Fleas on your Pet

What You Should Do if You Find Fleas on Your Pet

Fleas on your cat or dog can be quite frustrating, and it seems that when pets get fleas, they don’t ever want to go away. You will want to make sure that you check your cat or dog for fleas often, because they can really make your pet miserable.

You can do a lot of things to try to prevent fleas, such as washing your pets bedding with hot water, but sometimes they will make their way to your pet and you need to get rid of them. If you have noticed that your pet has been scratching or biting a lot, or has black granules in their fur, then they may have a flea problem.

Use a Flea Treatment
A flea treatment like Frontline for Cats or Frontline for Dogs should be applied every month to the back of your pet's neck. Frontline gets absorbed into your pet's skin and kills fleas when they bite your pet.

Use a Flea Comb to Remove Any Remaining Fleas
Frontline will kill the majority of fleas, but occasionally some may remain. You can use a flea comb, or any other fine tooth comb to help get off the remaining fleas. Once you get them off, be careful because they will jump right back on to your pet if you aren’t.

Treat Your Home to Prevent Reinfestation
Now that all of the fleas are gone from your pet, and you have them protected for the long term, it is time to focus on treating your home. If you have indoor pets and they have fleas, chances are you have fleas living in your home. They hide in furniture, carpets, bedding and other dark areas. They are hard to spot sometimes. If you put on a pair of white socks and go into a carpeted room, you can sometimes see the fleas jump onto the socks, because they are attracted to white. Even if you don’t see any, it may be a good idea to treat the home to be on the safe side. You can use a household spray such as Indorex, Acclaim or RIP Fleas to help get rid of the fleas. These sprays are usually effective for a full 12 months.

Some fleas are carriers for tapeworm and if your pet swallows a flea whilst grooming, they can become infected with tapeworms. It is therefore always advisable to treat your pet with a worming tablet such as Drontal if they have been infected with fleas.

Copyright VetDispense 2014