How to make sure whether your dog/cat has fleas
Fleas will often be unnoticed in your pet´s fur, especially when the fur is of dark colour. If your dog/cat is scratching itself and you have a reason to suspect fleas, then you can make a little experiment to find out the answer.
Take a comb, white paper (the best would be filter or drying paper that would absorb water) and a spray bottle with water.
Place the animal over the paper and comb it. While combing, the dirt and dust will fall on the paper. Then you should spray the paper with water.
If you notice brown blurry streaks around small black bits, then you´re dealing with fleas.
PARASITES
Most common out of the parasites is the flea. Fleas can reproduce eating the blood of any living being, therefore nobody´s protected of them. First changes you can see on an animal are strong itching, hair loss, scabs. Skin infections can be a result of skin itching and scratching. Fleas also spread tapeworm, that can cause symptoms like „riding“ on the bottom (dogs), skin around the anus is tingling, hair loss in that area. Several small animals parasites can also infect humans and are especially dangerous for children. That´s why it´s necessary to give worm pills to your pet, even if he doesn´t go outdoors.
LOUSES parasitize on dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, rats and birds. What makes them different from fleas is that louses live their lives on one specific animal. Symptoms can be tingling on head, neck or groin area, dandruff or hair loss, also sweaty hairless spots.
Unlike fleas and louses, who we are able to see, MITES are hard to notice with bare eye, because they´re small in size and not all of them parasitize on the skin. Some live in the epidermis, hair follicle, ear canal, nostrils. Main clinical signs are tingling, redness, dandruff, hair loss. Those whose pet is suffering from mites, may experience rash, small red spots on the abdomen, chest and arms, which, however, goes away after the treatment of the pet.