Fleas-Your Pet Has Them and Here's How to Get Rid of Them.

Fleas are wingless little critters that thrive on its victims blood. Blood sucking little devils that have flat bodies with three pairs of extremely powerful legs that they use to propel themselves from victim to victim. Fleas can jump approximately 350 times their body length which is about the equivalent of a human being able to leap the length of a football field.

These little blood sucking devils can really cover some ground in a big hurry. They thrive the best wherever the humidity is above 50% with a temperature of about 68 deg.F. Under ideal conditions a flea can complete its life cycle in about two weeks. When food is scarce it can take up to 21 months before an adult hatchling emerges. This is exactly why flea infestations reappear after a year or so with no pets present during that time frame.

Flea eggs are laid on your pets skin and then most fall off your dog due to scratching etc. and land in your pets environment which is most likely your house. The average female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day. It doesn't take very long to end up with an awesome infestation. Get a couple of fertilized females hard at work and before you know it you'll be blessed with hundreds of thousands of fleas.

 You can readily identify the presence of fleas by checking your pet. Move its fur with your fingers so that you can see the skin and if you notice what looks like salt and pepper on your pets skin you've got fleas. What you're actually seeing is the flea eggs which are white and the black specs you see are the feces of the adult fleas.

Getting rid of a fleas can be a frustrating task if not done correctly. To treat only your pet is a mistake that many pet owners make thinking they will get rid of the fleas. Fleas only spend a small amount of time on your pet. They spend the rest of their time reproducing in the environment where your pet lives. Fleas bite a host for blood which they use for nutrition.

To effectively get rid of an infestation you'll have to plan to treat not only your pet but your entire house inside and out as well as your car and any other pets you may have cats dogs etc. Some really good flea treatments include insect growth regulators that contain the compounds methoprene and pyriproxyfen (also known as nylar) both compounds are effective in treating fleas because they interrupt the life cycle of the flea. The flea larva cannot reach maturity to reproduce and therefore the infestation has no choice but to die off. When purchasing a flea control product be sure to look for these compounds. Pet control specialist use these very same compounds.

Insect development inhibitors or IDIs for short are also effective in controlling fleas. Lufenuron is the active ingredient in (program) which is a available from your veterinarian. It can be given orally or applied on your dogs skin. This chemical compound eventually makes its way into your dogs blood stream. A female flea bites your dog, ingests the blood of the dog containing the compound Lufenuron and passes this blood onto its lava where the chemical compound prevents the larva from ever developing into a mature flea. It can take 12 to 16 weeks to get a flea infestation under control.

Neurotransmitter inhibitors are very effective against flea infestations. Fipronil is the active ingredient in Frontline, selamectin is the active ingredient in Revolution and imidacloprid is the active ingredient in Advantage all available from your vet. All of the active ingredients work by entering the dogs bloodstream through the skin and circulating to every part of the body. Fleas and parasites are killed when they ingest the active ingredients by effectively paralyzing their breathing systems. Flea eggs are also prevented from hatching. A combination of insect growth regulators, insect development inhibitors and neurotransmitter inhibitors can be used to effectively treat a flea infestation. Pet meds and related pet treatments can be expensive so it will certainly be in your best interest to shop around.

An alternative option to high veterinarian medicine prices and paid pet prescription plans is to use a high quality pet discount prescription card like the one provided by Discount Rx Services. Their card is accepted by over 60,000 retail pharmacies from major national chains to local and regional units all across the united States.

The pet discount prescription card does not have any periodic costs or fees associated with it and absolutely no hidden catches or surprises to deal with when using the card at a retail pharmacy. Typical savings with the pet discount prescription card is about 47% off a retail pharmacies normal price and as high as 90% off in some cases which makes pet medicine very affordable when compared to paying veterinarian retail prices and paid pet prescription plan prices.

Its important to note that not all pet meds can be filled at a retail pharmacy and that savings will vary depending on the medication being filled. Either way its very hard to beat the Discount Rx Services free Pet Discount Prescription Card.

Simply present the pet discount prescription card along with your pets prescription to the pharmacy you normally go to for your own medications and instantly get the applicable discounted rate on your pets medicine. No catches or strings attached.