6 Reasons - Why I Should Treat My Dog For Fleas?

6 Reasons - Why I Should Treat My Dog For Fleas?
by Tom Selwyn

Have you ever been bitten by a dreaded flea it's not very nice, itchy big red lump and very irritating. So in saying that magnify that irritating feeling by say 50 little biting fleas and just think how that must feel to your dog it must drive them nuts. If your wondering how i came up with the figure 50 i just picked the number out of the air. I'm sure your dog doesn't have that many fleas.

When your dog picks up fleas usually from his surrounding it doesn't take long before your house becomes infested with eggs and larvae. Once the dogs surroundings are infested it is a lot more difficult to eliminate the problem.

So to avoid dreaded fleas taking over your home and biting everything in sight here are a couple of good reasons why we should apply a prevention is better then cure attitude.

1. Fleas cause itching and distress to you and your dog. 2. The skin can become inflamed and infected when the dog scratches. 3. Flea bites can trigger an allergic reaction in some dogs. 4. Large infestations of fleas can suck so much blood that the dog can become anaemic (low in red blood cells) 5. Fleas can transmit tapeworms, when grooming themselves they swallow a flea and then become infested. 6. And the most irritating thing about fleas is they bite people causing redness and itchiness.

So how do you tell if your dog has fleas? Well... apart from your dog scratching his skin off. Theirs another test we do called the Wet Paper Test firstly comb your dogs coat vigorously then tap the comb so the debris from the comb goes onto a wet piece of white paper then just leave it for a few minutes if flea dirt is present you will see black particles surrounded by a rusty red pigment.

This red pigment is your dogs blood which has been swallowed by the flea. Occasionally you find some dogs that lick themselves so much that you won't see any of the above signs, even if they have fleas.

So if your friend is always itchy it's a pretty good indication that your old mates got fleas. One of the main areas where infestations begin is usually where the dog sleeps so a good idea is to invest in a flea free bed so the eggs and larvae can't nest. Also using a recommended flea treatment on a regular basis will reduce flea problems.

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