Dr. Bonnie Franklin: Here’s How to Keep Your Pets’ Fleas at Bay

Fleas. Even the word can make you itch.

Fleas and Santa Barbara go hand-in-hand, as we locals know. Most of us have encountered fleas on our dogs and cats.

The small, jumping insects are most active in temperatures between 70 and 85 degrees so, here in Paradise, fleas are always in season.

In addition to dogs, fleas infest feral cats (stray cats), rabbits, raccoons, deer, opossums, skunks, rats and squirrels that can drop flea eggs in your yard. When your pal goes outside to explore, play, defecate or urinate, it can pick up these fleas.

Dog parks and doggy day-care areas may harbor fleas that come from an infected pet, which has dropped flea eggs in the environment. Your pal can pick up these fleas when it plays, rolls around or lies down in the grass and then may carry the fleas into your house.

Fleas have four life stages: eggs, which become a larva and hatch to develop into a pupa (a cocoon) and then a hatch into an adult flea.

Adult fleas stay in these cocoons until they sense a host nearby, such as your pet or yourself. Fleas are aware of a host by movement, vibration caused by breathing and by body heat that lets the flea know a “blood meal” is present.

The flea then jumps onboard and begins to feed. Within 24 hours, the flea mates and the female begins laying up to 50 eggs a day in your pet’s fur. Wow, that may be too much information.

In Santa Barbara, it is has long been known that dogs and cats — both indoor and outdoor — may have fleas. You can check your pet with a flea comb or look for “flea dirt” (flea “poop”), which looks like pepper scattered on your cat or dog’s fur and skin.

Adult fleas you see on your pal or in your house make up only 5% of your flea infestation, however, with the other 95% hiding as flea eggs, larvae and pupae.

Your veterinarian can prescribe oral flea medications that work great in getting rid of fleas on your dog.

Oral flea medications are given monthly with some given every three months. They are well tested and extremely safe.

Over-the-counter topical flea treatments for dogs and cats do not work well anymore, lasting maybe a week at most.

Revolution, a topical flea medication that can be obtained through your veterinarian, works like magic, is well tested and very safe.

There are also some oral flea products for cats. Over-the-counter flea shampoos and sprays can be very dangerous for cats, and do not work well for dogs either.

Both cats and dogs can develop flea allergy dermatitis, or FAD, when they have an infestation. The main symptom is being itchy, and then they scratch, bite or rub themselves.

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Clients often see their pets scratching during the day and hear them chewing all night long. This scratching, chewing and rubbing causes their skin to become red and inflamed, and often results in hair loss.

They may even develop “hot spots,” which are inflamed areas of infection that may be hairless, have a bad odor and skin irritation with open sores.

These hot spots may be found anywhere but are often found on their back near their tails, on their sides and legs, and on the underside of their necks. They even can cover most of their tails.

Flea allergy dermatitis is very uncomfortable and very painful for your pal. Fleas transmit infection when flea dirt is scratched into the skin by an itchy dog. Just one flea can trigger an allergic reaction in some pets.

FAD needs to be treated by a veterinarian with oral and topical antibiotics for pyoderma (skin infection), injectable medication (often a biologic) to control their itch, flea medications to get rid of the fleas, frequently a pain medication and possibly an Elizabethan collar to keep your pal from chewing their skin.

Fleas don’t care who they bite. They may bite us, our pals or wildlife.

If you have a flea problem, wash your dog’s or cat’’ bed. If your dog or cat sleeps on your bed, wash your own bedding. Vacuum floors, carpet, throw rugs, sofas, chair cushions and empty the vacuum bag in outside trash or call an exterminator.

Fleas avoid the sun, so keep your yard mowed. This will also help with foxtails in the summer months. Fleas like a humid environment, so over-watering and all this recent rain has set us all up for our pets getting fleas.

It is easier to keep fleas off of our pals than to treat them and our homes after infestation. Your veterinarian can help you and your pal.

Here’s to wishing you and your pals a flea-free and itch-free summer’.

Dr. Bonnie Franklin is a relief veterinarian who grew up in Santa Barbara. She earned her doctorate of veterinary medicine from a joint program of Washington State and Oregon State universities, a master’s degree in wildlife biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and does consulting work with the U.S. Forest Service. The opinions expressed are her own.