Flea control has long been one of the biggest problems facing
owners of outdoor and indoor pets. There have been many products placed on the
market for flea control, many with rather fantastic claims. Before
discussing any products for control, it is extremely important for us
to understand the life cycle of the flea and then how we can interrupt
the cycle in order to protect our pets, our homes, and us.
First of all, the flea has a life cycle similar to many insects. Adult
female fleas lay eggs which hatch into larva. These larvae then spin a
cocoon from which the adult fleas emerge. The adult female fleas lay the
eggs on the animal. The eggs are very small, white, and fall off the pet
wherever the pet shakes, scratches or lies down. When the eggs hatch, the
larvae run from the light and find the darkest place available. Consequently,
the larvae will bury themselves in the cushions of the couch, or hide under
furniture. Theses are often areas that are missed when treating a home for
fleas. Once the larvae enter the cocoon, they can resist even the strongest
of insecticides and completely infest your home. This entire process only
takes 14 to 21 days. In fact, one female in an untreated environment can
account for up to 250,000 offspring!
The goal of treating a home or a pet is to break the life cycle and keep
the numbers manageable. Of course, if your pet is allergic to the flea bite
then there are other considerations that must be made. In the past, most of
the insecticides were designed to interfere with the flea's nervous system
and kill the adult flea. The two problems with this plan were that 1)there
were ALWAYS 10 times as many young adults coming out of the cocoons to
replace the adults and 2)the chemicals were often toxic to the pets! This
often led to serious problems. To make matters worse, the fleas would
seemingly develop a resistance to the insecticide. Before long, all that
would seem to work was a small nuclear warhead!
At last, some of the pharmaceutical and chemical companies realized
there must be a better way to deal with this problem. The focus on
treating homes shifted from killing the adults to killing the eggs or
the larvae. This only makes sense because the adult fleas only account
for about 1 to 10 % of the total flea population. We have many choices
at this time for effective treatment of the home and the pet.
REVOLUTION
is a topically applied product that kills fleas, ticks and prevents
heartworm. This product is applied monthly and appears to give excellent
results for flea control. Unlike other topical products, REVOLUTION is
alcohol based and is rapidly (within 2 hours) absorbed into the system.
It does not leave an oily residue and will not wash off. The additional convenience
of using one topical product for heartworm, flea, and tick control makes
Revolution the product most recommended in our practice for cats. Due
to some difficulty with tick control in dogs using this product, we
still recommend other product combinations for dogs.
Another product, FRONTLINE TOPSPOT,
has been effective in our practice in killing fleas. This product also kills and repels ticks. TOPSPOT is applied to the skin of the pet and it spreads to all parts of the skin. It is stored in the oil glands of the skin where it is slowly released and continues to be effective for several weeks. An added benefit is that the effectiveness of TOPSPOT appears to remain high even after bathing. In situations where a topical adulticide is needed for flea control TOPSPOT is the product we recommend.
The
manufacturers of FRONTLINE have attempted to provide a solution that
kills adult fleas inactivates the fleas eggs. This is FRONTLINE PLUS
which is currently the main product this practice recommends for dogs.
Another
topical product,
ADVANTAGE, claims to kill adult fleas within 24 to 48 hours of
contact with a treated animal. The idea with this product is that the adult flea will not
live long enough to lay eggs. One problem noted in our experience is bathing seems to
diminish the product effectiveness considerably. The manufacturers claim that, based on their studies, the effectiveness is retained . We have seen better results with other products if the pet must be bathed regularly. ADVANTAGE seems to be a promising product in certain circumstances.
One of the newer compounds available is PROGRAM. This product uses a
revolutionary method of treating the adult fleas and STERILIZING the adult
females! The medication is given once a month with a meal. The compound
is absorbed like fat and stored in the fat layers of the pet's body. Since
even thin animals have some fat under the skin, the flea will contact the
drug each time it takes a blood meal and destroy all the eggs. No eggs ---
then soon no fleas. This product has worked well for many of our clients.
A disadvantage is that if you have a flea allergic animal, an allergic
reaction will be started each time a flea bites. The plan should be to keep
the pet on PROGRAM year long to prevent the flea population from
reaching significant numbers.
CAPSTAR is another
adulticide product. This product is given orally and begins to take
effect within 30 minutes. This product is best used with PROGRAM to
provide a complete control system.
With the addition of these newer products to the market, it would not be
surprising to see the older, more toxic products slowly removed from the
market. At present, treatment of the outdoors with insecticides still has a
place in total flea control in any particular environment. Sevin dust seems to
work well in areas where it hasn't been used before. There are other insecticides
available. Unfortunately, some of the most effective compounds have been removed
from over-the-counter sales due to health concerns. In cases of heavy
infestation consulting a professional exterminator may be in order. One important point to remember is that if insecticides are used
outdoors be certain to rotate between the products. This will prevent the
flea population from developing a resistance to a single compound.
Another point about outdoor use of insecticides is that if the area you
intend to treat is near a watershed, please try to find the least toxic
product available in order to protect the water supply.
You may also purchase these products from our online
store
If you have more questions about fleas, please feel free to visit
some of these links we have found:
Please leave e-mail messages for
Dr. Washington at metvet@hiwaay.net
if you have
comments or questions.
