Does my pet have a flea allergy?

What is a flea allergy?

A flea allergy is an allergy in which the dog or cat suffers an allergic reaction due to a flea bite. Every time a flea bites your animal, it leaves behind saliva that prevents the blood from clotting immediately. This saliva is what causes the itching that all animals experience after a bite. However, an animal with flea allergy experiences a much more extreme form of itching.

When a flea bites it releases saliva. The proteins in this saliva cause the allergic reaction and are the allergens here. In an allergic reaction, your pet's immune system reacts with a violent, extensive inflammatory reaction which causes extreme itching.

What are the symptoms?

When your dog or cat has developed a flea allergy, a new flea bite causes extreme itching. One bite in five days already causes persistent complaints in flea allergy. The itching occurs mainly in the places where most fleas are. These are often the back, in the groin, under the belly and just in front of the tail.

The itching is so intense that the animal keeps licking, biting and scratching. At first, it sometimes appears that the animal is excessively washing itself. Then, we often see damage to the skin caused by excessive licking and biting. If ed cat or dog does not stop licking and scratching, wounds and bald patches may develop. This damaged skin can become inflamed, which the dog or cat will then lick. Constant irritation of the skin can lead to a hot spot. A hot spot (pyotraumatic dermatitis) is a local inflammation of the skin caused by excessive licking, biting and/or scratching. A hotspot is in itself another reason for excessive licking, scratching and biting. It is also possible for a larger part of the skin to become inflamed, in which case we call it a dermatitis. Here, it was caused by fleas and is then called flea dermatitis.

Diagnosis

Unfortunately, fleas are (still) a common cause of itching and skin complaints. Based on the complaints and the Demonstrating flea droppings, your vet will give a plausible diagnosis and advice. Proper de-fleaing often establishes the diagnosis within three months. In addition, the vet can do a reasonably reliable skin test.

What to do in case of flea allergy?

The advice will probably be to properly de-flea your pets and your home on a very regular basis. There are several products for this, such as Fiprotec Combo Dog and Fiprotec Combo Cat or Sersto Cat and Sersto Dog. Of course, the environment should also be treated, as most of the flea population is located there and not on the animal. The environment can be made flea-free well with remedies such as Indoor-x or Flea & Mite-environment-spray. Remember that all pets (with a remedy suitable for them) should also be treated to prevent fleas from being left there.

If the skin is damaged too much by all the scratching, the vet can also prescribe medication to break the vicious cycle. To give the skin extra support, in addition to a good flea medication, you can also use, for example, Dermoscent Essential 6 Spot-On or Allerderm Spot-On. These are spot-on remedies to provide additional help to the recovering skin and do not affect the effect of the flea medicine used.

When there is more of a hot spot, you can use the hot spot spray Dermacool. This spray is cooling, helps relieve itching and will soothe and condition the skin on the spot.

-This is an automated translation-