External Parasites And The Health Of Your Pet

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External Parasites and the Health of Your Pet

Fleas

Flea Basics
Fleas thrive when the weather is warm and humid. Depending on your climate, fleas may be a seasonal or year-round problem. Your pet can pick up fleas wherever an infestation exists, often in areas frequented by other cats and dogs. Adult fleas are dark brown, no bigger than a sesame seed, and able to move rapidly over your pet’s skin.

Adult fleas live their entire lives on your pet. Female fleas begin laying eggs within 24 hours of selecting your pet as a host, producing up to 50 eggs each day. These eggs fall from your pet onto the floor or furniture, including your pet’s bed, or onto any other indoor or outdoor area where your pet happens to go. Tiny, worm-like larvae hatch from the eggs and burrow into carpets, under furniture, or into soil before spinning a cocoon. The cocooned flea pupae can lie dormant (inactive) for weeks before emerging as adults that are ready to infest (or reinfest) your pet. The result is a flea life cycle of anywhere from 12 days to 6 months.

Risks and Consequences
You may not know that your pet has fleas until their number increases to the point that your pet is obviously uncomfortable. Signs of flea problems range from mild redness to severe scratching that can lead to open sores and skin infections. One of the first things you may notice on a pet with fleas is “flea dirt”

Read Important Information About Flea Infestation

Getting Rid of Fleas
If you find yourself with a flea problem, you’ll probably need to try a couple of different flea control methods before you get rid of all of the fleas on your cat and in your home.

It’s up to you to choose which treatment you think is best for your cat, you, and your home. Treatments may include using flea collars, flea combs, flea dips, flea powders, flea exterminators, and other flea control methods.

In addition to treating your cat and your home, you may also have to treat your yard.

Taking care of a flea problem doesn’t mean only getting rid of the adult fleas or just the fleas you can see. You also have to get rid of all the fleas in their various life stages throughout your home and your yard. This will require diligence on your part to get rid of all the fleas, but it is well worth it for your cat’s health.

Choosing a safe, as well as effective, method of flea control is critical.

Different levels of danger accompany all flea control products and methods and you should choose only the safest and most effective method for your cat and you.

Be careful when applying chemical flea treatments to your cat, as these will irritate any open sores she may have. Also, chemical flea medicines should not be used on kittens under the age of four months. These are two good reasons for trying to stick with natural flea control products, as they are generally less irritating to your cat and her skin, and overall, less dangerous for your cat, the environment, and you.

Controlling Fleas is Critical to Keeping Your Cat Healthy
Uncontrollable itching and scratching. Allergies. Tapeworm. Hair loss. Major discomfort. Even anemia and more serious health problems. Fleas hurt your cat.

Controlling fleas on your precious cat and in your cat’s environment is so important in helping you deal with one of the worst external parasites your cat will ever face. Keeping your cat and your home flea-free is not only important for your cat’s health, but for your own health, as well.

At the worst, even one single flea bite can lead to serious problems for your cat. Uncontrolled fleas, flea infestation, and flea bites can lead to allergies, tapeworm, anemia, etc. Diligence is an important part of taking care of your cat.

Indoor Cats Need Protection, Too!

Flea control is critical for all cats, even those cats who never go outside. As a matter of fact, your indoor cat and cat environment can have an even worse flea problem than your outdoor cat.

We often make the mistake of thinking that just because our cat lives indoors, he will never have any fleas. Wrong! Fleas can be brought into your home from various sources, such as other animals and even you. Fleas are excellent hitchhikers! They can hop on your clothes when you’re outside and jump off once inside your home.

One flea can lay up to 20 eggs at a time and at their worse, they can lay eggs every day! So by the time you realize you have fleas, your home may already be severely infested.

Weak Cats Have Worse Flea Problems

Fleas are parasites. They prey on weakened and less healthy cats. Veterinarians commonly observe that cats in the poorest health attract the most fleas. So the healthier your cat is, the less likely you’ll have flea infestations on your cat and in your home.

And if you end up with a flea problem, your healthy cat will be in a stronger position to deal with your flea control efforts.

To keep your cat healthy, feed him a diet of the highest quality cat food you can afford, make sure he gets regular exercise with safe and interactive cat toys, and keep his environment clean.

Add regular grooming to these preventative measures and you should be able to keep your cat in excellent health and flea-free.

How to Tell if Your Cat Has Fleas

The most obvious sign of a flea is the flea body itself. These are reddish-brown little guys about the size of a pinhead. They have incredible jumping ability. Fleas are often easily found around your cat’s neck and base of the tail.

But just because you don’t see the body, don’t assume there aren’t any fleas. Fleas go through various life cycle stages, and they can be present in your home in different (almost invisible) stages.

To check your cat for fleas, part his hair around his neck, back, hind legs, and near the base of his tail. You can also use a special flea comb and run it gently through these areas to check for fleas.

In addition to actual fleas, you are also looking for any tiny black flecks. These black flecks are flea excrement (or “flea dirt”) and are a sure sign that these pesky parasites are around. To be extra sure that these black flecks are flea dirt, you can place the flecks on a wet paper towel. If you see a reddish brown circle form around the fleck, you’ve got yourself some flea droppings and a flea problem (the flecks are your cat’s digested blood).

And although not every itch means that your cat has fleas, you should suspect fleas if your cat is doing a good deal of licking and chewing around her hind legs and back, especially near the base of the tail. This is often accompanied by hair loss. If your cat is licking and chewing a lot, be sure to give her a thorough inspection.

Inspecting your outdoor cats for fleas should be a regular part of your flea control efforts.

Get expert advice on Pets Flea control and Dog Flea Control on http://flea-control-info.blogspot.com

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