Dog fleas: frequently asked questions

Dog Flea Frequently Asked Questions

Fleas are six-legged parasites that thrive on your pets, especially dogs, by consuming their blood and causing diseases if left untreated for a prolonged duration. There are several types of fleas and each of these species master in making your dog’s life miserable. The common types of fleas found in dogs are Oriental Rat Flea, Sticktight Flea, Rabbit Flea and Human Flea.

Flea treatment in dogs is something that can be carried out only if you are aware of the different factors related to these parasites. This post will answer some of the frequently asked questions related to dog fleas.

How does flea infection start?

Fleas are smart parasites that have an impressive ability to hitchhike to your pet’s body from any carriers like birds, rats, and even humans. Even though they are unable to travel long distances without a carrier or host, on most of the occasions, they find your dog without fail.

How do I know if my dog has fleas?

One simple way to find out whether your dog has flea is to look for abnormal scratching. If your dog seems to be involved in scratching or self-grooming for the major portion of a day, then he is definitely infested by fleas. Confirming flea infestation is something that requires time and patience, you can achieve this by carefully vetting your dog’s coat under sufficient lighting.

You can even use magnifying glass while examining your dog’s coat for fleas. Using magnifying glass will even help you to sort out flea eggs. Flea eggs are usually yellow or white with black spots.

What makes flea so smart in making your dog’s life miserable?

To start with, fleas feed on the blood of your dog and they seem to have this unquenchable thirst for warm blood, which motivates them to stay on the host’s body for longer durations and multiply.

What makes things worse is that they are genetically blessed with anti-blood clotting saliva, which enables them to suck blood from your dog without much effort and continously.

What are the flea diseases found in dogs?

Flea diseases in dogs can range from diarrhea to skin allergies. The initial stage of flea infestation in your dogs can manifest itself as hotspot and dermatitis. However, the advanced stages can cause health issues like anemia, tapeworm and vomiting.

What are some natural remedies to alleviate flea infestation?

Flea prevention and eradication efforts is not something that should be confined only to your dogs. It is important to understand that fleas thrive well on household areas like your pet bedding, backyard, and carpets. Therefore, the effective way to get remove fleas is to keep your household clean via regular vacuuming, using flea bombs or powders like flea busters which are deemed effective.

Always keep in mind that flea treatment never has an instant result. It takes time and hard work get rid of fleas. Even if you are successful in eliminating flea infection in your dog, it can reoccur, especially in warm climatic conditions. Therefore, constant flea check is a necessity.