Sunday, May 8, 2011
Posted in
Health
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Three years ago I adopted two cats. It turned out that they had fleas, but I didn't know it. Not only did the cats roam the house for a half-year with fleas, they slept on my bed, sometimes under the covers. I had many itchy nights and didn't know why.
If you have a persistent flea infestation, it is important to understand what is happening before you tackle the problem.
Fleas will jump on your pet when they are outside. The pet then becomes infested, and the fleas multiply in the fur. Fleas have hard, elongated bodies that allow them to survive frequent scratching by the animal. You may not know that your pet has fleas because the fleas will generally stay under the animal's fur. As the fleas reproduce in your pet's fur, flea eggs will drop from the pet and accumulate on floors, furniture and wherever else your pet has been. The eggs are sticky and adhere to the floor or furniture, and don't usually come up when you vacuum (although some will). The eggs then hatch and turn into larvae (small worms) that are tiny and hard to see. The larvae weave cocoons for themselves, and inside the cocoons they enter a pupal stage in which they evolve from a worm into a flea. The cocoons have little hooks on them and, like the eggs, are hard to vacuum up. It is when the fleas emerge from their cocoons that the trouble starts.
When a larva has evolved into a flea inside its cocoon, it waits for some kind of signal that an animal is nearby (such as vibration or heat) before it emerges. It then emerges and immediately jumps on the nearest animal. If your pets have been spreading eggs everywhere, you could end up with tens of thousands of cocoons in your house, each containing a flea that is ready to emerge when it senses an animal nearby. That animal may be you, or a member of your family, or your pets. The fleas do not all mature at once, so they do not all emerge at once. Rather, they can emerge over a period of months.
Spraying insecticides does little good because the poison will not penetrate the cocoons. Thus, covering your floor with poison will kill only the fleas that have already emerged. (Actually, they will also kill the larvae; but by the time you know you have a problem, all the fleas may be in cocoons.) That leaves you in the position of spraying your floors repeatedly over a period of months (in order to kill the fleas as they emerge), and that's a lot of poison to be spraying around your house.
Did I mention that fleas survive by feeding on blood? They survive under your pet's fur by biting your pet and drinking its blood. And when they jump on you, they will bite you and drink your blood.
How to Treat the Problem
Once the fleas start to emerge, expect to be under siege for 3-4 months or longer. Here are the things you should do:
* Immediately treat your pet with Frontline or Revolution to kill the fleas on its body, and continue to treat your pet with one of those products every month. Both of those products are applied to your pet's skin at the back of the neck. (Revolution requires a prescription from your vet, although it can be gotten on the internet from Australia without a prescription.)
* Vacuum frequently. The vibrations from the vacuum cleaner will cause the fleas to emerge, and you may be able to suck many of them up. Once you do that, vacuum some poison (or Borax) into the vacuum bag to kill the fleas inside the vacuum.
* Dusting your house with Borax is one technique to kill the fleas, as it will kill them by dehydrating them. It won't affect them when they are in their cocoons; but after they jump out and fall on the floor, they will dehydrate over a period of an hour or two and die. Thus, you'll still have fleas emerging from their cocoons and jumping on you; but if you brush them off onto the floor, they will gradually die. If your pets are still in the house, the Borax will get on their paws and then eventually into their bodies. If you have very young children who crawl on the floor, you must keep them off the floor for the entire time the Borax is on the floor, which could be weeks or months.
* As I said above, spraying insecticides will kill whatever fleas have already emerged from their cocoons. But because the insecticide dries after ten or 15 minutes, it is ineffectiveness against any fleas that emerge after it dries. Also, the insecticide will be harmful to your pets, and to you and your children.
* Check your legs frequently for fleas, as they will jump on your legs constantly. There are several strategies you can use: Tuck your pants into your socks to keep them from getting under your pants, or wear tightly woven knee-socks to keep them from getting to your skin. Another strategy is simply to walk around with bare legs and then catch any fleas that jump on your legs with sticky tape. Note, however, that tucking your pants into your socks or wearing knee-socks are not fool-proof solutions, as the fleas are adept at getting under your clothes. I once killed a flea that had hiked all the way to the top of my knee sock and was just about to slip under the top edge of the sock.
* Getting a good night's sleep is nearly impossible with fleas in the house, as they will jump on your bed, get under the covers, and bite you all night. Firstly, change your bed clothes if your pet has been on your bed. (It is not necessary to throw away infected bed clothes; simply wash them in hot water. After washing them, put them away for a few months and use other bed clothes.) The best solution for getting a good night's sleep is to sprinkle Borax all over your bedroom floor, and then keep the pets locked out of your bedroom at all times. The Borax should remain there for several months (if your infestation is a serious one), or replaced if you vacuum. Doing that, however, is not a guarantee that some fleas will not get into your bed on occasion -- but you'll get fewer fleas in your bed if you do it. Please note that if you have wall-to-wall carpeting in your bedroom, the Borax may ruin it (I am not certain of this). If you have area rugs, you should remove them and seal them in plastic for 6-9 months.
