Vets report jump in number of flea bitten pets, owners

MIKE SCOTT

Pest exterminator Jeff Wills has had a busy summer ridding Taranaki houses of cat fleas. Populations of the little biting bugs have exploded during the warmer weather, driving both pets and people crazy.

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Ankles all over Taranaki are suffering from an unusually violent explosion in flea numbers.

Vets and pest exterminators have reported greater flea numbers than usual this summer and blame the lax flea control measures by pet owners and warm weather for allowing the bugs to breed like rabbits.

 New Plymouth vet Wesley Bell said it was the worst year for fleas he could remember.

He said female fleas could lay up to 50 eggs a day, transforming a minor annoyance into an itchy infestation in no time.

"Your cat might only have 10 fleas, but if half of those are female you can see how it doesn't take long for that to become a serious problem and when there are too many fleas for just one cat, they go looking for anything they can find. That tends to be people's legs."

He recommends pets be treated with products like Frontline or Advantage at least once a month, even in winter when flea activity slows.

Mr Bell said pet owners who did this were less likely to experience flea problems in their house, as their animal would not be bringing them inside.

He said despite many people believing there was a difference between fleas found on animals and those found in carpets they were the same type of bug and therefore needed to be treated at the same time.

Bio-Tech Pest Control director Jeff Wills also believed much of the flea problem was down to owners not effectively treating their pets.

He said this was made worse by the holiday season.

"People go away and leave their house shut up for a couple of weeks and you have perfect conditions for breeding," he said.

"As soon as the people come home and the fleas feel the vibrations of them walking around they start jumping."

Mr Wills said he had done more flea treatments in the past two months than in the previous three years and expected it to only get busier in February. The relatively mild winter had not helped control flea numbers and went some way to explain the high level of contamination now.

A spokeswoman for Jae Services Pest Control said summer was always the worst time for fleas and once they were inside they would not go away without treatment.

There are several ways for flea-bitten homeowners to rid their home of biters.

A treatment by pest exterminators generally keeps a house pest-free for one to two years. Flea-bombs available at supermarkets purport to be effective for up to nine months, while sprinkling salt on affected areas the day before vacuuming is also suggested on numerous flea-centric websites.

- © Fairfax NZ News