Dog Fleas

Dog Fleas

Dog fleas are those little elusive insects that jump so far and those big, brown, long-bodied insects that crawl about on our pets are fleas. The big ones are always females; the little junipers may be either males or young females. Fleas are a serious threat to the health of dogs. They carry and spread tapeworms and bubonic plague. They also cause summer skin diseases, loss of weight, and poor coats on their hosts.

Of about sixteen thousand species of fleas on earth and about two hundred and fifty in North America, there are four common types of fleas important to dogs: the human flea, dog flea, cat flea, and sticktightflea. The human flea may breed on dogs and cats as well as on humans. The dog flea and the cat flea infest either dogs or cats, but prefer their specific hosts. When they bite humans it is only because they lack a dog or a cat to feed on. The sticktight flea is most often found infesting the rims of the eyes of dogs but may also be found attached to other parts of the body.

Fleas produce large numbers of eggs which drop off the host. The eggs sometimes get into cracks in the floor, into a sandbox, or into the furniture where the pet sleeps, and they may lie there in a dormant state for many months before conditions become right for their development. Some hatch very soon after they are dropped. Moisture and treatment are essential for hatching. The egg is deliquescent, absorbing water from the air, so whenever the weather becomes warm and humid, flea eggs soon hatch. In excessively dry climates fleas are almost unknown.

Out of the egg conies a worm, the larva. The worm feeds on organic matter such as scales from dog skin. It grows quickly. When it reaches the size of a very small maggot, it spins a cocoon and pupates like a caterpillar. Out of these cocoons come males and females, and at this stage, they look very much alike. They can jump prodigious distances and are remarkably well protected against pressure. If you roll one tightly between your fingers and let it go, it will jump about as well as it did before.

After they hatch, fleas crawl up anything vertical and wait there, about a foot from the ground or floor, for a host to pass. If your pet is removed from your house during the summer, you may find after a few weeks that the fleas are attacking you instead. The fleas you find in the house have developed from eggs that were dropped from your pet, and since the original host has been removed, they use you as a substitute. Nor are the fleas confined to the house or kennel. You may easily be flea-bitten in the garden if your pet had run off the grounds and eggs were dropped there.

Sticktight fleas do not move about or jump but cling to the skin, often in large clusters. The female burrows into the skin and lays her eggs in the ulcers she produces. After the eggs hatch the larvae fall to the ground, where they complete their development in about four weeks when conditions are right. This flea is more prevalent in warm climates than in cold. Not only dogs, cats, and other four-legged pets are infested by sticktight fleas, but birds as well. This is a good fact to know where sticktight fleas are a problem; it may help you keep your dog free of them.

See more: Dog Gum Disease