Poor Bongo has not had a break form the fleas this winter. In fact with his sore back, he is less active and the fleas have been worse. Here is a video of him in the consult room.

Click here to watch the video.

The twitching and tail flicking and chewing of his leg is an automatic response to the massive itch he is experiencing.. Wherever he chews it relieves him but the worst affected areas are on his tail base.

Here is a photo of what came out of the combing.

You can see the black dots. These, when they get wet, dissolve into small blood patches. This represents flea poo. Fleas suck blood then pass it out as their droppings. They are the black dots you can see on the coat.

Facts:

• One Flea can lay up to 1000 eggs a week
• In the warm season these can hatch into adult fleas in 1-2 weeks
• One Flea can last up to 10 days

Immature stages of the flea life cycle can lay dormant in the house environment for up to 12 months before hatching and hatch with movement especially animal movement.

What we recommend:

• Careful and ongoing monthly flea prevention application to the back of the neck
• In some cases we need tablets on a daily or monthly basis
• Careful environmental decontamination

Please organise a consult or call and discuss with one of our trained staff if you have any questions. If you get prepared now before summer hits you will have less of a problem.