Telltale signs of fleas: How to check your pet for fleas!

    

Scratch! Scratch! Scratch! You’ve noticed that your pet has been scratching a lot more than the odd itch here and there. Now you’re wondering if they have fleas.

 

Fleas aren’t a just a nuisance that cause scratching. For puppies, kittens and debilitated pets, a heavy flea infestation can cause anemia (low red blood cell count). Because most dogs and cats are allergic to flea saliva, many suffer from flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) caused by flea bites. Allergic pets itch intensely and are likely to be restless and uncomfortable. They may spend much of their day scratching, licking, rubbing and chewing at their skin. FAD can lead to crusted, itchy skin over the hips, base of the tail and thighs, and eventually may lead to hair loss, scabbing and secondary infections. 

In addition, fleas can carry several diseases, including plague, flea-borne typhus, hemoplasmosis and cat-scratch disease, as well as act as hosts for one of the most common tapeworms of dogs and cats.

How to check for fleas
Fleas may be tiny and fast, but you may be able to spot them by looking in all the right places. The following tips can help you find these unwanted little pests that can cause big problems for both you and your pet.

• First, prepare a bowl with soapy water to kill any fleas that you may find.
• Look for small, reddish-brown, fast-moving insects (about 1/8” long). Watch for jumpers: fleas can jump up to 13 inches or 200 times their body length!
• Run your hands slowly through your pet’s fur from tail to head. Part the fur as you go, exposing the skin beneath and any fleas that may be hiding.
• Look where the fur is thinner (e.g., their stomach or the inside of their hind legs).
• Use a flea comb in thicker furred areas, such as the base of the tail, neck folds, and behind their ears and under and behind their ear flaps.
• If you find any fleas, get them into the bowl of soapy water – crushing them between your fingers won’t work, as they have a very tough, hard exoskeleton.
• Look for flea excrement or “flea dirt,” which looks like bits of dirt or pepper. Flea dirt is digested blood and when set on a wet paper towel, it turns from black to brown and then red.
• Check for signs of flea bites on your pet, such as red, irritated or broken skin.
• Check your pet’s bedding for eggs, larvae and flea dirt. 

I found fleas! Now what?
Picking the adult fleas off your pet is a start but won’t necessarily stop a flea infestation. Adult fleas represent only 5% of the total flea population! The other 95% are in immature stages that can be found in your pet’s environment (e.g., carpet, between floorboards, your pet’s bed and outside in the yard).

Understanding the flea lifecycle can help you control fleas and stop the scratch. Two days after eating a blood meal from your pet, a female flea begins to lay eggs (up to 50 eggs a day!), some of which will fall off your pet. The eggs hatch into larvae, which will eat organic debris, including flea dirt, until they mature into pupae. The pupae may lie dormant for weeks to months, waiting for the perfect time to hatch into adults, hitch a ride on your pet and start the lifecycle again. 

The good news is that if you do find fleas on your pet, you can stop a flea infestation and keep your pet—and home—flea free. Speak with your VCA veterinarian to learn about the flea preventives that would be suitable for your pet. To help stop a flea infestation in its tracks, regularly check your pet for fleas as part of your daily pet-care routine.

Browse our veterinarian-approved flea prevention. >>