Late Rains, Coming Summer Heat Mean It’s Time to Fight Fleas : Environment: Experts say we’ll see a lot of the pests this year. They offer some tips for combatting the insects.
Summer is coming, and with it beach parties and back-yard barbecues. But warmer temperatures and increased humidity also bring those tiny blood-sucking varmints that attack man and beast alike: fleas.
And this year looks like a bad one.
“With all the late rains, you can bet we’ll see a lot of fleas,” said Larry Day of the Grand Avenue Pet Hospital in Santa Ana.
“They are mostly a nuisance, although if little kids get lots of bites, and they continually scratch them, they can cause a secondary infection,” said Kelsey Onaga, a specialist with the Los Angeles County Environmental Health Department’s Vectorborn Disease Surveillance and Entomology Program.
Fleas are around all year, but they are most bothersome in summer because they reproduce best in warm, damp environments. In late spring, there is literally a population explosion of the pesky critters, which have hidden all winter long in front yards, beneath rose bushes and in the cracks of sidewalks.
Time to go on the offensive: Veterinarians and pest-control experts say spraying now could prevent a serious flea infestation later.
First, check household pets carefully. Any fleas you see on a dog or cat have plenty of friends who are probably all over your house.
“As a rule of thumb, for every flea you find, there are 100 more in your environment,” said Scott Chaness, president of Fleabusters, a pest-control company with offices throughout Southern California. “The flea continues to lay eggs all day long, and a lot of those eggs fall onto carpets.”
Every year, Americans spend nearly $1 billion on flea control and prevention, according to flea-product maker Miles Inc. of Kansas City. Some of it goes for a variety of pills and potions, gizmos and gadgets that don’t work, said Granada Hills veterinarian William M. Bender.
Among the so-called flea fighters Dr. Bender finds ineffective: flea collars (including ultrasonic collars), yeast/garlic tablets, organic flea repellents and organic bedding. Bender also does not recommend topical insecticides, which are absorbed into a pet’s bloodstream.
Fleas are particularly difficult to get rid of because they breed so rapidly.
A female flea lays up to 50 eggs every day. The tiny eggs, which resemble grains of salt, are resistant to pesticides. A small larvae hatches from an egg, and later spins a silky web around itself in the pupa stage of development. Finally, an adult flea emerges.
From start to finish, the reproduction process takes two weeks in optimum weather conditions. In cold temperatures, a flea egg remains dormant indefinitely until spurred by warm temperatures and humidity. The flea’s average life span is about eight weeks.
So, even if a dog or cat has been dipped in flea bath and the house has been fogged, eggs in the carpet continue to hatch.
Chaness of Fleabusters said that besides grooming pets and brushing off the insects, it is also important for pet owners to spray their homes and yards. He said over-the-counter sprays and powders work fine, but because the killing agents do not last long they must be applied regularly to kill eggs that have not yet hatched.
Fleabusters claims its treatment is effective for up to one year.
Incredibly strong for its minute size, an adult flea--the size of the ball in a ballpoint pen--can jump 13 inches. The wingless insects, which pass readily from animal to animal, puncture the skin with their sharp beak and suck out blood.
Fleas are generally more annoying than harmful, except to pets and people who are allergic to them, Onaga said. But the critters can cause some serious problems.
Fleas can carry murine typhus, a debilitating disease that causes severe flu-like symptoms. The disease, which mostly affects people in their 50s and 60s, is passed on to humans by fleas that have bitten field possums, said Onaga. He added that, fortunately, few cases of murine typhus have been reported in Los Angeles County.
Typically, pets suffer from the annual onslaught of fleas the most, of course.
Many dogs and cats suffer from allergic reactions to flea bites, often leading to severe skin irritations and sores. Fleas can also carry dog and cat tapeworms and can cause anemia especially in young or weak animals, according to veterinarian Bender.
