Monday, January 18, 2010

Flea 'Dirt'



Even through this is a blog about my jewellery career but I am very interested to share what I know about cats and dogs to all of the animal lovers. So the question is....What is flea ‘dirt’?? Let me answer that question later.


There was a flea infestation a few days ago on my dogs; of course my precious Teddy could not escape it. Hence it becomes a habit for me to look for fleas and ticks on him every day to the stage that I believe “I LOVE catching fleas and ticks”. While.... a moment of love and care for my dogs seems to cultivate a fetish out of me. Then I happened to find many black spots, about 20-30 on the belly and back of Teddy’s lovely pinkish skin today. They look like a lot of fleas on him but are not. I checked on the other dogs but they are free of it. Of course I was frightened and went online to check what those things actually are. The mystery was solved in 20mins in this website http://vetmedicine.about.com/.



Janet Tobiassen Crosby, DVM says ‘Flea "dirt" is the common name for what looks like bits of black pepper or dirt on your pet's skin and in the hair coat. It is actually the flea feces, composed mainly of the blood meal ingested by the flea from your pet. The blood is dried out, giving it a black, crackly appearance and texture. To test this, wet a cotton ball or paper towel and add some of the "black pepper" material. If it dissolves into a reddish-brown material, it is very likely flea dirt, and indication of a flea problem for your pet.’


Well, I tested it and it's true!! I gave Teddy a shower, see how nervous he always is when taking a shower (his always hide his ears when he is scare, sad, nervous or alert) ...most of the flea dirt came off during the bath, so I finally could relax again...



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