It is worth mentioning nitenpyram (brand names Capstar ®, PetArmor FastCaps ®, and Capguard ®) at this point as this simple product has greatly enhanced our ability to clear fleas from a patient quickly and safely. In this situation, your veterinarian will have to use his or her judgment on what is the safest route to removing the fleas. Ridding the critically ill patient of fleas can be problematic. Often the patient is too sick to tolerate the stress of a bath and is too young or too small for flea control products. "capillary tube." The serum and red blood cellsĪre separated within the tube and a special chart The packed cell volume is measured by placing aīlood sample in a small glass tube called a In dogs the normal range is 38 to 57 and in cats the normal range is 24 to 45. Blood transfusion becomes a consideration when values reach 20 or less. The hematocrit or PCV reflects the percentage of red blood cells that should be present in a sample of blood. Use flea control products all year round so you don't get caught with a surprise heavy flea burden in the spring.Ī test called a HEMATOCRIT (HCT) or PACKED CELL VOLUME (PCV) is easily done in your vet’s office to assess the degree of anemia.Regular flea combing can help nip a big problem in the bud.Be familiar with the normal color of your pet’s gums so that you can recognize a problem.Pets sometimes eat small pebbles, dirt, or cat litter when they are anemic in an effort to obtain more iron. A flea comb can be used to check for flea dirt. In advanced disease, the patient will be listless and even cold. The affected animal will have pale gums (normal gums are shell-pink anemic gums can be completely white). This is not difficult for a trained veterinary health care worker but may not be easy for an uninformed pet owner. The first step is recognizing the problem. They will also need to have their fleas removed and will ultimately need to be returned to an environment where they will be protected from further flea infestation. Often they will need blood transfusions or transfusion with blood substitutes. The good news is that these patients can still be treated even fairly late in the course of the disease. Their situation is similar to that of the kittens’: too small to effectively groom and trying to grow in the face of on going blood loss.Įventually, the weakness catches up with these animals and they will die unless they receive a blood transfusion. Grooming is less efficient plus the older cat is just not strong enough to withstand much blood loss. The elderly cat is often debilitated from other metabolic problems. Flea anemia is probably the #1 cause of death in open household kittens. Further, they are growing and trying to expand their blood volume they are too young to effectively groom themselves and remove their own fleas. Young kittens are very small and do not have blood to spare. Very young kittens being raised outdoors or by a mother cat who goes outdoors.The following situations are high-risk for flea anemia: It takes a lot of fleas to produce enough blood loss to create a life-threatening situation for the host pet but it still happens commonly. Even if live fleas are not seen, the presence of flea dirt means that live fleas are there. The black, pepper-like specks found in the infested pet’s coat are actually bits of blood that have been sucked up by the flea and excreted in neat little packages to feed the larval fleas that hatch in the environment. Do not rely on your own ability to see the fleas effect reliable flea control regardless of what you see or do not see. If the pet is very effective at licking and self-grooming, it may be hard to see the fleas especially if the owner does not have a flea comb. This means that the animal that is not allergic to flea bites will not be scratching or losing hair thus the owner may not realize that a heavy infestation is active. Only animals allergic to flea bites will itch from their fleas. It is easy to underestimate a pet’s infestation. Public Domain image via Wikimedia Commons) The physical state of inadequate red blood cells is called: ANEMIA and when it is severe enough it is a life-threatening condition. Some of us are all too familiar with the spectacular skin inflammation in a flea-bite allergic pet but many people forget that fleas drink blood and that lots of fleas can drink lots of blood. We all know that fleas can make pets itch. It is hard to imagine that something as tiny as a flea could be dangerous. In almost every case, the owner had no idea that flea infestation could be lethal. (Fortunately, this one lived, after several days of hospitalization) THEY DRINK BLOOD AND BLOOD LOSS CAN KILL. THIS YEAR WE HOPE TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT EARLY:įLEAS AREN'T JUST A NUISANCE. EVERY SUMMER AT LEAST ONE OF OUR PATIENTS DIES FROM EXCESSIVE FLEAS.
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