Fleas, Ticks, Lice & Mites

While some owners will be lucky enough to never come across a flea on their pet, most owners of active pets who share their homes will at some point encounter a creepy crawly who has made themselves comfortable in their pet's fur.

Often, by the time you spot fleas on your pet, you are only seeing a tiny portion of the infestation and there will be many others living in the environment.

Ticks tend to appear on pets who enjoy walking in the countryside with their owners, while lice and mites are more usually caught from visiting wildlife in the garden and can usually be fairly easily treated if caught early and targeted products are administered.

A common belief is that dogs who live indoors will not get external parasites, however the majority of dogs will still leave the house for walks, during which they can pick up pesky insects who will cling on and return home with them, or visit the garden which may have wildlife passing through and leaving parasites behind.

There are close links between fleas and tapeworms. Fleas can carry tapeworm larvae and if a dog swallows a tiny flea during grooming they can quickly grow a destructive adult tapeworm within the body.

Detecting a Flea Infestation

The first indications of a flea infestation are usually repeated itching, scratching and chewing at the body. Owners may also notice flea dirt or excrement on the dog, which resembles little black pepper like spots, which are typically round in shape. In more serious cases, particularly on lighter coloured dogs, more attentive owners may occasionally spot a live, adult flea traversing through their dog's coat.

Some dogs seem to be less irritated by the presence of fleas, and may barely seem affected, meaning that their owners do not notice the presence of fleas until they begin to appear in the environment. Others suffer an extreme reaction known as flea allergy dermatitis which is caused by an allergen in the saliva of fleas and presents as an eczematous itchy skin disease with alopecia, scabbing, hyperpigmentation and scaling of the skin.

The detection of flea dirt or sight of live fleas in the home or on the pet are usually key indicators that it is indeed a flea infestation you are dealing with, rather than another skin condition or allergy causing the persistent itching.

In order to detect flea dirt, look at the 'flea triangle' area on your dog, which covers the dog's rump, top of tail and top half of each of the back legs. Slowly parting the hair against the normal lay often reveals flea excrement or the rapidly moving fleas. Flea excrement is reddish black, cylindrical, and pellet- or comma-shaped. Placed in water or on a damp paper towel and crushed, the excrement dissolves, producing a reddish brown color, as shown below.

Adult fleas are very small, only about 3mm or one eight of an inch long, and are a wingless insect with 6 legs, two of which are specially modified back legs allowing incredible leaps of up to 30cm. Once on your pet, fleas can bite up to every 5 minutes leaving your dog itchy, sore and uncomfortable. Flea bites look like small red spots that often appear in lines.

Fleas can drink up to 15 times their own weight in blood per day, so a heavy flea infestation can lead to iron deficiency and anaemia. Symptoms of anaemia include pale gums, appearing tired, weak, or listless, faster-than-normal pulse, lack of appetite, weight loss and eating dirt, and require immediate veterinary attention.

Treating a Flea Infestation

Before attempting to clear a flea infestation from your home and your pet, it is of utmost importance that you understand the life cycle of the flea.

The life cycle of a flea can take as little as 12 to 14 days or as long as 180 days. Under typical household conditions, a complete lifecycle usually takes 3 to 6 weeks. During this time, the flea goes through 4 stages: egg, larvae, pupae and adult. The fleas you will see on your pet and in your home are in the adult stage, during which the female can lay up to 50 eggs per day. An adult flea may stick with one host, but they are more likely to jump between hosts, which will include cats, dogs and humans.

When an adult female lays an egg, it will usually fall from the host into the environment, where it will usually rest for around 5 days in bedding, carpets, soft furnishings or crevices. The egg then hatches and emerges from the egg is a negative phototaxic larvae, meaning they will move away from light, and it is in dark crevices that they will feed on flea dirt and organic debris until they are ready to spin a coccoon.  The pupa can stay in the coccoon for up to a year, waiting for ideal conditions to emerge, and there are no insecticides or treatments which are able to kill the flea at this stage of the life cycle. The adult flea will emerge from its cocoon when it detects heat, vibrations and even changes in the air such as increased levels of carbon dioxide, signs of a nearby host.

Fighting a flea infestation can be difficult and it can take up to 90 day to fully eradicate them. Although this may seem daunting, it is worth perservering as a combination of the correct treatments at the right times for your pet and home will ensure success.

Stage 1: Provide immediate relief from the discomfort of biting fleas to your pet by using a Spot-On flea treatment, which can be combined with a flea tablet to kill live adult fleas within 15 minutes of application. Always follow the instructions of the product applied, ensuring it is of the correct type and dosage for your pet.