After several months of misery, the fleas will begin to subside, and eventually they will die off -- provided that your animals have been treated, and that you are preventing the fleas from biting you. If the fleas are getting regular blood meals from your body, they will reproduce and the infestation will continue.
Now, I said above that you could expect to be under siege for 3-4 months. That's true if your infestation is very bad. If, on the other hand, your pets were spreading eggs around your house for just a short while, the number of fleas that emerge will be smaller, and you may find that you can deal with the infestation simply by killing whatever fleas you see.
If an infested home has been empty for a long time, all the fleas may emerge but have nowhere to go -- or, alternatively, they may wait in their cocoons and then all emerge at once when someone enters the room. That's why you hear stories about people walking into an empty house and immediately being covered by fleas -- all the fleas were waiting in their cocoons, and they all emerged at once when they sensed the person's presence. When thousands of fleas emerge all at once, you may find your legs nearly black with fleas. Such a circumstance isn't entirely bad, however. If all of the fleas have emerged from their cocoons, that means that they can all be killed at once with one thorough spraying. Please note, however, that fleas can remain in their cocoons, ready to emerge, for more than half a year.
The Winter Months
I had an interesting experience in January, 2012. My cats love the outdoors, and they want to go out every day, even during the cold weather. After one of my cats came inside, I found a flea where the cat slept. The flea jumped away before I could kill it, and I didn't know where it went. It turns out that it jumped on me, since I found it in my shirt when I was trying to take a nap later. Again, the flea jumped away before I could kill it. Then, the next time I slept, I again found the flea in my shirt. That time I killed it. (It might have been two fleas, but I don't think so.) My point in saying this is three-fold: First, fleas can infest your animal even in the winter. Second, fleas are very persistent and, in their own way, intelligent. And third, one lucky flea can cause a lot of misery. For days afterward, I imagined I was being bitten when I wasn't, and I compulsively inspected my bed and my clothes. (It's hard to imagine that there are people in less-developed countries who routinely sleep with fleas and -- worse -- with bed bugs.)
Preventing Infestations
Now that you've had the experience of an infestation, preventing them is fairly easy. First, keep an eye out for fleas during any season that your pets go outside. Also, take notice if your pets are scratching their fur a lot. If your cats are scratching, look for fleas by separating their hair in many places (you'll have no problem seeing the little black bodies of the fleas). If your cats are scratching around their ears, that may mean they have ear mites rather than fleas. Both Frontline and Revolution are supposed to be applied once a month, but you can get away with applying either one every two months (use one or the other, not both). As long as you kill the fleas on your pet before they produce eggs, you don't have to worry about your house becoming infested.
Good luck!
If you have a persistent flea infestation, it is important to understand what is happening before you tackle the problem.
Fleas will jump on your pet when they are outside. The pet then becomes infested, and the fleas multiply in the fur. Fleas have hard, elongated bodies that allow them to survive frequent scratching by the animal. You may not know that your pet has fleas because the fleas will generally stay under the animal's fur. As the fleas reproduce in your pet's fur, flea eggs will drop from the pet and accumulate on floors, furniture and wherever else your pet has been. The eggs are sticky and adhere to the floor or furniture, and don't usually come up when you vacuum (although some will). The eggs then hatch and turn into larvae (small worms) that are tiny and hard to see. The larvae weave cocoons for themselves, and inside the cocoons they enter a pupal stage in which they evolve from a worm into a flea. The cocoons have little hooks on them and, like the eggs, are hard to vacuum up. It is when the fleas emerge from their cocoons that the trouble starts.
When a larva has evolved into a flea inside its cocoon, it waits for some kind of signal that an animal is nearby (such as vibration or heat) before it emerges. It then emerges and immediately jumps on the nearest animal. If your pets have been spreading eggs everywhere, you could end up with tens of thousands of cocoons in your house, each containing a flea that is ready to emerge when it senses an animal nearby. That animal may be you, or a member of your family, or your pets. The fleas do not all mature at once, so they do not all emerge at once. Rather, they can emerge over a period of months.
Spraying insecticides does little good because the poison will not penetrate the cocoons. Thus, covering your floor with poison will kill only the fleas that have already emerged. (Actually, they will also kill the larvae; but by the time you know you have a problem, all the fleas may be in cocoons.) That leaves you in the position of spraying your floors repeatedly over a period of months (in order to kill the fleas as they emerge), and that's a lot of poison to be spraying around your house.
Did I mention that fleas survive by feeding on blood? They survive under your pet's fur by biting your pet and drinking its blood. And when they jump on you, they will bite you and drink your blood.
How to Treat the Problem
Once the fleas start to emerge, expect to be under siege for 3-4 months or longer. Here are the things you should do:
* Immediately treat your pet with Frontline or Revolution to kill the fleas on its body, and continue to treat your pet with one of those products every month. Both of those products are applied to your pet's skin at the back of the neck. (Revolution requires a prescription from your vet, although it can be gotten on the internet from Australia without a prescription.)
