The warm spring weather has brought dog and cat fleas back to life, which means misery for dogs like Maddie.

But a new weapon can help to keep them at bay.

Maddie is a 12-year-old lurcher. Usually she is happy and relaxed (provided she doesn't see a cat or rabbit to chase), but summer can start the itching that turns her into a restless, smelly, miserably wreck who cannot sleep or settle.

It all started last August. Her owner brought her to see me because she was scratching. She had a greasy, smelly coat with red spots around her thighs and neck and a licked sore on her back just in front of her tail.

Her troubles had started after her owner took her with him to help an old lady whose dog had died a short time before. To cut a long story short, the house had been hopping with hungry fleas and Maddie had brought several home with her.

Gradually over the weeks that followed she had developed not only dermatitis from the fleas but a full-blown allergy to them. Now she needs only one or two flea bites a month to turn from her usual happy self into a miserable itchy heap.

For Maddie to have a happy and itch-free summer she needs to live in a house without fleas. Fleas spend most of their time living and breeding not on the dog but in the house around the cracks and crannies that are always there.

Keeping Maddie happy and itch-free needs a two-pronged attack. I have given her owner Frontline to use once a month. Frontline is the most effective spray currently available. It actually lasts up to three months on dogs and two months on cats, and also comes and works well as drops on the back of the neck.

The other prong of the attack is to spray the house with either Acclaim or Indorex spray that kills fleas and stops flea eggs hatching. Acclaim lasts up to seven months. Indorex is claimed to last a year. It is new and goes on sale this week. You should find both of these at your vet's.

Many of the older sprays like Nuvan Top and Nuvan Staykill contained organo-phosphate insecticides which are now frowned on for safety reasons.

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