|
Essential Oils |
Bella Mira Essential Oil Supplements
Essential Oil Information and Use
|
Chemical Free |
Chemical Free Body Care Products
Chemical Free Cleaning Products
|
Gluten Free |
Gluten Free Living and Recipes
|
Important Information |
Detoxification and Digestion Products
Save Your Computer Free Protection
|
Great Products |
|
FREE Wellness Tests |
Hormone Balance Test New Improved
|
Contact Us |
(918) 640-2973
Our Shopping Cart Is:
Free Samples w/$100 Order.
|
Warning: Use of ANY OTHER Essential Oils other than Bella Mira may Harm or Kill Your pet. Use ours only as directed and under veterinary supervision. Never use more than 1 drop on any cat total per week. If you are using a different essential oil for treatment of a cat you will have to rotate them bi-weekly. |
While there are more than 200 species of fleas in this country, the main troublemaker for pets is the cat flea. Happy to feed on anyone in the household--cat, dog or human--these wingless insects will most likely choose a pet, whose fur provides warm camouflage for their breeding ground. Adult fleas are not only a nuisance to humans and their pets, but can cause medical problems including flea allergy dermatitis (FAD), tapeworms, secondary skin irritations and, in extreme cases, anemia. Although bites are rarely felt, it is the resulting irritation caused by the flea salivary secretions that varies among individuals. Some may witness a severe reaction (general rash or inflammation) resulting in secondary infections caused by scratching the irritated skin area. Others may show no reaction or irritation acquired after repeated bites over several weeks or months. Most bites usually found on the ankles and legs may cause pain lasting a few minutes, hours or days depending on one's sensitivity. The typical reaction to the bite is the formation of a small, hard, red, slightly-raised (swollen) itching spot. There is a single puncture point in the center of each spot. (Ants and spiders leave two marks when they bite. Mosquitoes, bees, wasps and bedbugs cause a large swelling or welt). Also, fleas may transmit bubonic plague from rodent to rodent and from rodent to humans. Oriental rat fleas can transmit murine typhus (endemic typhus) fever among rats and from rats to humans. Tapeworms normally infest dogs and cats but may appear in children if parts of infested fleas are accidentally consumed. Identification
Adult fleas are about 1/16 to 1/8-inch long, dark reddish-brown, wingless, hard-bodied (difficult to crush between fingers), have three pairs of legs (hind legs enlarged enabling jumping) and are flattened vertically or side to side (bluegill or sunfish-like) allowing easy movement between the hair, fur or feathers of the host. Fleas are excellent jumpers, leaping vertically up to seven inches and horizontally thirteen inches. (An equivalent hop for a human would be 250 feet vertically and 450 feet horizontally.) They have piercing-sucking mouthparts and spines on the body projecting backward. Also, there is a row of spines on the face known as a genal comb. Spine I (first outer spine) is shorter than Spine II (next inner spine) in dog fleas. Both spines are about the same length in the cat flea. The rabbit flea has a vertical genal comb with blunt spines. The genal comb is absent in both rat fleas. Eggs are smooth, oval and white. Larvae are 1/4-inch long, slender, straw-colored, brown headed, wormlike, bristly-haired creatures (13 body segments), that are legless, have chewing mouthparts, are active, and avoid light. Pupae are enclosed in silken cocoons covered with particles of debris.
Life Cycle and Habits
Fleas pass through a complete life cycle consisting of egg, larva, pupa and adult. A typical flea population consists of 50 percent eggs, 35 percent larvae, 10 percent pupae and 5 percent adults. Completion of the life cycle from egg to adult varies from two weeks to eight months depending on the temperature, humidity, food, and species. Normally after a blood meal, the female flea lays about 15 to 20 eggs per day up to 600 in a lifetime usually on the host (dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, foxes, chickens, humans, etc.). Eggs loosely laid in the hair coat, drop out most anywhere especially where the host rests, sleeps or nests (rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, cat or dog boxes, kennels, sand boxes, etc.). Eggs hatch in two days to two weeks into larvae found indoors in floor cracks & crevices, along baseboards, under rug edges and in furniture or beds. Outdoor development occurs in sandy gravel soils (moist sand boxes, dirt crawlspace under the house, under shrubs, etc.) where the pet may rest or sleep. Sand and gravel are very suitable for larval development which is the reason fleas are erroneously called "sand fleas."
