worse than trying to fight off a flea infestation using all these over-the-counter products and having them only work temporarily. They can kill adult fleas and soon-to-be-adult fleas. But as soon as the eggs hatch a new batch of fleas, the battle starts all over again.
Definitely don’t use over-the-counter flea collars, or any. The only good use for a flea collar is in your vacuum’s collection system as a secondary backup when vacuuming the floor. Collars generally work only around the area where the collar comes into contact with the dog’s skin.
Also, it is now believed that necklaces can cause more harm than good. The harsh pesticides and other toxins used in the collars remain in contact with the dog’s skin. This can’t be good if you think about it. I am almost certain that if a human were to wear one of these necklaces they would develop some type of skin cancer in the future (NOTE: this is just my opinion, and it is speculative, there is no scientific evidence to support my opinion).
One last point about over-the-counter products and also veterinary products. If you keep using different products on the dog because the last one didn’t work, you will eventually “poison” your dog. Not intentionally, of course. But introducing chemical after chemical to your dog obviously cannot have a positive effect.
ADDITION
Fleas cause pain and suffering to your dog. This comes in the form of itchy and inflamed skin, dull fur, and bald patches. In some rare cases, the flea infestation can be so large that they literally drain your dog of too much blood, causing many health problems. You may see other effects such as sluggishness, sickening fevers, and even forms of paralysis in some extreme cases.
Signs of fleas are your dog scratching, biting, and/or picking at certain areas of the body, especially around the base of the tail, belly, crotch area, and around the ears. A close inspection of the pet’s skin may reveal small black spots that indicate flea feces. A fine comb and white paper product can be used to find evidence of fleas by combing out the suspected area and wiping the comb clean with the paper product. If red specks or spots form on the paper, it is evidence of flea feces.
For starters, prevention is the best approach to stopping a flea infestation. Use vet-recommended topical solutions that kill all stages of fleas, from eggs to adults. Using over-the-counter products (other than perhaps a shampoo) on your dog is not recommended. If any other animals are part of the family, they also need treatment and/or preventive measures. Don’t forget to visit the yard and other areas outside your pets frequently.
Once in the midst of an infestation, you must attack both the interior and exterior of your home to be effective. Make sure to clean all the possible materials that could have fleas and eggs. This includes bedding (for both humans and pets), carpets, furniture, and other surfaces throughout the home. Several attacks and vacuuming sessions on the carpet are especially recommended.
