Fleas and Ticks: The Big, Small Problem

Nothing can cause as much discomfort as fleas. These tiny pests can hop onto your puppy unobserved to feed on its blood and lay eggs, producing yet another generation. Fleas can make life miserable for people and pets alike with a vicious cycle of biting and in some dogs cause scratching and flea allergy dermatitis or anemia. The most common canine pest, the flea is actually highly adaptable.

In her brief 50-day lifespan, a single female flea is over productive: she can lay more than 2000 eggs. Female fleas need blood to complete their reproductive cycle. Baby fleas need blood to grow. Although fleas prefer dog and cat blood, human blood will do just as well.

Fleas are survivors. The female lays eggs on the host animal, but the eggs fall to the ground, carpet, sofa, dog bed, owner’s bed, or easy chair . This does not mean the end of the eggs.

They hatch in two-to-five days. The flea larva feeds on organic debris in the environment.

Within a week or two, depending on temperature and humidity, the larva spins a pupa (or cocoon) to protect it during metamorphosis to the adulthood.

In the hard-shelled pupa, the larva transforms from a tiny maggot-like creature into a sixlegged bloodthirsty super-jumper able to leap 100 times its own height, and the cycle begins anew.

Humidity is critical to flea survival. Eggs need relative humidity of 70-75 percent to hatch, and larvae need at least 50 percent humidity to survive. In humid areas, about 20 percent of the eggs survive to adulthood; in arid areas, less than five percent complete the cycle.

The Signs

Fleas can hide in a thick carpet of pet hairs, especially on long-coated or double-coated dogs, and can move among and between hair shafts fast. Now you see one. Now you don’t. So look for signs, rather than fleas.

Symptoms

Dry skin, an allergy, or mange mites. If he bites at his rear end especially around his tail or the inside or outside of his thighs, fleas are a possibility. However, he may also have dry skin, an allergy, or mange mites. Flea dirt looks like pepper on the dog. If you drop some of this onto a damp paper towel and it turns reddish, it’s fleas.