Larvae are blind, avoid light, pass through three larval instars and take a week to several months to develop. Their food consists of digested blood from adult flea feces, dead skin, hair, feathers, and other organic debris. (Larvae do not suck blood.) Pupa mature to adulthood within a silken cocoon woven by the larva to which pet hair, carpet fiber, dust, grass cuttings, and other debris adheres. In about five to fourteen days, adult fleas emerge or may remain resting in the cocoon until the detection of vibration (pet and people movement), pressure (host animal lying down on them), heat, noise, or carbon dioxide (meaning a potential blood source is near). Most fleas overwinter in the larval or pupal stage with survival and growth best during warm, moist winters and spring.
Adult fleas cannot survive or lay eggs without a blood meal, but may live from two months to one year without feeding. There is often a desperate need for flea control after a family has returned from a long vacation. The house has been empty with no cat or dog around for fleas to feed on. When the family and pets are gone, flea eggs hatch and larvae pupate. The adult fleas fully developed inside the pupal cocoon remains in a kind of "limbo" for a long time until a blood source is near. The family returning from vacation is immediately attacked by waiting hungry hordes of fleas. (In just 30 days, 10 female fleas under ideal conditions can multiply to over a quarter million different life stages.)
Newly emerged adult fleas live only about one week if a blood meal is not obtained. However, completely developed adult fleas can live for several months without eating, so long as they do not emerge from their puparia. Optimum temperatures for the flea's life cycle are 70°F to 85°F and optimum humidity is 70 percent. The cat flea is the most common flea in Ohio which feeds on a wide range of hosts.
Even when fleas elude detection on a pet, their black poppyseed-like excrement gives them away.
The main problem with fleas--itching--is due not only to their bites, but also to their crawling over the skin.
Other flea bite problems and their symptoms include:
- anemia in young, older or ill pets--pale gums, weakness, lethargy
- transmission of tapeworm to pets--irritability, erratic appetite, shaggy coat, mild diarrhea, weight loss, seizures
- transmission by rodent fleas of plague to cats--fever, swollen lymph nodes, mouth sores, swollen tongue, cough, pneumonia.
Also, some pets are extremely allergic to flea bites. In these pets, fleas may cause a rash, inflammation, and hair loss. In response, cats may compulsively overgroom.
Tenacious Ticks
A tick has a one-piece body. The harpoon-like barbs of its mouth attach to a host for feeding. Crablike legs and a sticky secretion help hold the tick to the host. When attempting to remove a tick, to prevent the mouth part from coming off and remaining embedded in the skin, grasp the mouth close to the skin with tweezers and pull gently.
Ticks are not insects like fleas, but arachnids like mites, spiders and scorpions. They have a four-stage life cycle; eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults. Adult females of some species lay about 100 eggs at a time. Others lay 3,000 to 6,000 eggs per batch. Six-legged larvae hatch from the eggs. After at least one blood meal, the larvae molt into eight-legged nymphs--in some species, more than once. Final nymphs molt into adult males or females, also with eight legs. Depending on its species, a tick may take less than a year or up to several years to go through its four-stage life cycle. While ticks need a blood meal at each stage after hatching, some species can survive years without feeding.
The United States has about 200 tick species. Habitats include woods, beach grass, lawns, forests, and even urban areas.
Ticks may carry various infectious organisms that can transmit diseases to cats and dogs, including the following (listed with possible symptoms):
- babesiosis--lethargy, appetite loss, weakness, pale gums
- ehrlichiosis--high fever, muscle aches
- Lyme disease--lameness, swollen joints, fever, poor appetite, fatigue, and vomiting (some infected animals show no symptoms)
- tick paralysis in dogs--gradual paralysis, seen first as an unsteady gait from uncoordinated back legs (some infected dogs don't develop paralysis).
To protect pets from the discomfort and illness caused by fleas and ticks, it's important to rid the pets of the pests. It's also important to treat a pet's environment to prevent or reduce the incidence of reinfestation, says FDA's Larkins.
Products to control these pests are not risk-free, however Approved or registered products must warn users about the risks the product poses and give directions for safest use. Proban's label, for example, warns that the product is not for use in greyhounds, who are sensitive to the insecticide it contains, an organic phosphate. Also, some products should not be used together or when a pet is taking certain medicines.
EPA product manager Rick Keigwin agrees. As pesticides are intended to kill pests, they generally are inherently toxic, he says. "Some products pose some risks, La Rocca adds that with cats, use only products labeled for cats. "Cats are more sensitive than dogs in general," he says. "It also has to do with their size--just like children are more sensitive than adults--and their grooming habits. Dogs groom, but cats groom more, so they would ingest more of a topical product."
