The real danger of fleas
Fleas are always around, whether on the animals or in your house or in the environment. Cold temperatures – below the 0 ºC – might kill the eggs and pupae in the environment, but in your house the temperature will never be that low.
A flea can produce hundreds of eggs that do not attach to the hair but fall off and lay in the environment. They change to the pupae stage that can lie around for more than a year! At the right temperature and triggered by vibration they will hatch and jump on the closest victim. The flea will suck blood and that is where the problems start:
- The site where the flea sucks blood will react and cause itchiness.
- Repeated fleabites cause flea allergy – all the old bite sites will start itching again.
- Flea pooh (the little black things) can cause allergy.
- Flea bites and flea allergy will lead to flea bite dermatitis.
- Fleas can transmit diseases like Bartonellosis, mainly in cats. This blood parasite causes repeated fever stages with anemia, lethargy, jaundice and eventually death.
A flea infestation will require intense treatment of all the animals and the environment. These products are very expensive!
To avoid all these problems your pets should be preventively treated. There are various products on the market.
- Those that treat fleas only – as a tablet or spot-on pipet,
- those that treat fleas and ticks, those that treat fleas and worms,
- those that treat fleas, ticks and mites
- and those that repel fleas, ticks, mosquito’s and sandflies – as a spot-on pipet, a collar or a spray.
These products need to be applied every 3 weeks, every month, every 3 months or every 6-8 months depending on the product. Your veterinarian can give you the best advice which product would be the best for your pet!
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