Flea Control Strategies
By: Denice Moffat
Did you know
Fleas spend only 10% of their time on your animal
An average fleas life span can be up to 23 years
One female flea can lay up to 1 million eggs during its life
Eggs can live unhatched in your carpet for a year until the right environment for hatching occurs
Bark dust wood piles and ivy are great places for fleas to survive the winter months
The flea is the second oldest insect (the cockroach is the first) because of its excellent survival mechanisms
The Flea Life Cycle
Adult cat and dog fleas prefer to feed on pets rather than people. The pets are closer to the ground and have warmer body temperatures than humans. Second choice would be children especially infants and toddlers. Female fleas will probe and bite and average of seven times in a grouping before locating a blood vessel in the skin. The saliva they leave with each bite can cause a localized allergic reaction (flea allergy dermatitis or FAD as we call it in the veterinary world.) After feeding on large amounts of blood the female flea deposits her eggs and droppings (flea dirt) which consists mostly of undigested blood. Both the eggs (which are white and about the size of a grain of salt) and the droppings (which are black and appear like ground pepper often in the shape of a comma) drop off the animals coat and spread all over the environment.
Heres a quick hometest to see if your pet has fleas: Lay out a white piece of butcher paper and groom your pet for a few minutes as they stand on the paper. Do you see any black commalooking things against the white paper If so put a drop of water on it. If its flea dirt the water will turn pink.
Flea eggs remain in the environment for variable amounts of time and are not destroyed by extremes in temperature or by pesticides. When proper conditions exist the eggs hatch and release tiny white larvae. These larvae are not able to get around and must rely on the undigested blood left in the droppings for their food source. Larvae are very susceptible to extremes in environment pesticides and insect growth regulators.
Within several days the larvae spin a protective cocoon called a pupae around themselves. The pupae are very resistant to all but steam cleaning and can lie dormant for many months to years. The pupae is the primary stage that overwinters in the environment. When conditions are favorable (warm and moist) the pupae release young adult fleas and the cycle is complete.
The length of the flea life cycle can vary from a little as one month to as long as two or three years.
Flea Control Products
There are many products available to eliminate fleas. They differ in effectiveness application safety convenience odor of the product and duration of effectiveness. Sounds pretty complicated right It is. Its actually a chemical nightmare.
AN EFFECTIVE FLEA CONTROL PROGRAM MUST INCLUDE ALL ANIMALS IN THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE ENTIRE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THE ANIMALS LIVE (INCLUDING YOUR CAR.)
Many people only use one product at a time which is NOT effective. You must treat the animal the house and the yard all at one time to get this challenge under control.
Control of fleas on the pet: You have your choice of powders sprays dips spotons or oral growth regulators.
Flea Powder: Manufacturers of these products say flea powder is safe to use every 34 days on dogs and cats older than 8 weeks of age. The active ingredient (pyrethrins being the safest and most natural ingredient) takes about 15 minutes to kill fleas when first applied. By the end of 57 days if not reapplied flea powder works only as a residual taking up to 12 hours to kill the flea. There is no growth regulator in this product so it only kills the adults.
Note: Powder should be diluted to half strength with talcum powder when used on puppies and kittens.
Disadvantages of flea powder: Flea powder can make the coat feel rough and dirty. So if your pet is already uncomfortable from the fleas and now you are alienating them by not giving them the affection you used to when their coats were cleaner and softer this makes the problem worse. The animals do not enjoy flea powder and it may make asthma worse.
Flea Sprays: Sprays can vary somewhat. Most are alcoholbased and some are more organic than others. The alcohol is for quick kill of the adult and preadult stages. Some flea sprays contain an insect growth regulator that will kill flea eggs as well. Make sure you get one with this in it. Pets run when they see you come to them with that bottle after a few applications.
The only time I use flea spray is when Im treating a cat for ear mites (I spray some on a Kleenex and wipe their head down after I clean their ears and put medication down both ear canals.) I also use it to spray my pant legs when I take walks in the woods during tick season.
So could you use rubbing alcohol or vodka to kill the adults Yes but using rubbing alcohol can be toxic. Rubbing alcohol contains a bit of methanol which can cause blindness when ingested. Cats groom themselves and will ingest this. If you want to use alcohol stick with vodka or Everclear but its really not very effective.
Aromatherapy: Herbal insecticides include pennyroyal (very toxic) clove citronella and eucalyptus oils (diluted of course.) These can be mixed in with shampoos or applied to a material flea collar. They can be very irritating when applied directly to the skin. They should not be put directly onto the coat either because when the animal grooms himself or herself they will ingest it. In general pets hate this type of flea control and only submit to it in a learned helplessness type of situation.
Flea collars are only minimally effective in the control of fleas. Most collars contain dichlorvos which is released as a vapor. They are sold under several trade names. Dichlorvos is toxic to animals and people and can cause severe reactions occasionally. Remember flea and tick collars dont work well for animals over 20 pounds.
Note: Collars are especially harmful to Persian cats. They may also cause localized reactions around the neck.
Ultrasonic collars are ineffective and may cause hearing loss in your pet. Ultrasonic collars are an expensive gimmick. Dont fall for this.
Dips which kill fleas and mites for several days or weeks are highly toxic and should not be used for routine flea control. One study found that more than 3 dips per year led to an increased incidence of cancer. Wear gloves if you decide on this method of flea control (although I have no idea why you would.) Try to pick a nonorganophosphate (OGP) type with a growth inhibitor in it.