If you've owned a pug long enough, you might have experienced the horrors of coming home to a house full of fleas! These little bugs are what dog owners hate most about the summer months. In this article we will help you solve your flea problem, from diagnosing if your pug actually has fleas, to giving you easy techniques to get rid of fleas in your pug! The tips and tricks here can really work so be brave, and read on!

Fleas on dogs and cats! These small dark brown insects prefer temperatures of 65-80 degrees and humidity levels of 75-85 percent -- so for some areas of the country they are more than just a "summer" problem.

Dogs and cats often get infested with fleas through contact with other animals or contact with fleas in the environment. The strong back legs of this insect enable it to jump from host to host or from the environment onto the host. (Fleas do not have wings, so they cannot fly!) The flea’s bite can cause itching for the host but for a sensitive or flea-allergic animal, this itching can be quite severe and leads to hair-loss, inflammation and secondary skin infections. Some pets, hypersensitive to the flea's saliva, will itch all over from the bite of even a single flea!

The flea information presented here will focus on how to treat fleas on dogs and how to prevent fleas in the first place, which, let’s face it, is just as important to the pet as it is to the pet's caretakers! If your dog or cat is having problems with ticks, another similar parasite, check out our article on how to safely remove ticks from your pets.

CONTENTS

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR PUG HAS FLEAS
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SPOT FLEAS ON YOUR PUG?
CHEMICAL FLEA REMOVAL OPTIONS
NON-CHEMICAL FLEA REMOVAL OPTIONS
UNDERSTANDING THE FLEA LIFE CYCLE
PRESCRIPTION FLEA MEDICATIONS

HOW TO TELL IF MY PUG HAS FLEAS?

How do you know if fleas are causing all that itching – formally known as pruritus? Generally, unlike the burrowing, microscopic Demodex or Scabies Mites, fleas can be seen scurrying along the surface of the skin. Dark copper colored and about the size of the head of a pin, fleas dislike light so looking for them within furry areas and on the pet's belly and inner thighs will provide your best chances of spotting them.

Look for "flea dirt", too. "Flea dirt" looks like dark specks of pepper scattered on the skin surface. If you see flea dirt, which is actually flea feces and is composed of digested blood, pick some off the pet and place on a wet paper towel. If after a few minutes the tiny specks spread out like a small blood stain, it's definitely flea dirt and your pet has fleas!

HOW TO KILL DOG FLEAS FAST

WHAT TO DO IF YOU SPOT FLEAS ON YOUR PUG?

If you've discovered that your dog or cat has fleas, there are a few things you can do to provide your pet with immediate relief.

BEST SOLUTION TO KILL DOG FLEAS

CHEMICAL FLEA REMOVAL OPTIONS

Unfortunately, fleas are annoying and persistent, so there is no instantaneous way to remove fleas from your dog or cat. However, pills and other spot-on chemical treatments have proven to be some of the fastest ways to rid your pet of fleas. Capstar is one option to remove fleas from dogs and cats. It's a tablet that when taken orally, begins to work within 30-minutes and kills 90% of all fleas within four hours. Spot-on flea treatments tend to take a few days to work, and some only target flea eggs while other target adults, so it's important to buy the right one.

NON-CHEMICAL FLEA REMOVAL OPTIONS

If you'd prefer to go the more natural route, there are several flea removal shampoos for dogs and cats on the market that are quite effective. You'll need to consider whether or not your pet can stand being soaking wet and lathered up for ten minutes though, since that's how long the shampoo takes to sink in. Following a nice warm bath, you'll have killed the fleas and will be able to use a flea comb to remove the fleas from your dog – don't worry, they're dead.

WHAT DO PUG DOG FLEAS LOOK LIKE?

Do fleas look look like little black sesame seeds. They are usually pretty hard to spot and soon as you see one it will probably jump away.

UNDERSTANDING THE FLEA LIFE CYCLE

In order to understand how and why treatment options work, we must first understand the flea’s life cycle since the various modern treatment and prevention products work on different parts of this life cycle. There are several stages to its life cycle: egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or cocoon, and adult. The length of time it takes to complete this cycle varies depending upon the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and the availability of a nourishing host.

The flea's host is a warm-blooded animal such as a dog or cat (or even humans!) However, the various flea stages are quite resistant to freezing temperatures. The adult female flea typically lives for several weeks on the pet. During this time period she will suck the animal’s blood two to three times and lay twenty to thirty eggs each day. She may lay several hundred eggs over her life span. These eggs fall off of the pet into the yard, bedding, carpet, and wherever else the animal spends time.

These eggs then proceed to develop where they have landed. Since they are about 1/12 the size of the adult, they can even develop in small cracks in the floor and between crevices in carpeting. The egg then hatches into larvae. These tiny worm-like larvae live among the carpet fibers, in cracks of the floor, and outside in the environment. They feed on organic matter, skin scales, and even the blood-rich adult flea feces.

The larvae grow, molt twice and then form a cocoon and pupate, waiting for the right time to hatch into an adult. These pupae are very resilient and are protected by their cocoon. They can survive quite a long time, waiting until environmental conditions and host availability are just right. Then they emerge from their cocoons when they detect heat, vibrations and exhaled carbon dioxide, all of which indicate that a host is nearby. The newly emerged adult flea can jump onto a nearby host immediately.

Under optimal conditions, the flea can complete its entire life cycle in just fourteen days. Just think of the tens of thousands of the little rascals that could result when conditions are optimal!

Knowing this life cycle allows us to understand why it has always been important to treat both the host animal and the indoor and outdoor environment in order to fully control flea numbers. Simply sprinkling some flea powder on your pet will not work; simply vacuuming the home vigorously will not work, simply placing a flea collar or using a flea topical on your pet will not work.

PRESCRIPTION FLEA MEDICATIONS

There are a wide variety of flea products on the market today, but the newer prescription products are finally taking the frustration out of flea control with popular and highly effective brands. In some cases it is even possible to gain control by treating only the pet, making prescription treatments one of the best ways to kill fleas fast. Some of these flea products do not harm the adult flea but instead prevents her eggs from hatching, thus breaking the life cycle of the flea; with no reproduction the flea population eventually dissipates as long as the pet isn't coming in contact with new fleas continually.

In warm climates, prescription flea treatment for dogs is typically a year round endeavor, but in other climates treatment should begin in early spring before the flea season starts. In addition, these type of products are not a good choice for animals that are allergic to flea saliva (have flea bite hypersensitivity) since the adult fleas are not killed and are still able to bite the animal.

Where do Pugs hate to shop?
The FLEA MARKET!