Dog Flea

They form colonies upon its host and drop means of forming new colonies from that first colony. Soon your entire house will be infected and no matter how many times you wash your dog, the dog fleas keep coming back. Continue to read if you want to learn more about the dog fleas and how to get rid of them.

The dog flea begins its life as a larva, hatched out of an egg. The larva is actually not a parasite but lives on organic debris such as fallen hair and dead pieces of skin. The larva is usually also not a part of the flea colony upon its host. Instead they are usually hiding in carpets, around beds and behind baseboards. Once the larva is full it will make a cocoon and start a phase of just being a pupa. This phase can be more or less as long as the dog flea wants since it will not emerge until it feels the presence of a host. Out of the cocoon a dog flea will come and together with other dog fleas they will colonize the host, feed and lay eggs, lots of eggs.

The dog flea feeds on the blood of the host that it has colonized. The bite of the dog flea can be extremely annoying since its saliva cause an allergic reaction. On most dogs the allergic reaction shows itself in form of a swollen and itchy mark, very much like any other insect bite, but some dogs get more serious reactions in form of rashes. Although the bite of a dog flea is extremely itchy it should not be scratched. Scratching it will only induce a secondary infection that will only make the itching worse.

In its form of a larva, the dog flea is an eating machine. Therefore it sometimes swallows eggs of the tapeworm and becomes a carrier of this parasite. Although it is very uncommon the tapeworm can be transmitted via the bite but usually your dog will swallow fleas accidentally when trying to scratch through gnawing. The tapeworm is an internal parasite that lives on whatever floats past it in the intestines, hence stealing the nutrition from its host.

There are many ways going about cleaning your house from the dog flea. The best way though is contacting an exterminator. These are professionals that know what to do and where to do it. Of course you could do it yourself, but the risk is that you do it poorly and that the dog fleas will return.

There are lots of different flea shampoos to buy so you better ask your veterinarian which one is suitable for your dog. Follow the instructions on the bottle carefully and make your dog wear a flea collar. Wash and freeze your dog blankets and other things to ensure that you kill every single egg. Repeat if not enough.