Fleas still causing problems in fall months

Q: Our dogs have fleas! We thought flea season was over. What should we do?

A: Unfortunately, I have seen more flea infested pets in the past month than I had all summer. The reason is due to the flea life cycle.

Your problem actually began months ago when the first few fleas got into your house. Since then, they have been laying tens of thousands of eggs. They are between the couch cushions, under the dog bed, maybe under your bed. Only five percent of fleas in your house are adults. That means for every flea you see, there are nineteen more just waiting to hatch! Unless you do something soon, they will keep hatching all winter long.

Many people rely on over the counter flea drops, collars, shampoos, dips, etc. Most of these products are designed to kill the one flea you are seeing, not the nineteen you don’t see. That’s a hard way to win a battle. Even the adult fleas have become resistant to many of these chemicals over the decades they have been in use. There is a lot of time and money wasted on ineffective treatments.

Your veterinarian can help you win the war on fleas. Unfortunately, infestations at this time of year are often the most challenging (and expensive) to treat. However, it can be done.

The answer lies in a three-pronged attack. The first is to use a modern, veterinary-quality product that quickly and effectively kills fleas before they have a chance to reproduce. The second is to use another product to keep eggs and immature fleas from ever becoming adults. Third, you absolutely must continue to use a preventive product all year so the fleas cannot return.
Q: The weather is getting cooler. When is it safe to stop my pet’s tick control medicine?

A: In this area, it is not safe to stop during any month of the year. Most people underestimate the threat from deer ticks. The American dog tick is the most visible tock on dogs. In this area, these ticks are present in highest numbers from the end of February until the beginning of November. These ticks are usually easy to spot, but are not the only tick in Virginia.

The deer tick has become infamous for its spread of Borellia bacteria, the causative agent of Lyme disease. This disease is crippling and killing dogs in record numbers. These ticks have a very different life cycle from the American dog tick. In fact, the adult phase of the deer tick peaks from November through March. You read that right, November through March. Part of the reason we see so much Lyme disease in dogs is that people are stopping their tick control at precisely the time of year when the most diseased phase of the tick is peaking. Since dog and cat owners do not see these tiny ticks, they assume they have disappeared with the dog ticks. Forty percent of people who are diagnosed with Lyme disease do not realize they ever had a tick on their own body. If people are not finding them on their own body, they are not going to detect them on their pets with any regularity or accuracy.

The adult deer tick lays eggs throughout the winter (after taking blood meals from unsuspecting animals or people). The eggs hatch into larvae in the spring. The larvae take a blood meal and form a cocoon-like pupa during the summer. This is the only phase of the deer tick that does not feed on our pets, and it occurs in the summer… when everyone is using tick control. The pupae hatch into a nymph phase that again takes a blood meal before developing into an adult. During each feeding, the tick has the opportunity of picking up the Borellia bacteria from a different animal. By the time they reach the adult phase, they have fed three or more times! Since the adults do not emerge until the late fall and through the winter, if you stop using tick control during these months, you are putting your pets and family at risk.

Dr. Watts is a companion animal general practitioner and owner of Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care. He can be reached through ClevengersCorner.com or by calling 428-1000.