Beaphar

fleas ticks

Flea species
There are several species of fleas. The two most common ones are cat and dog fleas. The cat flea is frequently the most encountered species on both cats and dogs.
The scientific name for the cat flea is Ctenocephalides felis. Despite the fact that this species mainly occurs on cats, it lives happily on dogs, too. The dog flea, Ctenocephalides canis, cannot survive on cats so easily. Because of this, the cat flea is able to out-compete the dog flea.
The cat flea is not the most frequent species of flea everywhere in the world. In some countries, such as Greece, New Zealand and Ireland, the dog flea is the prevailing species found on dogs.

The lifecycle
A flea’s lifecycle covers four stages:
• a mature flea lays an egg,
• the egg turns into a larva,
• the larva turns into a pupa,
• the pupa turns into a flea.

Fleas can be a permanent problem for pets. An adult flea normally lives for roughly 2-4 weeks. As soon as they hop onto a pet, they will begin to suck its blood.
After 36 hours, the adult female flea will lay its first eggs. They can produce up to 50 eggs a day ! All eggs fall from the dog or cat and land in the environment: on your carpet, pillows, parquet floor, in your car, on the bed, etc. The eggs will usually hatch after 5-10 days, depending on temperature and humidity.
The larvae crawl out of the eggs and feed on shed skin and the faecal matter of adult fleas that contain undigested blood. The larvae will shed their skin twice, taking approximately 5-10 days. They prefer a warm, moist environment, and avoid direct light to prevent themselves from drying out.

Ticks dangerous and unwelcome guest
Ticks are parasites as well. When an animal or a person walks past an area where ticks are residing, they will hop onto their desired target. Their next step is to bite into yours or your pet’s skin to suck up blood. Ticks mainly attach themselves on dogs and cats, and are known to carry several diseases. People can also be infected when bitten by a tick.
One of the most dangerous diseases ticks can carry is Lyme Disease. Although not every tick will carry Lyme Disease, about 15% of ticks carry the disease and can transfer it onto people.
The tick will use its serrated mouthparts to attach to the skin, and will then proceed to fill itself with blood. During their feeding process, bacteria and viruses in the tick’s body can be transferred into the blood stream of the animal or human. The chance of infection increases the longer the tick is attached to its host (after 48 hours).
This is why it is important to remove a tick as quickly as possible (within 48 hours). Check your cat or dog regularly for ticks, especially during the summer. The faster you remove a tick, the smaller the chance of infection of the feared Lyme Disease will be.
Beaphar developed Sherley’s Tick Away to ensure ticks will be removed easily and hygienically. The package consists of a handy spray can which can be used to apply the product directly onto the tick. It will freeze the tick and in most cases the whole tick will drop from your pet’s coat after approximately 15 minutes. Tick Away makes sure you do not have to touch the tick. The product comes in a small and handy container that you can take with you during walks in the forest. If the tick has been attached to your pet longer than a few hours, it will often already have a firm grip on your pet’s skin. In these cases, Tick Away will still freeze the tick, but you might need to remove the tick manually. We recommend using tick tweezers for this purpose.
Because Tick Away freezes the tick immediately, it does not have the chance to empty its disease- infected stomach contents into your pet’s bloodstream. This will lessen the chances of ticks transmitting infectious diseases.