Flea control

Fleas are the biggest cause of skin disease in our pets.

Fleas are insects that live in the environment and need to have a blood meal in order to breed. Hence they bite our pets to get blood.

Many dogs and cats develop an allergy to these bites. This will show itself as scratching, baldness and sore skin. Fleas also pass tapeworms on.

The best way to reduce the chance of allergy is to give regular flea control.

Any pet can suffer from a flea problem. All fleas need is blood (from your pet …and sometimes us!) and warmth (sun or central heating).

We can supply effective defleaing products to minimize the effect of flea bites. These products range from monthly “spot on treatments”, six monthly injections for cats (which stop fleas breeding), monthly tablets for dogs (which stop fleas breeding) and household sprays if you have a flea epidemic.

Good regular flea control is essential to keep your pets’ coat healthy and keep your pet comfortable.

Flea products

Here are some of the products that are used in Practice.

• Advocate.  This is our most recommended product for parasite control. It kills fleas, mites, biting lice, roundworms, hookworms, heartworm, whipworms and lungworm. Lungworm is a serious threat for our dogs. It lives in the heart and major blood vessels suppling the lungs and left untreated can be fatal. For more information about lungworm click on this link : www.lungworm.co.uk. Advocate is a monthly spot on product which is a POM

• Stronghold. This is used in dogs and cats. It kills fleas, Roundworms , Mange and Ear Mites. It is a monthly spot on product. It is a POM.

• Frontline Combo. This is used in dogs and cats. It kills fleas on the animal and reduces fleas in the environment. It is a monthly spot on product. It is a POM .

• Program Injection. This is a six monthly injection for cats. It is a flea contraceptive and so stops fleas breeding in the house. The flea collects the drug when it bites the cat and it cannot then breed. It is still helpful to use an insecticide in the summer as well as it cannot control fleas outside your home because not all animals outside your home are on Program. It is an excellent weapon in the control of fleas and it also means that your cat is assessed 2 x a year and we can also then deworm your cat at the same time, if you have trouble giving the Milbemax tablet.

• Program tablets. This is for dogs as they cannot have the injection. The tablets is given once a month. There is another version called Program Plus, where there is an additional worming product included. It is a POM.

• RIP Spray. This is solely for spraying the environment if there is a major flea epidemic. This can be bought across the counter at the surgery.

• Prac-tic. This is for dogs. It kills fleas and Ticks. It is a monthly spot on preparation. It is a POM.

POM

This stands for Prescription Only Medicine.

This means that these drugs can only be supplied to those animals under the care of a veterinary surgeon following an examination of that animal. Animals then have to be re-examined at regular intervals for the safety of the animal. This is a legal requirement. Remember drugs do have side effects and we need to be sure that your pet is receiving the best treatment.

The maximum time interval for most drugs is 6 months, but often it is less. Remember that 6 months to us is equivalent to 3 years to dogs and cats. The maximum time interval for flea products is 12 months.