Stage 2: Treat your home with a long-lasting insecticidal product, preferably one which contains both an Insecticide and an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR), which will kill adult fleas and prevent flea eggs and larvae from developing. Before using a household flea treatment it is advisable to vacuum thoroughly, including soft furnishings, mattresses, along skirting boards and inside drawers. While inside the pupal cocoon, fleas are protected from all insecticides. Vacuuming creates vibrations that triggers flea pupae to hatch. It will also suck up a number of the flea eggs and flea pupae. Remember to empty the vacuum and dispose of the contents in an outside bin immediately afterwards to prevent reinfesting your home.

Stage 3: Ensure that your pet is covered after the original flea treatment runs out, by reapplying as the packaging advises. This will usually be every 4-5 weeks for continuous protection when using Spot-On treatments.

Stage 4: Continue to vacuum your home on a regular basis, encouraging the pupa to emerge from their coccoons so that they can be targeted by the long-lasting household treatment you have used. Wash pet and human bedding at a minimum of 60°C to kill fleas and larvae. Ensure your pet is also treated for tapeworms, which can be spread by infected fleas.

Preventing a flea infestation

Preventing a flea infestation is easier than you might think, and it all comes down to ensuring your pet is continually covered by the action of a Spot-On treatment or flea collar.

All pet medicines must pass stringent testing to prove they are effective and safe before they are sold, regardless of whether they are available 'over the counter' or must be prescribed by a vet. All parasite control treatments available at Pet Connection have been proven effective and safe for pets, their owners and the environment, when used according to the instructions on the packaging. If you are concerned or unsure about the most suitable product for your pet, please feel free to contact us and we can provide information and advice.

Choosing the ideal flea treatment for your pet should be based on the type of animal, weight and lifestyle.

Spot-On treatments are the ideal choice for most people and their pets. They can be bought in multipacks to reduce the cost, and most are designed to be applied every 4-5 weeks. Spot-On treatments are packaged in individual doses of liquid and are applied by pouring the liquid onto the back of your pet, just between the shoulders. Most Spot-On treatments are carried all over the body from the point of application through the natural oils of the coat, meaning that fleas do not even need to bite your pet to be killed.

Collars are excellent value and usually provide protection for up to 3 months, however they are not suitable for some pets.

The collars tend to release the active ingredient over a long period of time, as the ingredient spreads through the natural oils of the skin and coat it will kill fleas that come into contact. Diazinon (Dimpylate) is an organophosphorous compound often used in flea collars, so do not use this option for a dog who sleeps in your bed, or if you can't avoid excessive handling of the collar by yourself or children. Dogs wearing collars with this active ingredient should not be allowed to swim in ponds, waterways or ditches when wearing the collar, as the active ingredient is extremely dangerous for fish and aquatic life.

Flea tablets such as Johnson's 4Fleas Tablets are excellent for offering immediate relief, but are designed only to kill live adult fleas on the dog at the time of application, so should be combined with another treatment to provide ongoing success in keeping your pet and home free from fleas.

Ticks

Ticks are 8-legged, spider like insects that attach to other animals in order to drink their blood. They vary in size from 1mm to 1cm, and the larger adults look quite like small, bloated spiders.

Ticks are common in woodland, grassland and heath areas in the UK and Ireland, but can also be found in your garden if you live in an area with lots of wildlife. Areas with lots of deer and sheep tend to have many more ticks than other areas. Ticks are most commonly spotted between spring and autumn, but they are active throughout the year.

They do not fly or jump, but climb or drop on to you or your dog’s coat when brushing past the area they are sitting in.

They feed by biting an animal and feasting on blood. This may take several days. Once they have had enough, they drop off. In moving from one animal host to another, ticks transmit microbes that cause diseases, such as Lyme disease and babesiosis.

Lyme disease is a serious bacterial infection. If your dog has Lyme disease, you may notice they become depressed and lose their appetite. Other symptoms include fever, lameness, swollen and painful joints, and swollen lymph nodes. If your dog is suffering from babesiosis you may notice they are depressed, have pale gums, a swollen abdomen and a fever. They may also lose their appetite and their skin may become yellowish.  If you notice any of these symptoms after walking your dog in a tick-infested area, contact your vet immediately and make sure to tell them your dog may have been bitten by a tick.

If you spot a tick on your dog, it is imperative that it is removed as quickly as possible. However, it is important that the tick is removed in its entirety and that the head does not remain embedded in the dog's skin, and that the tick does not have the opportunity to return any ingested blood back into the dog's body during removal, as this greatly increases the chance of infection with a tick borne disease.