* Vacuum frequently. The vibrations from the vacuum cleaner will cause the fleas to emerge, and you may be able to suck many of them up. Once you do that, vacuum some poison (or Borax) into the vacuum bag to kill the fleas inside the vacuum.
* Dusting your house with Borax is one technique to kill the fleas, as it will kill them by dehydrating them. It won't affect them when they are in their cocoons; but after they jump out and fall on the floor, they will dehydrate over a period of an hour or two and die. Thus, you'll still have fleas emerging from their cocoons and jumping on you; but if you brush them off onto the floor, they will gradually die. If your pets are still in the house, the Borax will get on their paws and then eventually into their bodies. If you have very young children who crawl on the floor, you must keep them off the floor for the entire time the Borax is on the floor, which could be weeks or months.
* As I said above, spraying insecticides will kill whatever fleas have already emerged from their cocoons. But because the insecticide dries after ten or 15 minutes, it is ineffectiveness against any fleas that emerge after it dries. Also, the insecticide will be harmful to your pets, and to you and your children.
* Check your legs frequently for fleas, as they will jump on your legs constantly. There are several strategies you can use: Tuck your pants into your socks to keep them from getting under your pants, or wear tightly woven knee-socks to keep them from getting to your skin. Another strategy is simply to walk around with bare legs and then catch any fleas that jump on your legs with sticky tape. Note, however, that tucking your pants into your socks or wearing knee-socks are not fool-proof solutions, as the fleas are adept at getting under your clothes. I once killed a flea that had hiked all the way to the top of my knee sock and was just about to slip under the top edge of the sock.
* Getting a good night's sleep is nearly impossible with fleas in the house, as they will jump on your bed, get under the covers, and bite you all night. Firstly, change your bed clothes if your pet has been on your bed. (It is not necessary to throw away infected bed clothes; simply wash them in hot water. After washing them, put them away for a few months and use other bed clothes.) The best solution for getting a good night's sleep is to sprinkle Borax all over your bedroom floor, and then keep the pets locked out of your bedroom at all times. The Borax should remain there for several months (if your infestation is a serious one), or replaced if you vacuum. Doing that, however, is not a guarantee that some fleas will not get into your bed on occasion -- but you'll get fewer fleas in your bed if you do it. Please note that if you have wall-to-wall carpeting in your bedroom, the Borax may ruin it (I am not certain of this). If you have area rugs, you should remove them and seal them in plastic for 6-9 months.
After several months of misery, the fleas will begin to subside, and eventually they will die off -- provided that your animals have been treated, and that you are preventing the fleas from biting you. If the fleas are getting regular blood meals from your body, they will reproduce and the infestation will continue.
Now, I said above that you could expect to be under siege for 3-4 months. That's true if your infestation is very bad. If, on the other hand, your pets were spreading eggs around your house for just a short while, the number of fleas that emerge will be smaller, and you may find that you can deal with the infestation simply by killing whatever fleas you see.
If an infested home has been empty for a long time, all the fleas may emerge but have nowhere to go -- or, alternatively, they may wait in their cocoons and then all emerge at once when someone enters the room. That's why you hear stories about people walking into an empty house and immediately being covered by fleas -- all the fleas were waiting in their cocoons, and they all emerged at once when they sensed the person's presence. When thousands of fleas emerge all at once, you may find your legs nearly black with fleas. Such a circumstance isn't entirely bad, however. If all of the fleas have emerged from their cocoons, that means that they can all be killed at once with one thorough spraying. Please note, however, that fleas can remain in their cocoons, ready to emerge, for more than half a year.
The Winter Months
I had an interesting experience in January, 2012. My cats love the outdoors, and they want to go out every day, even during the cold weather. After one of my cats came inside, I found a flea where the cat slept. The flea jumped away before I could kill it, and I didn't know where it went. It turns out that it jumped on me, since I found it in my shirt when I was trying to take a nap later. Again, the flea jumped away before I could kill it. Then, the next time I slept, I again found the flea in my shirt. That time I killed it. (It might have been two fleas, but I don't think so.) My point in saying this is three-fold: First, fleas can infest your animal even in the winter. Second, fleas are very persistent and, in their own way, intelligent. And third, one lucky flea can cause a lot of misery. For days afterward, I imagined I was being bitten when I wasn't, and I compulsively inspected my bed and my clothes. (It's hard to imagine that there are people in less-developed countries who routinely sleep with fleas and -- worse -- with bed bugs.)
Preventing Infestations
Now that you've had the experience of an infestation, preventing them is fairly easy. First, keep an eye out for fleas during any season that your pets go outside. Also, take notice if your pets are scratching their fur a lot. If your cats are scratching, look for fleas by separating their hair in many places (you'll have no problem seeing the little black bodies of the fleas). If your cats are scratching around their ears, that may mean they have ear mites rather than fleas. Both Frontline and Revolution are supposed to be applied once a month, but you can get away with applying either one every two months (use one or the other, not both). As long as you kill the fleas on your pet before they produce eggs, you don't have to worry about your house becoming infested.
Good luck!
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