Fleas

If your dog or cat is itching and scratching, fleas are a likely culprit. Flea season usually begins in spring and lasts through the summer, but fleas can survive year round in western Oregon's moderate climate. Fleas that live on your pet can easily spread to your house or yard and vice versa, so it's important to treat both your pet and your pet's environment.

Flea Life Cycle

Depending on the climate and the availability of a host, the length of a flea's life cycle is variable. The female flea can lay up to hundreds of eggs in her lifetime. Between 2 and 16 days later, the eggs will hatch into larvae. Larvae live anywhere from 9 to 200 days before they become pupae. Pupae are difficult to eliminate; typically, you must wait for them to develop into adults before treatment will be effective. It may take anywhere from 7 days to one year for pupae to develop into an adult flea, who could live up to three years. During peak flea season, the life cycle is about 3 weeks. At any given time, less than 20% of the flea population are adults, so it's important to treat your pet, home and yard for all stages of the flea life cycle.

Signs of Infestation

• Adult fleas on your pet's skin or in your house
• Flea eggs on your pet's coat (white oval shapes the size of table salt crystals)
• Flea excrement on your pet's skin (dark specks that turn reddish in water)
• Irritated skin or excessive itching, which can lead to hair loss or a bacterial skin infection known as "hot spots"

Treating Your Pet

There are several treatment options, including:

• Insecticide: These can range from topical monthly-use products are applied directly to the pet's skin, where they are toxic to adult fleas, providing quick relief, to oral medications that can kill adult fleas in as little as 30 minutes to 4 hours. Some of these medications provide additional protection against ticks or heartworm disease.
• Growth inhibitor: These products are administered orally on a monthly basis or, for cats, by injection every six months. A growth inhibitor does not kill adult fleas, but prevents their eggs from hatching into new fleas. If you are experiencing a severe infestation, your veterinarian may suggest using an insecticide to kill the adult fleas while the growth inhibitor takes effect.
• Flea shampoos, dips, sprays, combing, and collars can be effective temporarily, but generally do not yield lasting results.
• Consult your veterinarian if you have questions about the safe use of flea and tick control products. Your pet’s good health is your veterinarian’s primary goal, and he or she will prescribe, administer and monitor the proper medications to achieve that goal. If you are thinking about buying your pet’s flea control medications from another source (online or mail-order), you may want to consider these issues.

Treating Your Pet's Environment

• Treating your house, garage, yard and kennel is another important step in controlling fleas. For best results, treat your living areas and yard on the same day that you treat your pet.
• Regular vacuuming and steam cleaning helps remove flea eggs, larvae, and pupae. Don't forget to dispose of the vacuum bag, as fleas can hatch in the bag after vacuuming.
• A self-directed spray that will kill flea eggs and larvae in addition to adult fleas is the best choice for treating your house, garage, yard and kennel.
• Foggers aren't able to treat underneath objects that fleas love to inhabit, such as couches, so it's best to use a spray to reach under those items.

A Warning for Cat Owners: Use Flea & Tick Products Safely

• Flea treatments meant for dogs can be deadly if given to cats instead. It is important to use only flea and tick products specifically designed for cats, and to administer the proper dosage.
• Never apply 45-65% permethrin "spot-on" products to cats, even in small amounts. Highly concentrated permethrin can be extremely toxic to cats.
• If you have both dogs and cats in your household, you should be aware that using a permethrin "spot-on" product on a dog may cause illness in a household cat.
• All flea/tick "spot-on" products—even ones with nearly identical brand names—are not alike. Check the label to identify the active ingredient before you apply it. Carefully follow all pesticide label instructions.