Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Dog Flea Treatment But Where Too Embarrassed To Ask
Whether you live in the city or the country, one of these days you’ll find your little pooch scratching furiously every 5 minutes. I hate to say it, but chances are Fido turned into a furry flea hotel. Luckily, the proper dog flea treatment will rid your best friend (and your house) of his unwanted and uninvited guests.
Why Dogs Hate Cats And What Fleas Have To Do With It
Did you know there are over 2000 types of fleas? 200 types of these bloodsuckers can be found in the USA. That said, only 2 types are common; the cat flea and the dog flea (I’ll spare you their Latin names).
Now you’d think cat fleas would stick to cats right? Wrong! Dogs are usually infested with cat fleas. Maybe, that’s why they hate cats so much ;-)
How Do Fleas Enter Your Home And Your Dogs Fur
Your pets aren’t necessarily the ones who take fleas home. They also stick to clothes. So they could basically come from anywhere; the movie theatre, park, office, playground. Just about anywhere where warm blooded animals pass by. So you, visitors or your pets can transport fleas into your home.
How To Look For Fleas On Your Dog
Before you start any kind of dog flea treatment, you want to make sure Fido actually has fleas and not some dog skin disorder.
Obsessive scratching will be your first clue to start looking for fleas. Get a fine tooth comb and a white paper. Run the comb through your dog’s fur over the paper. If you see some ‘dirt’ fall from his coat, crumble it with a little bit of water. If it turns out reddish, it’s flea poo (they drink blood so their feces will contain blood as well).
Fleas usually congregate around your dog’s belly, tail and neck area.
Why It‘s So Difficult To Get Rid Of Fleas
Fleas go through a 4 stage life cycle which takes about 3 weeks. Eggs, larvae, pupae, adult flea.
They are masters of hiding. And the pupae are almost impossible to destroy. On top of that, pupae can go without feeding for over year. So even though you think your house is flea-free, the pupae could be just waiting for the right moment to evolve into fleas.
If you want to get to rid of them permanently, you’ll need a dog flea treatment that will break that cycle.
Your Dogs Heath Will Suffer
If you don’t treat a flea infestation, your dog’s health will suffer.
Obviously there’s the scratching. He could injure himself with his nails, lose fur and even develop a dog skin allergy.
Fido might also turn to licking to relieve the irritation. If he accidentally swallows a flea or egg, he can end up with a tapeworm. In which case you’ll need to deworm your dog with a special product that’s effective against tapeworm (most common dewormers aren’t).
Fleas can also transfer diseases to whomever they bite (that includes you). The plague, pneumonic plague, bubonic plague, murine typhus and flea-borne typhus.
Pretty scary huh? This just goes to show how important a proper dog flea treatment is to keep your pooch happy and healthy.
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