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Flea season is in full swing. I never fully appreciated just how miserable fleas must make our dogs and cats feel until I too suffered the full effects of infestation. I was just about to start my residency program and had moved into a rental apartment. For the first few days I noticed a few red spots on my legs – these were itchy, and each day more and more spots appeared. Then one morning, just after I had put on stockings, low and behold I saw the tiny black fleas as they jumped out of the carpet and got caught in the nylons. It was at that moment that it dawned on me that I had an invasion on my hands and I could now comprehend the full meaning of flea infestation. At the time I only had one cat, Jesse; I had noticed that he seemed jumpy and mildly distressed, but embarrassingly I had put that down to the effects of a 5 day cross-country 2800 mile trek in the back of my car and the stress of moving into a completely new environment. He lived another 16 years with me, and never again did I ignore even the smallest change in his personality!
Nevertheless, it took quiet some effort, including the help of an external pest control agent to get rid of those fleas out of that apartment. Fortunately, although he too had clearly been bitten by fleas, Jesse was not exceptionally sensitive and did not develop any of the classic flea allergy signs. Since that time as a young veterinarian, I well and truly learnt my lesson. Never again have I moved into a home without first evaluating the environment for flea infestation, and as my furry family has grown quiet considerably since then, I have maintained strict and rigid flea control on my pets. It’s not just the anxiety and stress of them being bitten by fleas that bothers me, but fleas are also the carrier of diseases such as tapeworms. I have also seen many poor unfortunate homeless or poorly cared for Pets that have extreme flea invasion. Such infestations can cause severe and life-threatening anemia, especially in puppies and kittens. Some Pets can also develop an allergy to the flea bite, which triggers a vicious cycle of scratching and itching, ultimately leading to skin wounds and infection of those wounds with bacteria and other organisms.
The internet is full of suggestions from well-meaning authors on a number of nutraceutical or herbal remedies to control fleas. Unfortunately, there has been little scientific research into the efficiency of such remedies to effectively control fleas. There are however, some important areas where nutrition can help manage the skin damage caused by the fleas. The skin is a really large organ and it needs a lot of protein and some other key nutrients to heal. So you should ensure your Pet is on a good quality complete and balanced diet, ideally one formulated for skin disease. There are also several other nutrients that are particularly beneficial for promoting skin healing, helping to reduce the inflammation and the itching associated with the skin disease. These include some of the b-vitamins, some amino acids, some fatty acids such as linoleic acid, and the EPA and DHA in fish oil are particularly beneficial for helping to control the inflammation.
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