Fleas and Ticks

FREE TREATMENTS ALL SEPTEMBER 2008

Fleas are persistent little devils, very common and very annoying for pet and owner. BUT they are very treatable and nowadays we tend to prevent them by protecting your pet against them. A little lesson first! Only the adult flea lives on your pet. Here they will bite and suck blood and lay eggs which fall off into the pet's (and your) surroundings.

These bites cause much irritation and subsequent damage from self-mutilation, which often needs treated separately. The eggs hatch into tiny larvae, which are a bit like tiny caterpillars. These feed on dead skin and debris in the environment, until they pupate (like a butterfly) and the flea develops inside the pupa. It will stay in the shell until it feels movement, when it bursts out and jumps until it reaches hair, on your cat, or dog, or rabbit - or you!

Each species has its own flea, but the cat flea is seen on dogs and cats. As you can see, you soon end up with many fleas on the pet and many hundreds of babies waiting their turn. They will bite us too and you see a big itchy "heat-spot". So, we need to use something that will last a long time, so that it keeps killing all the babies which will eventually find your pet. Treating with a flea shampoo may kill fleas on your pet, but only as you shampoo. Afterwards, the pet is immediately open to re-infection from babies in the house.

We recommend that you use a long-acting, "spot-on" preparation - a liquid which you apply on the back of the neck and the ingredient slowly spreads all over the pet's body , where it keeps killing fleas for many weeks. This is also an ideal way to prevent fleas arriving and so preventing an infestation from taking hold in the first place. When it is warmer, fleas can live on the ground, outside, so you have a much greater chance of seeing fleas during Spring to early Winter, when your pet can pick them up when out for a walk.

There are several "spot-on" options which we recommend, and being non-toxic to mammals,  they are very safe. After 2 -3 days it won't even wash off with swimming or occasional bathing. Ask our reception staff for details, and they will advise the best approach for treatment and prevention. Beware of look-alikes in pet shops which merely contain so-called repellants which do not work effectively.

ALL SEPTEMBER, BUY A PACK OF 4 TUBES, WHICH LASTS FOR 4 MONTHS AND TAKE ANOTHER TUBE FREE!

We even now have a professional spot-on product which kills and protects against fleas as well as killing skin mites and even kills worms at the same time! One free tube is available with each pack all September.

TICKS


This is a second year tick, bigger than a first year one and this one has fed and is about to drop off. They drop off after around 10 days, when full of your pet's blood!
If your dog goes hill walking, you will have seen ticks. A tick must feed from a mammal each of the two years it lives, but they are not fussy who that is, so we see them occasionally on dogs and cats. If you take your dog to a ticky area - Tentsmuir, up the Glens, or the West coast, then you should use an application that will repel and kill these, like Advantix, which also constantly protects against fleas as well as repelling biting flies. Another preaparation (Advocate) will treat and protect your dog or cat from fleas as well as killing internal worms, ear mites and skin mites! Deworm and protect against fleas at the same time AND IF YOU BUY A 4-PACK IN SEPTEMBER, YOU WILL RECEIVE ONE TUBE FREE!

Flea Facts:

Everyone knows fleas aren't fun. The following are some Fun Flea Facts which may amaze you.

The female cat flea consumes 15 times its own body weight in blood daily.

The female flea can lay 2,000 eggs in its lifetime. Therefore, if all 53 million U.S. dogs hosted a population of 60 fleas, we'd have over six trillion flea eggs surrounding our pets. Laid end-to-end, those eggs would stretch around the world over 76 times.

Just four female cat fleas feeding four times a day for 100 days will bite your cat or dog 1,600 times.

Fleas can jump 150 times their own length.

Female fleas begin to lay eggs within 36-48 hours after their first blood meal.

If you happen to see one flea, there are probably more than 100 others in various developmental stages looming nearby in furniture, corners, cracks or carpeting.

Undisturbed, a flea can live and breed on a dog for more than 100 days.

The flea is a tropical insect and won't tolerate freezing temperatures for long periods of time.

For more information about fleas and how to prevent them, visit the No-Fleas Web site, from Bayer