DATE: Wednesday, July 9, 1997               TAG: 9707090060

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

NEW PRODUCTS FIGHT FLEAS, TICKS

DOG BITES ARE on the rise in Hampton Roads. But Bowser's not the culprit. He's the victim.

Every year the story is the same in Hampton Roads. Along with the arrival of warm, humid weather come fleas and ticks, the pesky critters that assault pets with a vengeance.

Just ask Lady's owner, William Peyton.

The Virginia Beach resident said he's careful to walk his Eskimo spitz only through mown grass, not in fields or woods. Even so, he said that he has seen more ticks this year than in any of the 15 years he has lived in his Great Neck neighborhood.

``Good gravy!'' Peyton said recently, ``I pulled seven ticks off her this week.''

This season may well prove to be worse than most thanks to a warm winter that allowed insects to winter over. Fortunately, though, pet owners can find plenty of new weapons available to fight off the insects' invasion this year.

No more relying on dips, flea powders, flea collars, yard and house sprays, exterminators or any other paraphernalia that used to preoccupy pet owners in Hampton Roads summers.

A new day has dawned for pets and their owners, and the miracle has come in the form of not one but several new products. They range from a flea birth control pill to concentrated liquids that need only be applied once a month or less to combat fleas - and in some cases ticks.

It's also a new day for local veterinarians, who used to spend a good part of their summers treating dogs and cats for flea-related allergies.

``It's wonderful for everybody,'' said Chesapeake veterinarian Ruth Ann MacQueen, president of the South Hampton Roads Veterinary Medical Association.

The pests that set pet owners on edge drive most animals crazy, too. Flea saliva often is the cause of skin irritation and allergy in dogs and cats. Fleas also are carriers of tapeworms, which can debilitate pets, said Virginia Beach veterinarian William Aubrey Webb. Ticks also can cause illness in animals, but more rarely than fleas.

One of the most touted new defenses is Frontline Top Spot, a liquid that requires applying only a few droplets between an animal's shoulder blades. The active ingredient, fipronil, dissolves in oils on the skin and spreads over the entire body by a process called translocation.

Frontline, which comes in versions for cats and dogs, kills fleas for up to three months and ticks for up to one month. The insects fall off dead before they have a chance to take a bite, so it is great for allergic animals. Frontline is also effective even after an animal has had a bath or gone swimming, which is good for labrador retrievers and other water-loving dogs, Webb said.

Other products also work like Frontline. For example, Advantage kills only fleas and not ticks, and works on house cats or dogs that don't go into tick-infested areas, Webb explained. An even newer product, Breakthru, claims to kill mosquitoes, too.

One of the first breakthroughs in flea control was a type of birth control pill for fleas called Program. In pill form for dogs and liquid form for cats, Program contains a flea-specific chemical called lufenuron. When the flea bites an animal on Program, it ingests lufenuron, which stops flea eggs from developing.

Program is good for animals that don't have flea allergies, don't come in contact with many and don't come across ticks, maybe apartment dwellers, Webb said.

``Take Virginia Beach. We have lots of green area, and lots of rodents and lots of rabbits that have fleas,'' Webb said. ``This isn't hog heaven. It's flea heaven.''

Most new products are available from veterinarians. You should discuss with him or her which would be best for your pet and lifestyle.

The products are not inexpensive. Depending on the animal's weight, type of pet, choice of product and where it is purchased, you can expect to spend $30 or more for three to six month's worth of treatment. But if you weigh that against the time and money you spend on flea sprays, dips and baths, it might seem cheap in the long run.

The next thing you do is cross your fingers and hope fleas won't become immune to the new miracles as they did to flea collars and other products in the past.

``How long they're going to work is another thing,'' Webb said. ``I hope the fleas aren't immune in four, five or six years down the pike.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH/The Virginian-Pilot

William Peyton of Virginia Beach holds his Eskimo spitz, Lady. ``I

pulled seven ticks off her this week,'' he said recently.

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