We had a strange season for fleas this year. All summer seemed to be pretty manageable, then when October came, so did the fleas. My staff were trimming Verbal's nails and found some on her. I was mortified! The vet's dog certainly shouldn't have fleas. Granted, her monthly flea control was due that very day, but wasn't over due, so she sure shouldn't have been infested. Yuck. Parasitology was one of my worst subjects in school. I hate those little creatures. We saw two darling little 7 or 8 week old kittens last week absolutely covered in fleas. We gave them a great medication called Capstar, a one-time pill that kills fleas in 30 MINUTES. During those kittens' exams, we just kept picking off the dying carcasses of those nasty bugs, stopping our count after a hundred or so. They were lucky little kittens. Some can be so infested that they become anemic-the fleas actually eat so much of their blood that they can no longer carry oxygen through their blood stream and they can literally suffocate. We had an ADULT cat die from flea anemia last year. How tragic is that, something so preventable?
There are some pretty great flea prevention products available for our cats and dogs. We carry Frontline Plus and Vectra because they not only kill the adult stage of the fleas but also prevent eggs and larva from hatching. No flea product has any efficacy against the pupae (cocoon) stage or keeps the flea from biting at all. Whatever you do, keep the harsh chemicals like pyrethrins away from cats (these are found in some dog products like Vectra and Advantix) and are actually sold as safe for cats in products like Hartz and Seargents drops, collars, and shampoos. They are NOT SAFE. They can cause tremors, seizures, and death in some cats and even some dogs. We lost a 160 pound Mastiff from a flea powder-he started seizuring and never stopped. What's more, these products don't even work. We often see fleas crawling right over flea collars on patients that come in the hospital. There is even an "antidote" page on their manufacturer's website. Wonderful, huh?
Flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) is a condition of the immune system where the bite from a single flea can cause pruritis (itching) and alopecia (hair loss) for up to 6 WEEKS on an affected pet. The hair loss pattern is usually found around the hind end and tail of the dog, and sometimes around the neck and head of cats. Other than moving your pet to Alaska to avoid fleas all together, the only thing you can do to help a pet with FAD is to practice diligent flea control on the pets year round and in the environment (house and yard,) as well as treat allergy symptoms before the pet scratches him or herself raw and makes secondary infections in the skin. Antihistamines can help a small percentage of animals, so can soothing oatmeal/antihistamine baths and topical sprays.
Oh, and did you know that fleas are an important part of the tapeworm life cycle? That's right. Tapeworm eggs are found inside the flea, so when a pet is chewing or grooming themselves and ingests a flea, it eats the tapeworm egg. Most often only segments of tapeworms are passed from the affected animals body. These segments will look like little wiggling grains of white rice stuck to the hairs under your pet's tail or on the fresh feces. They may look like little sesame seeds on the bedding when the segments dry out. I sure don't know why we insist on describing these things with food analogies! Gross.
Call your vet if the symptoms of FAD are becoming evident. Sometimes stronger anti-inflammatory medications are needed to break the cycle of the immune reaction.
Peace,
DrReneigh
Oh, I want to express my sincere sympathies to my head technician, Amber and her husband, Rob, who had to say good bye to their cat, Lucky last night. Remember the blog I wrote called Cancer Sucks? Well, it really does. Lucky was just diagnosed with a fairly rare condition called lung-digit syndrome where he had cancer that occurred in his lung and in his toes. Weird, but then cancer can do any darned thing it wants. Lucky had a strong personality and could be a bit of a butt-head at times. I know that is why he will always have a special place in their hearts. He was much too young to have this happen to. I am so sorry that my dear colleague has to hurt so very much.
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