Flea treatment for your pets from The Chestnut Veterinary Group.  

The Chestnut Veterinary Group, in Ware and Hertford are currently offering 25% off a six pack of veterinary recommended flea treatment, which also kills ticks and lice.  Visit Chestnut Vets to pick up your dog and cat’s flea treatment, or if your pet isn’t yet registered there, phone to make an appointment for a free flea treatment check-up.  

It is important to keep up regular flea treatment throughout the year, as although your pet is most at risk from flea infestations in the summer, central heating in the winter provides an ideal breeding ground.  

Fleas, ticks and lice can cause irritation to your dogs and cats, but also have the potential to pass on diseases that can affect your pet, and rarely you too.

Fleas are a common problem.  They will jump onto your pet from infested environments such as the home, gardens and parks.  A female flea can lay up to 50 eggs in 1 day so it is easy to see how a flea infestation can quickly get out of control.

Fleas can cause FAD, Flea Allergy Dermatitis, which is a skin condition caused by an allergy to flea saliva or faeces and causes intense itching and irritation.  Fleas are also a transmission for the tapeworm and can transfer other blood-borne diseases.  Young puppies and kittens are at risk of blood loss and anaemia from heavy flea infestations. 

If you’ve got a flea infestation in your home, it’s a good idea to treat your pet’s environment.  Of every 5 fleas found on your pet, there are 95 more in the pets environment in the form of flea eggs, larvae and pupae.  

Treatment for the home deals with the eggs and larvae but cannot kill the flea pupae.  This is why you may still see fleas on your pet after treatment – the pupae need to hatch into adult fleas and jump onto your pet to be killed, so it’s a matter of waiting for all of the pupae to hatch which can take several weeks or even months.  You can encourage pupae to hatch by turning up the central heating, vacuuming regularly and washing pets’ bedding regularly.  Do not discourage your pet’s presence in infested areas as they will encourage the pupae to hatch.

Ticks can be picked up by your pets from the garden, urban parks or rural areas.  Ticks are blood-sucking parasites that pierce the pet’s skin with their mouthparts and cement themselves into position.  They can cause irritation to the skin, or more serious tick-borne diseases which can be picked up when travelling in Europe.

Lice are wingless insects that live their whole lives on pets, feeding on skin debris.  Infestations will cause a lot of irritation for your pet, with very young and debilitated pets being more likely to suffer from lice.

For more advice or to take advantage of the great offer on veterinary recommended flea treatment, call The Chestnut Veterinary Group on 01920 468874. Or visit their thebestof Hertford feature by clicking here