By veterinarian Dr Dean S. (Used with permission)
According to academic Prof. Michael Dryden of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, there are three main goals for an integrated approach to achieving flea control. They are:
(1) Relieving pet of its current discomfort - kill fleas currently residing on the pet
(2) Eliminating the premise infestation - kill immature life stages and emerging fleas
(3) Prevention – provide for long term flea control to prevent recurrence of an infestation
The failure of long term control appears to be the single most important contributor to the breakdown in flea control programs. Most pet owners run into trouble because they stop treating for fleas when they stop seeing fleas on their pets. If one considers that only 5% of the flea problem resides upon the pet, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that treating only at this level is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon!
The following case study illustrates commonly held misconceptions:
A young couple with a 9 month old baby brings in their 1yr old dog because it has fleas. Vet A treats the dog with Frontline Plus (containing a flea killer and an insect growth regulator or IGR) and sends them home with a six month supply of the product, assuring them that, AS LONG AS THEY KEEP USING IT, their flea problems will soon be over.
One week later there are still fleas in the home and on the dog so they go to Vet B, complaining that Vet A ripped them off by selling them an expensive dud. Their friends have told them (incorrectly) that fleas are resistant to Frontline and every other new generation flea killer on the market. Worse still, since they stopped letting the dog into the baby’s room the baby is now being attacked by fleas.
Vet B runs a flea comb through the fur and recovers 10 fleas. None of them appear to be fully engorged and none of the females appear to be actively reproducing. This would indicate that none of these fleas have been on the dog for more than a few hours and certainly less than 24hours. Considering that it takes female fleas at least 24hrs of feeding to become reproductively active, and the stated purpose of the product is to kill newly acquired fleas before they have a chance to be reproduce (within 24hrs), Vet B declares his colleague to be innocent of the charges and the product sold to them to be doing what it is intended to do.
As for the fact that there appears to be more fleas than a week ago, Vet B explains that the fleas seen now come from eggs laid 3 to 8 weeks ago. “Oh no, Doc, the dog never had fleas then!” More than 90% of pet owners never see the first 2 or 3 fleas that their pets acquire outdoors. The females then begin laying eggs after 24hrs and carry on laying 50 eggs per day for up to 40 days. Those 2000 eggs per female have emerged to become the next generation of fleas now being seen!
“But why are we seeing fleas in baby’s room? Fido hasn’t been in there for weeks, ever since we started seeing fleas on the dog!”
They removed Fido from the baby’s room thinking incorrectly that fleas would jump off the dog and on to the baby. The fleas in the carpet in the bedroom came from eggs laid up to 8 weeks ago. They took the “living flea vacuum” ie the treated pet, out of the room, so emerging fleas had no alternative but to feed on the only remaining warm blooded host available – Baby! All they needed to do is let Frontlined Fido back into the room to take care of business! That’s what they paid for!
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