alyn
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Nov 21, 2003, 7:28 PM
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Re: [earth.goddess] Any help with ticks and fleas?
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Ticks and fleas don't just "happen" when the weather is hot, although living in tropical weather does encourage these bugs to reproduce faster. These are external parasites and your dog would have had to come in contact with an element that was infested. It could be a simple thing like a walk in the park (ticks and fleas are notorious for hiding in blades of grass and then hopping on to a suitable host, i.e. dogs / cats) or contact with another infected host. You can get rid of ticks pretty easily although I would advise you do this fast since you don't want your dog contracting any tick related diseases. Fleas are a different matter altogether. These buggers are quite difficult to eradicate and your home could have a flea infestation by now, so any topical treatment on your dog is not enough. You have to de-flea your whole house!
I've taken several excerpts from animalpetdoctor :
Fleas
Fleas, of course, are aggravating little insects that carry disease, frequently cause intense skin reactions and allergies in our pets, and can be extremely difficult to control. Although, the newer flea products are working so well that most flea problems are now fairly easy to control. This is simplified, but the important things to know about fleas is that each flea can lay hundreds of eggs. Fleas like to lay their eggs on damp ground or in cracks and crevices. They prefer to lay eggs when the humidity is high and the temperature is 65-80 F (typical of most US homes) . Adult fleas can live up to two months off a pet and up to year on a pet. The eggs hatch in 2-12 days into tiny larvae. The larvae live in your house and yard and eat dust and dander. They grow and molt a couple of times over a period of 10-200 days, depending on food supply, humidity, and temperature. Then they pupate. The pupa part of their life cycle can last from 7 days to 1 year. They wait until conditions are right and until there's mammalian prey (cats, dogs, and humans). The take home message here is that if you see a fair number of fleas on your cat or dog, know that you have hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny flea eggs, larvae, and pupae around. To solve a serious flea problem you're going to have to go after the eggs, larvae, and pupae as well the adult fleas on your pet. The trouble is that they've become resistant to the pesticides we've been using for the last 25 years. Luckily, we now have new pesticides that they haven't become resistant to, and in most cases are working really well.
Ticks
The type of ticks we deal with most often in pet medicine are various types of so-called "hard" ticks and each of the different species and subspecies have similar life cycles. Adults, which can live for over a year, lay up to 8000 eggs on moist ground. The eggs hatch in 2-7 weeks. The larvae (seed ticks) , which cling to tall grass or low bushes attach themselves to passing pets or other small mammals and feed for several days. Then they fall off and rest for 6-90 depending on weather conditions etc. After molting into nymphs they again attach themselves to the nearest mammal that walks by and feed again for several days. Then they fall off and rest for another 3-15 weeks. Finally, they molt again into adults that attach themselves again to the most convenient mammal, have sex, feast on blood, and start laying eggs again.
None of this information is likely to help you much other than to know that any place with damp soil, long grass, or low bushes could harbor thousands of seed ticks, nymphs, and adult ticks waiting to attach themselves to you or your pets. Spraying such areas with pesticides help, but resistance is a problem. Resistance is also a problem with the majority of sprays , dips, and collars claiming to solve your tick problem.
The thing about ticks and fleas is they can harbour in your home. Female ticks are known to crawl into cracks or crevices in the wall and can lay dormant for up to 6 months before dropping down on your dog for feeding and laying eggs. What I can suggest is to take your doggy to the vet for some treatment and removal of these pesky parasites. If your dog's an indoor pet, you have to check its bedding and housing very thoroughly. I'm sure the vet would have better suggestions of getting rid of this infestation in your home. Good luck and let us know the outcome!
Come see what I'm up to at susie*ville!
(This post was edited by alyn on Nov 21, 2003, 7:32 PM)
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Re: [BaoBao] Any help with ticks and fleas?
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I use 4 methods... 
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