Few things strike fear in the hearts of pet owners like discovering a Flea Infestation in their home! Spotting a few fleas on your dog is just the tip of the iceberg. It usually means there are many more hiding under your dog's fur, and quite possibly in your carpet, pet bedding or furniture. Fast acting, effective flea prevention is essential to protect your home from a full blown flea infestation.
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| Finding a few fleas on your dog usually means there are many more hiding deep in his fur! |
There are 4 stages in the Flea Lifecycle: EGG, LARVA, PUPA, and ADULT
A Flea population consist of about 50% eggs, 35% larvae, 10% pupae, and 5% adults. By the time you see fleas on your pet they are already in their most advanced stage of life. Many more eggs, larvae, and pupae will soon become adult fleas. This viscous cycle will continue unless you break it with fast acting, effective flea control!
This post is sponsored by BRAVECTO® and the BlogPaws®
Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share information about
BRAVECTO. But we only share information we feel is relevant to our
readers. Neither Intervet Inc., nor Merck & Co Inc., are responsible for
the content of this article and have not written, reviewed, or edited it in any
fashion. For more information about BRAVECTO please click here.
BRAVECTO® kills fleas and prevents flea infestations. It starts killing fleas within 2 hours and kills 100% of fleas in 12 hours.
BRAVECTO provides continuous flea and tick control for 12 weeks* with just 1 tasty chew!
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| Your dog loves the great outdoors, but so do FLEAS and TICKS! |
If you consider the 4 stages in the Flea Lifecycle, you can see how easy it is for a flea infestation to occur without proper flea prevention and control.
Stage 1: EGG
The adult female flea lays eggs after having a blood
meal from a mammal such as your dog.
Blood is necessary for the adult flea to reproduce. The eggs are tiny white particles, laid
in the dog’s fur in batches of 20 or more eggs.
An adult flea can lay up to 40 eggs per day.
As your pet moves around, eggs drop off and are distributed around the environment. This is how fleas end up being present not just on your dog but in bedding, carpet, and furniture.
The eggs will hatch in anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, depending on the temperature. The warmer it is the faster they'll hatch!
Stage 2: LARVA
Once the eggs hatch they
are in the Larva stage of their lifecycle.
Larvae are approximately 1/8 inch long, white and do not have legs. They are also blind.
Larvae feed on the pre-digested dried blood and
other organic material passed by adult fleas. You can sometimes see these tiny black specs (flea poop)
on your pet’s fur, commonly known as “flea dirt".
Stage 3: PUPA
At one to three weeks of age the Larvae will pupate, creating silky cocoons leading to the next lifecycle stage, the Pupa stage. The Pupae remain ensconced and protected in
their cocoons, waiting until they sense that a viable host is near before the adult
flea will emerge. They “sense” a host
through vibrations, heat, and carbon dioxide.
The sticky Cocoons may be buried deep in
carpeting, bedding, or in your pet’s fur while
they wait to emerge to wreak havoc on your household!
Stage 4: ADULT
Once the adult flea emerges from it's cocoon it must begin feeding very quickly. Once it feeds, the adults flea will mate and females will begin laying eggs right away. Adult fleas typically live anywhere from a few weeks to several months and will spend most of their time feeding off your pet's blood and reproducing.
> If you see 10 fleas on your dog, there may likely be 40 or more hiding!
> With 40 fleas there are probably approximately 80 pupae (cocoons), 280 larvae, and 400 flea eggs hiding in carpet, bedding and furniture!
That's a LOT of potential adult fleas just waiting for their turn to snack on your dog!
As you can see, the flea lifecycle continues to repeat and can quickly get out of control unless you STOP it with adequate flea prevention and control. It's important to continue flea prevention and control regularly throughout the year, never missing a dose, to keep fleas under control.
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| Enjoy the great outdoors, but protect your dog against FLEAS and TICKS with BRAVECTO |
There are a lot of flea and tick control products out there, but BRAVECTO provides a tasty chew that lasts for up to 12 weeks!*
BRAVECTO is FDA approved and only available by prescription from your Veterinarian or Veterinary Clinic.
Take your dog to your Veterinarian and ask for BRAVECTO so you can start extended protection against fleas and ticks now!
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| Don't let FLEAS and TICKS spoil your outdoor fun! |
* BRAVECTO kills fleas, prevents flea infestations, and kills ticks (black-legged tick or "deer tick", American dog tick and brown dog tick) for 12 weeks. It also kills lone star ticks for 8 weeks.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION:
The most common adverse reactions recorded in clinical trials of BRAVECTO were vomiting, decreased appetite, lethargy, diarrhea, polydipsia, and flatulence. BRAVECTO has not been shown to be effective for 12 weeks' duration in puppies less than 6 months of age. BRAVECTO is not effective against lone star ticks beyond 8 weeks after dosing
Read my earlier post on how BRAVECTO offers extended protection against TICKS as well as FLEAS in one tasty chew!
Remember, Fall is still prime Flea & Tick season so be sure to protect your dog all year!
Every
effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information published.
However, it remains the responsibility of the readers to familiarize themselves
with the product information contained on the USA product label or package.
More product information is available on Bravecto's web site.
