Fleas!

What a pain!  I don’t know if anyone has ever had fleas in their house, but it stinks.  I know I work at an animal hospital now, but in 2002 I was a poor college student, and I had an indoor/outdoor cat.  His name was Sphinx, and I didn’t use flea treatments on him.  Very quickly, I started getting little itchy bumps on my legs, and noticed fleas in my apartment.  Sphinx went on Frontline, and it took a couple weeks of vacuuming, throwing away the bag, and washing everything (from his bed to the curtains) to get rid of them.  Not only was it an uncomfortable situation physically, it was so embarrassing, and could have easily been prevented.

Ew

No bigger than a sesame seed, fleas are medium brown in color.  They feed on blood, and can infest dogs and cats, as well as common vermin, such as rats and mice.  They also like people, but since we wash ourselves often and have very little hair on our bodies, it’s harder for them to hide in our ‘fur’.  When in for a visit, we diagnose a flea infestation by using a fine tooth comb.  If we see a flea on the animal, it’s a sure sign, but if they have flea ‘dirt’ on them, that means they have fleas as well.  Flea dirt is actually flea poop, and it looks like black dandruff.  When you put the flea dirt in a little bit of water, it turns red because it is actually comprised of blood.  It means fleas.

When we talk about pets getting fleas, it isn’t just dogs that go to the dog park, dog shows or deep in the woods. If your animal goes outdoors but doesn’t roam far from the house, they can get fleas.  Even if the pet is in a fenced in yard that’s all concrete, they are still outside, and can still get fleas on them.  If you have an indoor only pet, THEY can get fleas!  You and I enter and exit our houses everyday.  We can pickup fleas on our bodies and bring them into our house, and they will infest our pets.

We recommend the vacuum-and-wash-everything method for eradicating a flea infestation.  Always throw the vacuum bag out after every vacuum run, or empty the canister if you have a bagless vacuum.  Flea bombs or foggers are also available, but we discourage that method, since there is a chemical-free way to take care of the problem and the bomb doesn't always work. 

We carry Frontline Plus, which kills ticks as well and can be bought over the counter.  We also carry Revolution, which kills fleas and a variety of other parasites and should be prescribed by a doctor.  Please call us if you need any advice on flea control.

These days, I have 4 cats that are strictly indoors, and they all are on flea preventative.  It’s not free, but it’s much better and more convenient than vacuuming my entire house everyday.

-Amy