I just finished reading the FML for October 27th, and I was surprised at
the wrong information people have on fleas.  I guess I should start with
the flea life cycle.
 
A flea usually develops in about three weeks but, the cycle can take as
long as six months (hence the reason they survive the winter).  The stages
of the flea live cycle are: eggs, larvae, pupae and adult fleas.
 
An adult flea gets into your house.  It cannot lay eggs until they have had
a blood meal.  According to one flea product manufacturer, it must be the
blood of an animal (it cannot be the blood of a human.)  After the meal,
the flea can lay eggs.  Each flea can lay about 1000 eggs during it's
lifetime.  After an egg is laid, it rolls off the animal and lands on the
floor.  In about 21 days, the eggs hatch into larvae.  The larvae seek dark
hiding places, like around the walls or between cracks in the floor.  The
larvae then spins a cocoon and turns into a pupa.  While in the cocoon, the
pupa is completely safe from any flea product that we have.  The fleas can
live in these cocoons for up to six months, and probably spend the winter
months in this state.  Once the cocoon hatches, an adult flea emerges.  The
adult fleas will seek out a blood meal, an will start laying eggs all over
again.
 
In order to eliminate fleas, you must break the cycle.  Frontline,
advantage and program are several products (available from your vet) that
do this.  Frontline and Advantage both come as a once a month "spot on"
(Frontline also comes as a spray) where you put drops on the back of the
pet's neck between the shoulder blades.  The product then works its way
around the entire animal, and kills something like 98% of the adult fleas
within 12 hours,
 
Someone mentioned Frontline or Advantage gets into the blood stream
(systemic).  This is not true.  Advantage and Frontline work their way
around the animal by the hair follicles and kill adult fleas directly.
They do not work by getting into the bloodstream.  It is my understanding
though, that if you wash your pet, it will not wash off.
 
Program, however, is a different story.  Program comes as a once a month
pill for cats and dogs and a six month injectable for cats.  Program
(obviously) gets into the blood stream, and then into the flea when they
have had a blood meal.  The fleas then lay eggs that cannot hatch because
the egg tooth is not formed.
 
Once the life cycle is broken, you must wait for the rest of the fleas to
get to the stage where it is broken, so that they will be eliminated too.
For example, if you use program, and the fleas stop producing viable eggs,
then you have to wait for the eggs that are viable to turn into larvae,
pupae, adult fleas and then die before your flea problem will be gone.
This can take a month or more.
 
For this very reason, many people use a combination of Frontline, Advantage,
Program and the many other flea products on the market.  You can then break
the life cycle in more than one place, and then fleas will be eliminated
quicker.
 
I would not recommend this Program to people who have pets with an allergy
to flea bites.  The flea still has to bite the animal to get the program
into its bloodstream, so the pet would not get relief until the fleas are
gone.  I have a cat that is extremely allergic to flea bites.  She will
scratch herself raw.  Program is not too much help for her while she is
scratching, so I use Frontline.
 
I have used the Frontline spray (not the drops) on my ferrets before, and
I did not have any problems.  I recall reading about some other FMLers who
used the spot on (either Frontline or Advantage) at something like 1/2 or
1/3 the cat dose.  They would take one vial, and put one drop on each
ferret in a rotating order (this would take a few extra hands) until the
vial was empty.
 
One quick note on vacuuming.  If you put a piece of flea collar or some
flea powder into the vacuum bag, this will kill any fleas that you vacuum
up.  If you have a bad infestation, you should vacuum once a day (or more).
You will pick up a few fleas, eggs or larvae, but you will mainly pick up
the specks of food that they eat.  Remember to get around the wall very
good, because fleas seem to like to hang out there.
 
There is a ton of great information on the web about fleas and flea
removal.  Pick your favorite search engine, and search for fleas.  You'll
get a ton of hits, and maybe some good ideas as well.
 
Happy flea hunting,
 
Tony
[Posted in FML issue 2476]