To remove a tick from your pet, use a Tick Removal Tool. Brush the pet's hair back to reveal the tick. Place the tool against the dog's skin, with the largest part of the wire loop directly over the tick. Slowly, but firmly, pull the tip of the tool towards the tick so the tick is trapped within the smallest part of the loop. Keep pulling smoothly until the tick is removed from the skin. Ensure the whole tick has been removed, including the head, before wiping the area and applying antibacterial powder.

Chewing & Sucking Lice

Lice can be categorised depending on how they feed, with chewing lice feeding on debris at the skin surface and sucking lice using their piercing mouthpieces to suck blood from the body. With the exception of one sucking louse species, Linognathus setosus, all lice found on dogs and cats are chewing lice, with the two main species on dogs being Trichodectes canis (dog chewing louse) and Linognathus setosus. The chewing louse acts as an intermediary for the tapeworm, so it is important that your pet is also treated for worms should they be found to have lice.

Lice are host specific - dog lice, human lice and cat lice will not affect the other species.

The entire life of a louse is spent on their host, usually taking between 4 and 6 weeks. Adult female chewing and sucking lice lay individual eggs, called nits, and cement these to hair shafts. During her lifetime a single female may lay around 30 – 60 eggs. Nymphal stages, which are largely identical but smaller than adults, emerge from the eggs after approximately 1-2 weeks; they then go through up to five moults before reaching the adult stage.

Heavy louse infestations are usually characterised by a poorly groomed coat and the presence of eggs or "nits" on the hair, or adult lice within the hair coat. Heavy infestation may cause eczema with crusts and alopecia. For L. setosus which is a frequent blood feeder, skin lesions such as excoriation, urticaria-like lesions and even necrotic skin lesions may occur. Louse infestations are generally highly irritating due to the wandering activities of the lice and infested animals can be restless, bad tempered and show excessive itching and rubbing.

Chewing lice can be treated with reasonable ease using an insecticide which is effective against lice, such as Imidacloprid which is found in 4Fleas Dual Action Spot On.

Mange, Ear & Fur Mites

Mites found on cats and dogs belong to the subclass Acari and the suborders Mesostigmata, Prostigmata and Astigmata, and can cause a wide range of issues depending on their species and mode of action.

Ear mites, Otodectes cynotis, are a cause of aural irritation and discomfort in cats and dogs. Infestation may affect one or both ears. Infrequently and in extreme, untreated cases, the mites may cause dermatitis across the body of the animal. Ear mites can occur in any age group of cats or dogs, but are more common in puppies and kittens and more frequent in cats than dogs. O. cynotis are surface dwellers and may be seen as small, motile, white spots in the external ear canal; infestation is typically accompanied by a brown, waxy discharge. Affected animals will often be regularly seen scratching their ears or shaking their heads. Ear mites can be treated with ear drops with acaricidal activity, such as Otodex Ear Drops.

Demodectic Mange in cats and dogs is mainly caused by either Demodex canis, commonly referred to as the follicle mite, or Demodex cati. Female D. canis. Mites commonly measure up to 0.3 mm long and are unable to survive off their hosts. In dogs, Demodectic Mange can appear in two forms - Canine Localised Demodicosis (CLD) and Canine Generalised Demodicosis (CGD). CLD usually occurs with highest incidence in dogs less than 6 months old, but can also be seen in dogs up to 2 years, as one or several small patches of hair loss, mainly on the face and the forelegs. CGD mostly affects dogs over 4 years of age, with affected dogs often having an offensive odour and this form very often develops into a severe, life-threatening disease that requires prolonged treatment.

Sarcoptic mange mites are small, round parasites (up to 0.4 mm in diameter) which spend their entire life cycle on the host, so transmission is mainly through close contact. In general they burrow in the superficial layers of the skin and the lesions thus caused result in mange. S. scabiei most often affects the ears, muzzle, elbows and hocks, causing an extreme itching response and lesions which can extend across the body.

Both Sarcoptic and Demodectic mange should only be treated under the care of veterinary professionals, and home treatment should not be attempted.

Fur Mites, of the Cheyletiella family, can infest dogs, cats and rabbits. Whilst infestation may be well tolerated by some individuals, in others it can cause irritation and discomfort. The mites will also feed on humans, causing a localised dermatitis. The large, 0.5 mm mites may be seen as white spots moving amongst the skin scales, hence the term “walking dandruff”. Treatment of in-contact animals, particularly of the same species, is recommended, even if they are showing no signs of infestation. Fur mites can usually be successfully treated with the active ingredient Fipronil, which is found in Fiprotec.