Anti-Flea Market

If you were a flea, where would you be?

Normally in late October, you would be resting, laying low until winter passed and the temperature started to climb. But not this year. With weather patterns out of whack, so too would be your annual routine.

Recent hot spells have caused the flea season to stretch well into fall this year. Fleas are still tormenting dogs and cats, not to mention their owners.

For the owners’ sakes, we contacted some local pet groomers to see what was available in the way of baths and other cleanup services to round out the pampering of household pets.

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“Usually by this time, the weather has cooled down and [fleas] go into hibernation,” said Sharon Roberts, owner of Mrs. Pooch’s Pet Care Center in Ventura.

“If it’s hot and humid, that’s what promotes the eggs hatching.”

Roberts offers grooming and medicated baths for all breeds of dogs and cats, as well as other small animals including rabbits and goats--and on one occasion, in her Sherman Oaks store, a lynx.

Grooming for dogs includes a bath, ear cleaning, nail cutting and breed-specific services such as hair cutting. The service is priced at $16 or more depending on the dog breed and the services requested.

For cats, flea baths are available, with ears cleaned and teeth and eyes checked. At the owner’s request, a cat’s nails can be cut, too. The cost is $25 to $35.

“We check the animal over and let the owners know if there’s anything the vet needs to look at or the owners need to know of,” Roberts said. “When we’re working on them, we go over every inch of the animal.”

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Kirk’s Kritter Kuts, located next to the Kirk Animal Clinic in Oak View, offers flea baths for cats and dogs. Owner Kristie Tice uses a coconut-based, organic and nontoxic flea-killing shampoo for the flea bath.

Tice said a flea bath is considerably different than the common flea dip.

“A dip is a solution that is mixed up and put on the animal and stays on the animal--a lot of animals have gotten sick from it and it can absorb into the skin,” Tice said. “A flea-killing shampoo is left on the animal for just five or 10 minutes.”

Baths for dogs start at about $15 for a chihuahua-sized pooch, on up to the $150 range for a Newfoundland with matted hair. Full groomings start at about $22 for short-hairs and $27 for long-hairs, with prices varying by breed and difficulty.

“If the dog’s hair is knotted, it’s going to cost more,” Tice said. “There’s a reason why people bring these animals to us.”

For cats, a bath and a shave is $35 and up. So as not to risk injury to the animal, Tice does not offer scissor cuts for cats.

“They move way too fast,” she said.

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At Colleen’s Precious Pet Grooming in Thousand Oaks, owner Colleen Rokke offers scissor cuts for all sizes of cats and dogs but, like Kirk’s Kritter Kuts, will not be particularly aggressive with cats.

Grooming services at Colleen’s include a bath with a light hair trim or full cut. For dogs, prices range from $18 to $35, depending on the breed. For cats, it’s $18 to $40.

Rokke said she has four years of veterinary technician experience and can answer certain medical questions for her clients.