Fleas are small parasites that cause big problems in cats, dogs and rabbits. The medical problems caused by these pet passengers can vary from mild irritation to life threatening blood loss.
Obviously the commonest problem with a flea infestation is itching – which we term pruritus and irritation and inflammation of the skin so-called, dermatitis. The real culprit for the itching is actually spit – flea spit; allegedly one of the most allergy causing substances on earth. The clinical presentation is an overreaction – a hypersensitivity to the proteins in the saliva injected by the flea’s mouthparts. In fact a cat with a normal functioning immune system and a load of fleas doesn’t itch.
Flea allergic dermatitis (F.A.D) causes major suffering in some unlucky pets. Dogma used to say that it can take just one bite from a flea to set off a truly allergic animal’s skin problem, but we know most pets suffering from fleas have a population of ready and waiting fleas living in the carpet of your house or garden. For this reason we treat a flea infestation at different levels, from floor to tip of the tail! At the skin level we still use spot-ons for convenience but there are some new collars and oral medications that may be more effective nowadays. At the floor level we have environmental sprays that add to our capability to knock out the fleas as they emerge from the egg stage of their lifecycle.
Flea control is an art and a science, most owners can access products that can stop mild infestations however, for those unlucky allergic pets come and at discuss the problem with our ‘no fleas please, staff’ at Abbey Vets!
Ben Hynes is a veterinary surgeon at Abbey Vets, Abergavenny
