After adopting a dog or cat, your veterinarian will stress the importance of embracing flea prevention. These external parasites can carry disease and cause skin infections. Therefore, prevention is key to keeping your pet as healthy and happy as possible. As a reminder to take preventative measures, here’s what veterinary care professionals want you to know about the life cycle of fleas and how to treat them. 

Understanding Flea Prevention

What Should Pet Owners Know About the Life Cycle of Fleas?

Unfortunately, spotting a live flea on your pet and pulling it off will not solve the issue. Why not? Because fleas have three distinct life cycles, starting with eggs, then larvae, and ending with fully developed parasites. A single flea can lay up to 40 eggs per day on your pet, in your couch cushions, under your bed, and in your carpet. Thus, removing one flea will not put a stop to the infestation. With this in mind, finding a multifaceted plan to avoid fleas on your animal and in your home is critical. Especially in southern climates, flea prevention is essential year-round. There is no “off-season” for fleas.

What Are the Best Flea Prevention Options?

Since fleas have three specific life cycles, it is important to embrace products that deter the spread of these insects. Oral medication prescribed by your veterinarian is far more effective than the shampoos, dips, collars, and sprays found at most pet stores, as the prescription products also stop eggs and larvae from multiplying. By embracing scheduled doses of flea medication and outdoor flea control products for the yard, you will avoid an infestation and all the detrimental side effects that come with it.

Lillian Veterinary Hospital, led by trusted veterinarians Dr. Susan Wells and Dr. Carrie Everett, has been caring for pets throughout Baldwin County, AL, for over 22 years. If you’ve recently adopted a furry friend and want to learn more about flea prevention options along with how to protect your pet from heartworms and ticks, call this friendly, compassionate veterinary care clinic today at (251) 962-2304 to schedule an appointment. For more information on how this respected practice combines state-of-the-art equipment and the latest medicine with a soothing environment that puts pets at ease, visit their website.