Your family dog should go to the veterinarian at regular intervals for check-ups. The vet will make sure your dog is in good health by checking many things. You can do several things on your own, though. One of those things is to check his skin for fleas. While checking for fleas, also check for ticks, and for skin damage done by mites or lice, which are usually too small to see with the naked eye.

Look for dry, scaly patches, or small, bloody spots about the size of a pore. The arid Tucson air will exacerbate the dryness, and make it more irritating to the dog than it would be in more humid climates, and more easily seen. Also look for cuts caused by excessive scratching, and for areas where the fur has been removed, or seems to be thinning heavily. These are all signs of external infestation.

It's almost a sure thing that if your dog scratches a lot, he or she has a skin problem that needs to be attended to. You know how nuts it drives you to have an itch that you can't make go away – your dog is no different. Most often, skin problems and excessive itching on dogs are caused by fleas – except in the ear areas, where they are likely to be ear mites.

Fleas are extremely common parasites, found almost everywhere in the continental United States. Unfortunately for Tucson residents, one of the places they like most is sandy, loose soil areas – something that's quite common in the Tucson desert environment. Fleas are not just troublesome for dogs – they can be bad for their masters and their families – and also most other warm-blooded animals. The parasitic flea will hop a ride on just about anything that's warm, and has blood. It survives by chewing a hole in the skin of its host, and then drinking the blood.

Dogs also sometimes develop an allergy to the flea's saliva, and this allergy can be quite severe. If the dog becomes allergic or hyper-sensitive to the fleas saliva, it will scratch at itself frantically. This scratching thins their coat and makes their skin very swollen, tender and sore. The scratching can become bad enough that the dog creates serious wounds on itself, which it still continues to scratch. Also, your dog can develop a scratching "habit," that will last even after the flea problem disappears, and that's another problem to deal with.

I've read several articles that suggest you use a flea comb (a small comb with tiny teeth that are spaced very closely together) to determine if your dog has fleas. Frankly, I've never had any luck with this method as fleas are very proficient at avoiding efforts to see or touch them. Their bodies are flat, and their legs are built for quick bursts of speed and 'long' jumps. I suggest that you take your dog to someplace where there is a white background – so you can see the fleas jump. Then, take a mild flea solution and spray it onto your rubber-gloved hand. Now, rub your hand around the dog's neck, underbelly, and over the tail. Get down to the skin, and watch closely. It's even better if another family member watches with you – two heads are better than one, and four eyes are better than two. The insect killer on your hands will cause the fleas to quickly escape the area, which will make the jump out of the dog's coat and become visible for a few seconds.

If you confirm that your dog has fleas, in order to rid your dog of these parasites, you'll have to kill all of the fleas AND the eggs that they have laid. This means not only treating the dog, but his bedding, yard areas, and maybe even (hopefully not) the house. Once these things dig in, they are a real challenge to remove, but if you don't, the problem can escalate to something wholly intolerable for the dog and the family members.

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End Note: Back to Article
Small bloodsucking insects belonging to the family of Siphonaptera. Fleas have legs that have adapted over time for long distance jumping. Fleas are parasites that live on warm-blooded hosts.