Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook.pdf - Mr. Walnuts

118 •DOG OWNER’S HOME VETERINARY HANDBOOK
move through the hair rapidly and are difficult to catch. Run a fine-tooth flea
comb through the hair to look for fleas on your dog’s back, in the groin, and
around the tail and hindquarters. Itching is most pronounced in these areas.
THE FLEA LIFE CYCLE
An effective flea-control strategy requires an understanding of the flea life
cycle. Fleas need a warm, humid environment to flourish and reproduce. The
higher the temperature and humidity, the more efficient their reproduction.
The adult flea can live up to 115 days on a dog, but only one or two days off her.
After taking a blood meal, fleas mate on the skin of the dog. The female
lays eggs within 24 to 48 hours, and may produce up to 2,000 eggs in a fourmonth
life span. The eggs fall off and incubate in your home beneath furniture
and in carpets, cracks, and bedding. Deep pile and shag carpets make an
ideal environment for egg development.
In 10 days the eggs hatch into larvae that feed on local debris. Larvae spin
a cocoon and go into a pupal stage that lasts for days or months. Under ideal
temperature and humidity conditions, fleas can emerge rapidly. After hatching,
immature adult fleas have two weeks to find a host.
At any given time, about 1 percent of the flea population is composed of
adult fleas, while 99 percent remain in the invisible egg, larval, and pupal
stages. An effective flea-control program must eliminate this large reservoir.
NEW METHODS OF FLEA CONTROL
New products such as Program, Advantage, Advantix, and Frontline have
practically replaced the use of oral Proban (a twice weekly tablet or liquid
used to kill fleas and ticks that bite your dog) and dips, powders, sprays, and
shampoos to treat and prevent fleas. The new products are more effective and
safer than the traditional insecticides. They are also easier to administer.
Program (the brand name for lufenuron) was the first and remains one of
the most popular agents for controlling fleas on dogs. Program is a tablet given
once a month with a meal. The active ingredient accumulates in the dog’s
subcutaneous tissue and requires that the flea bite the dog in order to work.
Program works by inhibiting flea eggs from growing and hatching. This
leads to a steady drop in the number of new fleas in the environment. Its
affect is limited to the hard outer shell of the flea, making it completely harmless
to mammals. However, because mature fleas are not affected, it can take
30 to 60 days or longer for the adult fleas on the dog to die of old age before
you notice a reduction in itching and scratching.
For more immediate results, and especially if the dog is suffering from flea
allergy dermatitis, Program should be combined with a flea shampoo or some
other topical insecticide treatment. Advantage or Frontline can be added to