Skip to main content

Flea and Tick Season - Protect Your Pets

 When it's not flea and tick season, it's easy to forget what a pain (quite literally) these nasty little insects can be. You may wonder what the big deal is - don't all cats and dogs get fleas? Yes, they do! But it's not just a nuisance. Protecting your pet from fleas and ticks can be the difference between the life and death of your pet, and the health and well-being of your pets and family.


Dangers of Infestation

Fleas and ticks are small critters with a big impact, because they have the advantage of numbers - big numbers. Ticks can carry illnesses like Lyme disease, which can affect both humans and animals. Fleas can transmit tapeworms and heartworms through their bites. Left untreated, heartworm can be fatal. 


And let's not forget that fleas can infest your home. If your pets shed, flea eggs can come off on the hair. Clumps of shed animal hair can then become breeding grounds for fleas. And they are hard to get rid of - you often need multiple, professional, and often expensive applications of powerful pesticide to get the infestation under control. 


Prevention Options

Prevention is the best approach to protecting your pets from fleas and ticks. Here are some of the options.


-Spot-on treatments go between the shoulders or on the back of the neck for cats, and on the back of the neck or down the back of dogs. These can get expensive if you get them from your vet and if you have multiple pets, but there are affordable options. But there are lower-cost, over-the-counter options available these days. Spot-on, topical flea prevention can contain pesticides or you might prefer a more natural spot-on (which is also available). They usually both repel and kill fleas and ticks. They need to be applied on a monthly basis.


-Flea collars can help repel fleas and ticks, but they also need to be kept fresh and replaced regularly. 


-Comb your pet every day with a flea and tick comb. This helps prevent re-infestation between applications of the flea medication.


Treatment Options

Sometimes, it happens - your dog or cat gets infested with fleas, or a tick attaches itself to your pet. There are things you can do to get rid of the infestation. Here are some options.


-Oral flea killers encourage the fleas to bite your pet, and then the fleas die almost immediately. Obviously, this does not prevent fleas from re-infesting your pet a couple of days later, so if you use this option, follow up with a prevention like a topical spot-on. 


-Remove the tick from your pet using tweezers and topical anesthetic. Keep the removed tick in a zip-top bag and freeze it. This will kill the tick but preserve it in case you need to identify it later. (If illness develops, it's important to be able to identify the tick.) 


-Flea powders and sprays are also effective at killing off an infestation. But once again, a preventative measure needs to be taken as well to prevent re-infestation. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music for a New Years Eve Party

 Music for a New Years Eve Party If you are planning a New Years Eve party, one of the most important elements of the party planning is the music you plan to play at the party. Making preparations for the food, beverages, entertainment, decorations, favors and other elements of the party are all very important but the music at the party are critical to the success of the party and can help to determine whether or not the guests have a good time. This article will discuss some of the options for music at a New Years Eve party and will provide information on implementing these options.  Hiring a band is one very popular option for providing music for a New Years Eve party. However, there are some considerations which should be mulled over before deciding to hire a band. One of these important considerations is the amount of space required for the band to set up and perform. This is important especially if you are hosting the party in your home. Before signing a contract with a b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Serious skin care

 ‘Serious skin care’ is about maintaining a healthy and glowing skin all through your life. As you grow older, your body’s natural skin care mechanisms become weaker. So, ‘serious skin care’ is about responding to the changing needs of your skin. Thus, ‘serious skin care’ is about constantly evaluating, analysing and changing your skin care routines. Your skin care routine should change based on the environmental conditions, your age and changes in your skin type.  ‘Serious skin care’ is also about awareness. With the technological advancements and research, more and more facts are being brought to light everyday. Also, the composition and nature of skin care products seems to be changing with time. So trying out the new products is also a part of serious skin care.  However, ‘serious skin care’ advises using a new product over a small patch of skin (not facial skin) first, just to see how your skin reacts to it. ‘Serious skin care’ also means knowing how to use your skin...
Post a Comment
Read more

The recipe for dry skin care

 Dry skin cannot be ignored. Dry skin leads to cracking of the upper layer of skin and gives it a real bad appearance. The main causes of dry skin include: dry climate, hormonal changes, too much exfoliation and treatment of other skin disorders. Moreover, dryness could be the inherent nature of one’s skin. Whatever be the cause, ‘dry skin care’ is very important (but not very difficult).  ‘Dry skin care’ starts with moisturizers, the most effective remedy for dry skin. Generally moisturizers are classified under 2 categories based on the way they provide ‘dry skin care’.  The first category includes moisturizers that provide ‘dry skin care’ just by preserving the moisture within the skin e.g. Vaseline. These moisturizers are relatively inexpensive and are readily available (even at grocery shops).  The second category includes moisturizers that work by drawing moisture from the environment and supplying it to the skin. This is a very effective way of ‘dry skin care’...
Post a Comment
Read more