Pesticides and repellents to protect cats and dogs from fleas and ticks have risks as well as benefits. Concerned over recent reports of adverse effects from such products, the Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with industry, has developed guidance for labeling changes to promote proper use.
The effort, coordinated by EPA policy analyst Janet Whitehurst, began early in 1994, when she learned that in just 18 months, EPA had received 853 reports of adverse effects, including 148 animal deaths and 58 reports of illness in humans. Most reports involved cats, which are more sensitive than dogs.
Improved labels would:
- Direct users to read the entire label before each use.
- Clearly state the animal for which the product is registered and the minimum age for safe use.
- Caution users to consult a veterinarian before treating certain animals, such as those that are ill or pregnant (unless safety is known).
- Warn about adverse reactions and interactions with medicines or other chemicals.
- Advise users to wash their hands after use.
- Clearly state limitations for reapplication.
- Give a phone number to call about proper use and emergencies.
- Include first-aid information
Human Problems
Fleas and ticks transmit diseases to people as well as pets.
Lyme disease is by far the most often reported tick-borne disease in humans in the United States: 13,083 cases in 1994, up from 8,257 in 1993. Most reports came from the Northeast and North Central regions of the country. Symptoms include fatigue, chills and fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, and a red, circular skin rash. (See "Getting Lyme Disease to Take a Hike," in the June 1994 FDA Consumer.)
The next most prevalent disease from ticks is Rocky Mountain spotted fever, characterized by fever, headache, rash, and nausea or vomiting. It affects more than 500 people each year, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC received reports of 415 cases of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis, a disease also transmitted by ticks, since it was identified in 1986. It is similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but usually without the rash. In 1994, scientists identified another similar disease, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, or HGE. About 170 cases have been reported.
The organism that causes the tick-borne disease babesiosis infects red blood cells, which burst and die, resulting in hemolytic anemia. Patients develop a malaria-like fever, chills, sweats, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting; those with no spleen are at particular risk of developing severe disease. The reported incidence of babesiosis is about one-tenth that of Lyme disease, or even less, according to Sam Telford, Ph.D., a lecturer on tropical public health with the Harvard School of Public Health.
Lyme disease, HGE, and babesiosis are all transmitted by the deer tick. Ticks have been found to have any two of those disease-causing organisms. "I believe it's only a matter of time before we find a tick with all three," Telford says. The lone star tick transmits human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis.
Many exposed people never develop the diseases. Roughly 5 percent of the coastal Massachusetts' population has antibodies against babesiosis, Telford says. "We believe it's about the same for ehrlichiosis. For Lyme disease, it's maybe three times that."
Fleas or an infected animal can transmit bubonic plague. Seven cases, including one death, were reported to CDC in 1995, in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. Another 13 cases, also including one death, were reported in 1994, in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.
Symptoms of bubonic plague include fever, headache, vague discomfort, and very painful, swollen lymph nodes near the infection site. Septicemic plague is more serious because the bloodstream is infected, as is pneumonic plague, with its overwhelming pneumonia. Antibiotics are used for treatment. A plague vaccine is available for special groups at very high risk.
Early diagnosis and treatment give humans the best chance of recovery from these and other flea- or tick-transmitted diseases.
Control Measures
Flea control is best achieved with a simultaneous, coordinated effort involving strict sanitation, pet treatment and premise treatment (both indoors & outdoors).
Inspection - Before treatment, discuss the pet's habits with family members to determine where resting and sleeping occurs most frequently. Flea activity "hot spots" can be detected by placing white socks over shoes and walking through the residence into suspected areas. Research has demonstrated that these areas will contain the highest amount of eggs, larvae and pupae even after vacuuming. Hot spots for homes with dogs are usually areas where the pet goes in and out of the house, eats, sleeps and spends time with the family at the base of furniture. For cats, check the tops of refrigerators, cabinets, book cases and higher locations.
One can monitor flea populations by placing a shallow pan of water with a little dish detergent (acts as a wetting agent which breaks water surface tension) on the floor. Position a gooseneck lamp with the light on about five to six inches above the liquid surface. Adult fleas will leap toward the light at night, fall into the detergent solution and drown. The Happy Jack and pulvex (Zema) flea trap is a commercial apparatus based on the same principle. Also, an ultralight flea trap with a green light attracts fleas into a sticky tray.
