The War on Fleas: Intel / Strategies / Myths

by Malcolm Riordan

Intel: Know thy enemy's reproductive habits!

This enemy can replenish itself with new, ever larger generations every three weeks during the war's warmer months. This enemy does not retreat in winter; their life style is to retrench and subsist. Their reproductive cycle (eggs to pupae to larvae to new adults) in cooler weather may slow to every three months. Therefore, year-round war efforts are far superior to putting off or limiting your offensive strikes, waiting until the enemy army has reestablished its seasonal peak strength, summer after summer.

Intel: Enemy locations!

Unseen by allied forces, upwards of 90% of the enemy life cycle forms exist off your pets, out in your pets' environment. Anywhere your dogs and cats go in your home and yard can become hotbeds of covert enemy activity.

The adult form of the enemy is not obliged to live on your pet at all times, but is, in fact, absolutely obliged to feed on a host in order to survive and reproduce.

Typically, on the ground you occupy, your pets are the enemy's only host.

Strategy: Strike at enemy suppertime!

Your strategy is to constantly, relentlessly kill off the adult-phase enemy at the one exact location where they must show up at least once in a while to feed. That location is on your pet.

Tactics: Choose a weapon!

The most effective weapons currently in widespread use—since the mid ‘90s—are the monthly, topically applied (safe on mammals) adult flea insecticides. The prototype examples are Advantage by Bayer, and Frontline by Merial. Equivalent brands of weapons with equal fire-power have become available in recent years from arms dealers everywhere.

Tactics: Understand your weapon; your mission profile will become simple and clear.

Take military action: Correctly apply an accurate amount every month to every pet.

Victory: As your pets wander their environment—your house and yard—they are taking The War on Fleas straight to the enemy and his enemy strongholds.

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Bad intel alert: battlefield myths, fables, and misconceptions

Do not rely upon old school weapons: Flea collars, flea shampoos, flea repellents, and so forth are weak, short acting, and much less effective as combat tools in the war on fleas.

Be aware that similarly-applied, similarly-packaged, bogus toy weapons are out there and being sold trying to cash in on the runaway, battlefield-changing successes of the Advantage and Frontline type products. Get your veterinarian to help you select an authentic weapon!

Still seeing fleas on your treated pet is not a sign of defeat or failure of your weapon. It can take 6 to 8 weeks for all the enemy's developmental stages in your house and yard to become exhausted once treatment begins.

Once you have achieved flea control within your fort, fleas can still infiltrate from your perimeters as well as from the neighborhood cats, dogs, possums, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes that traverse your yard or the zones surrounding your fort. When your cat or dog goes on patrol outside their flea controlled base camp, they can pick up and import new fleas. The enemy is omnipresent, resilient and persistent. Your dog or cat, out on reconnaissance through neighborhood shrubs, vegetation and nearby greenbelts, is unwittingly seeking and acquiring recently hatched enemy or hungry adult forms.

Recognize that our topical insecticide weapons are classified as being flea control products; they are not classified as one-time, magic-bullet potions that cause flea extinction!

The fleas you may see on your properly treated pet are being exposed to insecticide even as you see them and will soon be dying. War is ugly and enemy deaths may take minutes to many hours after exposure, depending on the product you are using.

Fleas can hitchhike on humans and their clothing, infiltrating and occupying your home; indoor-only pets can get fleas!

Friendly fire incident avoidance: Be paranormally alert to the fact that a few, very few, of the topical products are labeled for use on dogs only. Those few are potentially toxic to cats. Check the labels at the time of weapons procurement, and again before you weaponize your cat!

On the internet, and even extending into some veterinary clinics, there are fables that our valid proven flea control products are, over time, losing their effectiveness on the enemy. This has been an open worry and concern since the products came out – a theoretical fear. But it has yet to be demonstrated even once in controlled studies that the enemy is developing any resistance to our weapons. Each study documents these flea control products to be as effective as they were during their original development and scientific trials. Our weapons are still beautiful.

All Photos by Mimi Ditchie

Woods Rafter Cat image on banner by Malcolm Riordan.