BUG CONTROL...YOUR PET DOESN"T NEED FRIENDS LIKE THESEIf your pet is having unwanted guests for dinner (or is actually BEING dinner for unwanted guests) it is time to check out all your options to help your animal become single again. Flea control is a matter of knowing the life cycle of the flea and getting rid of the pesky vermin before they cause diseases like anemia, blood parasites, allergic skin reactions, or intestinal parasites.
Fleas follow a life cycle like butterflies, only
with less attractive adults being the result. Females lay hundreds
of eggs on your pet's fur. These develop into larva which then spin
cocoons or pupa and hang around the house and yard for months until the
right temperature, carbon dioxide level and vibration occur (like a little
panting furred creature walks by) then BAM the little flea pops out
of the cocoon and grabs on for the rest of its life. We can try to
shorten the life with shampoos, powders, sprays but they have become less
effective as the fleas have passed on genes that think these chemicals
are like candy. So, if we limit the ability for the eggs and larvae
to survive by giving the host (ie your pet) lufeneron, also known as PROGRAM,
or a collar with methoprene or nylar in it, we will have
fewer fleas that survive to hang out as pupae in your house.
This is what we in the bug killing business call
INSECT GROWTH REGULATORS. They sterilize flea eggs.
But What if My Critter goes out into the bug infested cruel world?
Okay, we know how hard it is to have hermetically sealed pets. (They do no rank high on the cuddle meter.) So if we find our little fluffball to be infested with fleas, we need to use some of the newer products designed to kill the bug and not the pet. In the past the safety level was rather narrow...dead fleas, but sick pet...especially for cats. Now there are products that affect flea nerve endings without having an impact on mammal nerve endings. These are products like ADVANTAGE or TOPSPOT. There are other spot-on products in pet stores but the label must be read very closely because some of them are HAZARDOUS TO CATS. If the label says PERMETHRIN do not use it on your cat.
Some animals can have their flea problem reduced
by good grooming with a flea comb and the mechanical removal of the adult
flea. Think of it as a bonding experience or like a National Geographic
film of the chimps grooming each other's bugs...
EDITORS NOTE: Technically speaking, fleas are not true bugs but they do bug us! So you entomologist types don't bug me, OK?