Treating the Pets- Niaouli, Lemongrass, Purifying, Citronella. Lemongrass may be used for a short time in extreme cases. One drop on the nape of the neck is usually sufficient in severe cases a drop on the rear may be added (dogs only). Repeat weekly or as needed. If you shampoo your pets regularly and the oils to the shampoo. ( 10- 20 drops total per bottle) Daily supplementation with a Garlic and Yeast Tablet will help tremendously. Molecularly distilled fish oil can stop the inflammatory response caused by flea bites and fleas hate the taste!
Insect repellent spray: ( For People or Pets)
Great For spraying on pet bedding, or furniture.
In 8oz Spray Bottle:
10 drops Purifying
10 drops Lavender
10 drops Peppermint
OR
2 drops Fir Needle
2 drops Eucalyptus Radiata
5-10 drops Lemongrass
Fill remainder of bottle with alcohol, Shake and Spray!
Household Sanitation - Before vacuuming, collect all items (toys, shoes, clothes, etc.) off the floor, under beds, furniture, in closets, etc., to ensure best access for treatment. Also cover fish tanks, remove bird cages, pet food and water dishes and wash or dry clean any pet bedding. Vacuuming carpet with a beater-bar type vacuum where the pet rests and sleeps will help control flea larvae by removing eggs and dried blood feces (larval food) plus opening up the carpet's nap for more effective insecticide treatment. Vacuuming must be performed on a regular basis every other day to be effective. Flea larvae do not move far from the site of hatching when there is adequate food (dried blood feces from adults). Research indicates larvae spend 83 percent of the time deep in the carpet at the base of fibers frequently becoming entwined within the carpet. At pupation, the larva move up the carpet fiber spinning a camouflaging cocoon around itself. Vacuum especially where lint and pet hairs accumulate along baseboards, around carpet edges, on ventilators, around heat registers, in floor cracks, and under and in furniture where the pet sleeps.
After vacuuming, place the vacuum bag in a large plastic garbage bag and discard in an outdoor trash container. If the cleaner uses a liquid water medium in a plastic pan (rather than a dust bag) discard dirty water far away from the house. Bagless vacuum's must be empties (outside the home) into a plastic bag, sealed and discarded.
For an extra good measure spray newly vacuumed carpets with a light mist of Fabreeze Allergen Reducer to which you have added 1 tablespoon of 100% pure boric acid (sold as roach away but check to make sure its all boric acid). This mixture is essential to spray on pet bedding or any fabric area they lay on. If you choose not to use the Fabreeze that mix the boric acid in a 16 oz spray bottle and add 10 drops Purifying Essential Oil.
To Treat the home you must squirt (with a dry insecticide pump or bottle cap) the dry boric acid into all crack and crevices around your baseboards (where carpet meets the wall). Sprinkle the boric acid all over carpets, especially under couches, mattresses or other shady areas. Beat the boric acid into the carpet and leave on for a week and then vacuum thoroughly; leaving the boric acid under the areas you wont see (mattresses etc..) This is perfectly safe for pets and children.
Outdoor Prevention - Trim lawns and weeds to create a drier, less-ideal environment for flea larvae. Avoid piles of sand and gravel around the home for long periods of time. Fence yards to prevent dogs from roaming freely in heavily infested areas or contacting other infested animals. Discourage nesting or roosting of rodents and birds on or near the premises. Screen or seal vents, chimneys, crevices, etc. where rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, etc. may use to enter crawlspaces and buildings. Wash or destroy pet bedding, regularly groom pets and vacuum frequently to remove up to 95 percent of the flea eggs, some larvae and adults. Only about 20 percent of the larvae might be removed when vacuuming since they wrap themselves around the bottom strands of carpeting.
Since there is no flea resistance to borates, many homeowners try switching to boric acid and disodium octaborate tetrahydrate. Boric Acid is a stomach poison killing fleas in the larva stage. Apply directly on vacuumed, cleaned carpets where pets frequently travel or sleep. Work powder deeply into fibers with a broom or rug rake. For upholstery, remove loose cushions, apply along creases and into corner, not to exposed fabric. Any powder visible after application must be brushed in cracks or removed. Borates are environmentally safe, odorless and used in homes with children and pets.
The best thing to do is to buy nematodes every spring and treat your yard. These eat only flea larvae and is the most effective way to get rid of fleas. You cannot do any other yard treatment with nematodes. You should only have to use the nematodes and vacuum to control your whole pet population. Nematodes are available at the gardening link on our homepage.