This has got to be an opportune time to bust open a few myths regarding our little local creeping parasites, FLEAS. Fleas love the heat. With this spectacular summer comes a hoard of the biting, jumping, blood suckers. Please don’t dismiss them as a problem simply because you’ve only noticed one of the little suckers. The key is to wipe them out early.

Each female can lay 2000 eggs and only 5% of fleas are present in their adult form, so for every flea there is another 19 in egg or pupal form waiting in the shadows beneath you.

Adult fleas spend only 10% of their time on a cat or dog to feed, the rest of their day consists of running around your floors, carpets or lawns. This lead to the common statement; “but I haven’t seen any fleas on him” ….. doesn’t mean anything.

Now, doing some math’s, for every adult flea you find on “Old Yella” we’ve now got another 9 adults in your home and 190 juveniles busy developing at light speed in their ideal climate of 28 degrees and high humidity, i.e. February in Auckland.

The other big reason to wipe out each and every one of these parasites is that many cats and dogs are allergic to the bite, to the flea saliva. In these individuals a couple of bites will cause a massive hypersensitivity reaction leading to self mutilation.

In the current climate many clients are finding the need to apply good safe topical flea products at least every 4 weeks (sometimes every 2 to 3), the flea burden being massive at present.

Be aware you will need some really effective vet only treatment to do the job properly and fleas have developed resistance to many other older products.

These newer drugs are very safe, some cleverly work by spreading along the skin oil layers and are never absorbed into the animals body, and target insects very specifically.

Certainly this regime can then be extended out to every 2 months during the winter for animals without allergic conditions.

Don’t let your pets suffer with these critters, don’t let them get established in your home, seek your vets help to hit ‘em now and hit ‘em hard.

Happy “bug” hunting, Dr Alex Melrose.