Pets: Time to scratch your flea itch

ON A generous night you might let the cat into your bed, but would you do the same with thousands of fleas?

As summer approaches, if a cat or dog shares your bed you could be sleeping with thousands of fleas too, leading veterinary charity PDSA has warned.

The pests, which are barely visible with the naked eye, can cover more than a foot in one jump and bites often draw blood. The sign of a bite is usually an itchy red spot, or in your pet, irritated behaviour and scratching.

Fleas thrive in a warm, damp environment, so as the Capital begins to heat up you should be checking your pets for the pests. Females lodge themselves in a host's hair and lay a few eggs each day until there are up to 400.

"Beds, central heating and hot weather provide the perfect environment for them," says PDSA senior vet Sean Wensley.

"Flea larvae feed off pet dandruff and adult flea faeces, making your pet's bedding – and your bed – the perfect breeding ground."

Flea treatments are widely available and most involve applying the medicine straight into your pet's fur. Combined with vacuuming, this can solve the problem within a few days, but pet owners must still take care.

If your pets are too young (typically eight weeks old or less) or take a medicine designed for other animals, you risk giving them an overdose. Symptoms include muscle twitches and a loss of coordination, and severe cases can give rise to fatal blood poisoning.

PDSA vets regularly see pets treated with the wrong medicines, some of whom do not survive.

"Using a product recommended by your vet is the best way of ensuring you use the safest and most effective treatment," says Sean. "If you have more than one pet, they will all need to be regularly treated to keep fleas at bay."

The next stage is to ensure your home and your pet's bedding are regularly cleaned: "Your pet's bed should be washed weekly in hot water to help ensure all stages of the flea life cycle are destroyed."

Fleas take between one and two months from hatching out of eggs to reaching the adult stage. This means adult fleas are only a small part of any problem – vets estimate they make up only 5 per cent of any population. Eggs account for 50 per cent, larvae for 35 per cent and cocoons for 10 per cent.

Because of this you should keep treating your pet even when the obvious signs of a flea infestation have disappeared.

To encourage owners to treat their pets, PDSA, in conjunction with Pfizer Animal Health, is offering a free flea treatment for every three purchased at Edinburgh's Pet Aid hospital, Hutchison Crossway.

For more information PDSA clients should call freephone 0800 917 2509.

Meanwhile, pet owners who want to learn more about protecting their pets from fleas can download a free copy of PDSA's Fleas leaflet from www.pdsa.org.uk/pethealth.