Fleas are common parasites that can infect dogs and live on their blood. Fleas can cause itching, in puppies, fleas can cause anemia or can even be fatal. Recognizing if your dog has fleas is important, making sure your dog gets proper care and medications will avoid other complications. Monitoring your dog and checking the presence of certain symptoms will help him detect fleas.
Stay tuned for flea symptoms
Fleas are small parasites that jump and feed on canine blood. Fleas can cause some symptoms that can help confirm their presence:
-Strong sting, the dog can scratch constantly, he will try to find cold places because they can relieve the itching
-Increase of irritability
-Flea bites: they are small and red and your dog will have many
-Some dogs may develop allergic reactions to flea bites, flea saliva can be an irritant for dogs that are more sensitive, allergies will manifest through redness
-Secondary skin infections
These symptoms do not always indicate that your dog has fleas, the dog may have allergies or tumors, so you need to look for fleas in the dog's skin.
Fleas and eggs
Fleas are small parasites, but they may be visible. They are approximately 2 to 5 millimeters in size and are dark brown. They can be seen moving or jumping. If your pet has light colored hair, it will be easier to identify fleas. In addition, fleas can leave feces back, which are also dark brown, feces are actually digested blood. The areas you should check include the dog's stomach, fleas prefer this area, because the dog's belly is hotter than the rest of the body.
In dark colored pets you can detect the presence of fleas by eggs, which are small and white and may resemble dandruff.
Identify fleas
You must get a metallic flea comb to try to find fleas. Combs must reveal black spots (flea feces) or you can detect even live fleas.
If you don't find any flea in the first place, you should look at several areas of the body.
If you find flea droppings, they will turn red when you dispose of them on a paper towel.
Flea treatment
Flea treatment should include some typical insecticides, which kill adult fleas. Use the Advantix or Frontline, these will immediately eliminate fleas.
You should also apply additional treatment to get rid of flea eggs. There are also some shampoos or powders that can be used.
Cleaning the house and the dog's bedding are essential to get rid of all the remaining flea eggs and to make sure that the fleas will not return 2 weeks later.
They can also take some preventive measures, a monthly flea prevention treatment can be administered.
Fleas, those annoying beings ...
Fleas are a common parasite of our pets. They feed on blood and cause an often mild pruritus, but we must not forget that they are a source of infections and that a puppy or small dog can cause severe anemia. Don't worry, let's eliminate them.
Checking if our dog has fleas is simple: You'll see these insects in their hair and also you will see a kind of black and white pimples on your skin, small in size, like grains of sand. Blacks are the stool of fleas.Whites, eggs. If we brush the dog by placing a towel under it, they will fall on it and we will see them easily. If the towel is wet, the black pimples will turn reddish due to the digested blood present in them.
The adult flea measures about 2.5 millimeters and is dark brown. It has no wings, so they can't fly. However, they jump a great distance. They move between the dog's fur quickly and are difficult to catch. The best thing to do with them is to know them a little ...
The life cycle of fleas.
To grow and reproduce, fleas need a warm and humid environment. An adult flea can live up to 115 days parasitizing a dog, while isolated survives only one or two days.
Fleas feed on the dog's blood and mate on it. The female lays eggs at 24-48 hours and can produce about 2000 in a period of four months. Eggs can fall and incubate under furniture, in carpets, cracks or bedding. Carpets and long-haired carpets are an ideal environment for the development of eggs.
In about 10 days the larvae are born, which feed on the remains found in their surroundings. They are then transformed into a worm and wrapped in a cocoon, passing a chrysalis stage that can last for days or months, depending on the temperature and humidity. Upon leaving, they have a margin of two weeks to find a guest before they die.
If you find adult fleas on your dog, you should keep in mind that they constitute 1% of the infestation. Probably 99% remain in the other stages of egg, larva and chrysalis, practically invisible. The disinfestation program you follow should take this situation into account.
Flea control methods in dogs.
There are many different products in the market. Here we are going to analyze three of them. Always consult your veterinarian to provide you with the most suitable for your dog.
Program®, Advantage® and Frontline® are effective and safe products to control and prevent fleas, and their administration is simple.
- Program® They are compress>
