Global Warming Means Fleas Around Longer
Because the warmer seasons are lasting longer, many places in the Northern Hemisphere are having problems with fleas. It used to be that many cities and states were too cold for fleas or, a least, they disapperad in the wintertime. But due to Global Warming, flea season is now year round in many new places.
Are you and your pets being made miseable by fleas? Here is some basic information about fleas to get you up to speed on this problem.
Identification and Important Facts about Fleas - Fleas not only cause an itchy problem for you and your pets; they also can pose a number of health problems if a flea infestation is not kept under control. You know if your pet has fleas by the incessant scratching and biting on their coats and skin. If they scratch and bite enough, the skin will break open, inviting infection. The same principle follows when you are bitten by fleas too. Do you know how to recognize flea bites and the pesky critters themselves?
Description of the Flea - Fleas are very small, usually no bigger than 1/16 of an inch. They are dark in color, usually a reddish-brown, with a flat body. Fleas have no wings but the body is covered with tiny spines and they have long legs perfect for jumping. There are four stages of the flea’s life cycle: the egg, larva, pupa and the adult, capable of biting. One single flea is capable of laying several thousand eggs in its lifetime – the reason why flea infestations can occur so quickly!
A Few Facts about Fleas - Fleas love warmer weather as it is easier for them to survive and reproduce. In fact, in southern regions and newer place, fleas procreate year-round. Over 90% of fleas experience their life stages in the environment of a pet or other animal, rather than the pet itself. For the most part, animals are affected by only the adult fleas that have the mouth for biting and the legs for jumping.
When fleas are a problem in a particular pet, not just the pet should be treated. Obviously the eggs, larvae and pupa of the flea have been laid around the environment such as the immediate yard, rugs inside the home, animal beds, furniture and even curtains, bed linens and anywhere else the animal has roamed. Killing just the adult fleas is not enough. Treating the entire pet environment is necessary to kill the fleas in the other three stages of development.
Flea allergy dermatitis, tapeworm and anemia may result in pets affected by fleas. All three can severely compromise the health of your pet if left untreated. Fleas are easy to treat but with more aggressive cases, you may have to do it several times. There are plenty of effective topical treatments for the pets themselves but you may also have to treat the yard as well as the home with a fogger that will kill the eggs, larvae and pupa that will eventually hatch into adult biting fleas.
Once you can get a flea infestation under control, the preventative maintenance is a breeze. While you or your pets can definitely get fleas from other sources, you cannot control those areas. You can only control your own (and your pet’s) environment.