Why is monthly flea treatment for dogs so important?
It is said that prevention is better than cure. Regular use of the best quality flea treatment spot-on product will prevent fleas living on your pet long enough to reproduce. Using a high efficacy spot-on product like Advantage or Frontline Plus consistently at monthly intervals will mean that any flea which finds your pet will die without laying eggs, breaking their life cycle.
How do fleas take hold?
Once fleas have become established there is no one quick solution to eradicate them. Fleas only spend the adult portion of their life cycle on your pet. Flea eggs, larvae, pupae, and immature adults all live in your dog’s environment, your garden, your home, your car. A dog with fleas will drop flea eggs everywhere they go, this means that when you find one adult flea on your dog, there will be a hundred more in their environment. Total eradication of fleas will take at least three months and requires cleaning and treating the environment, as well as using a quality spot-on treatment product at regular intervals.
I only treat my dog for fleas when I see them
Waiting until you see fleas before treating with a flea product is not an effective approach. Fleas like to hide away in thick areas of hair cover and very often owners do not notice the presence of fleas until their pet develops a hypersensitivity or the infestation is so great that their numbers are difficult to hide. Often, bites on human family members are the first sign of your unwanted guests living in the sofa or floorboards.
In the vet practice, most diagnoses of flea infestation come as a surprise to the owner who brought their pet in for an unrelated reason. It is easy to miss the signs of fleas, particularly if it is your first experience dealing with a flea problem. If you would like to know more about how to spot the signs of fleas click here.
My dog does not play with other dogs, so he won’t catch fleas
Fleas do not often leap from dog to dog. Rather they lie in wait in the environment and wait for a potential host to come along, then they use their powerful legs to jump onto the animal to feed and reproduce. This means that fleas may be lying in wait for your dog in any number of locations; in the wooden floor cracks of the local dog-friendly café or in the park where foxes roam at night.
Cats and ferrets also suffer from the same types of fleas that infest dogs, so ensure all your pets are regularly treated for fleas to prevent a build-up of the various flea life cycle stages in your home.
Why a monthly flea treatment subscription box is the perfect solution
Choosing the best flea treatment for dogs can be tricky. A flea subscription box for your dog means that you will never forget to treat for fleas again; their flea spot-on product will simply arrive in the post every month when it’s time to dose. You can rely on Protect My Pet to remember which product and dose your pet requires, and when, ensuring 24/7 protection against fleas.
Using Protect My Pet’s subscription service also allows you to spread the cost of flea, tick and worm treatments across the year, commitment free. No more bulk buying of expensive treatments that you might forget to use. Here at Protect My Pet we make protection against fleas completely hassle-free, so that’s one less thing for you to think about.
Written by Lindsay Rose MA VetMB CertAVP CertVBM MRCVS