126 DDT— Killer of Killers 



10 minutes, and within about two hours they will all be dead. 

 However, since DDT aas as an intoxicant, the fleas show in- 

 creased aaivity for some time after the dog is dusted. One 

 advantage of the DDT treatment is that the dog will remain 

 free from fleas for at least several days after a single appli- 

 cation. Therefore, a dusting once a week should keep your 

 dog perpetually flea-less. 



But treating the animal itself is not enough since the 

 eggs and larvae are scattered around the house. Therefore, 

 you should spray the sleeping places of dogs, and infested 

 floors, rugs, overstuffed furniture, basements, and rat bur- 

 rows with 5 % DDT-kerosene spray. Or, for those areas 

 where staining or a powdery deposit can be tolerated, a 10% 

 DDT powder, a 5 % DDT emulsion, or a 2 % % suspension 

 can be employed in place of the kerosene spray. DDT is 

 particularly effective against flea larvae, so treating the prem- 

 ises is particularly advantageous since it kills the insects be- 

 fore they reach the biting stage and hop on your dog or bite 

 your leg. 



Unfortunately, since cats lick themselves, they should 

 not be treated directly with DDT powder for they might lick 

 enough to become sick. However, treatment of their sleep- 

 ing places and other infested areas, as described above, should 

 be sufficient to get rid of the fleas. 



Tick, Tick 



Dogs not only harbor fleas, they also have ticks. And 

 these little blood-sucking insects are just as bad to have 

 around as fleas. Of course, your dog is by no means the 

 only host to ticks: there are hundreds of species of ticks, and 

 they are found on praaically all kinds of domesticated and 



