External Parasites Making You Squirm?
What’s the buzz this summer? Fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes can make your pet’s life miserable and can cause serious health problems. The good news is that you can keep these pesky creatures at bay. Find out the top five ways to protect your pet.
Whether he is a couch potato or the active outdoorsy type, your pet deserves to be protected from external parasites. Here is some advice to help prevent fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes from setting up residence on your pet.
1. THINK AHEAD.
Talk with your veterinarian about external parasite prevention before the weather gets warm. Many safe and effective flea and tick control products are now available, so protecting your pet is simply a matter of working with your veterinary team to determine which preventive regimen will be best.
A few days after feeding, a single female adult flea will start laying eggs—as many as 50 a day. Within a few weeks or months, she can lay hundreds or thousands of eggs. If your pet is on a preventive regimen, however, you will not have to worry about having flea infestations on your pet or in your house or yard. Not only can flea preventive products kill adult fleas, but many of them can also keep eggs from hatching or larvae from developing. These products are administered orally or topically. Some are given every few days, while others are given once a month.
Ticks can pass some unpleasant and potentially life-threatening diseases to your pet. To keep your pet safe, your veterinarian will recommend a tick preventive product. These products generally work in one of two ways: They prevent ticks from attaching to a host, or, more commonly, they interfere with a tick’s ability to feed and cause the tick to detach within 24 hours. Both methods are effective at preventing disease transmission. Obviously, a tick that never attaches cannot harm your pet. In addition, it takes at least 24 hours (and possibly longer) for a tick to transmit disease, so if a tick detaches before then, your pet should not contract a tickborne disease. Also, depending on the area in which you live, your veterinarian may suggest administering a Lyme disease vaccine to be absolutely certain your pet is protected.
Mosquitoes can be more than annoying pests; they can also transmit dangerous heartworm disease. In addition to flea and tick control products, your veterinarian will prescribe an appropriate heartworm preventive. As an added incentive, some heartworm preventives also treat your pet for intestinal parasites.
2. USE PREVENTIVE PRODUCTS CORRECTLY.
As the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center advises, “Always read the label carefully before using any flea product on or around your pet.” This also goes for combination flea and tick preventive products. Some products do double duty: They can be used to control fleas and ticks and to prevent heartworm (and other parasites).
Your veterinarian can recommend preventive products that are highly effective and safe to use on your dog or cat.
Do not use human mosquito-repellent products (particularly those that contain DEET) on pets. These products can harm your pet. In addition, “never use a flea control formula on your cat that is only meant for dogs, and vice versa,” says Dr. Debra Eldredge, a veterinarian in Vernon, New York. Some products are meant only for cats, some are meant only for dogs, and some can be used for both. Be sure to follow the packaging instructions and your veterinarian’s advice.
The good news for pet owners is that the currently available flea and tick preventive products are easy to use. Discuss any questions you have with your veterinary team.
3. MAINTAIN A MANICURED YARD.
Clear away any overhanging branches or thick underbrush, mow the grass regularly, and keep the yard as dry and sunny as possible. Ticks tend to hide in brush and wet areas. “If you can keep wildlife such as deer, rabbits, or squirrels out of your yard, you will have a better chance of keeping your pets pest free,” says Dr. Eldredge. “Some deer have ticks, and wildlife may carry fleas.”
Still waters are the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Regularly empty any container in your yard that might collect water, such as birdbaths, buckets, empty trash containers, saucers, and flowerpots. If you have a pond, keep it aerated so water does not have a chance to stagnate.
Clearing parasite breeding grounds will help, but doing so cannot completely protect your pets from being bitten. However, if your pets are on year-round protection, these measures provide a solid complement to their preventive regimen.
4. INSPECT YOUR PETS FOR FLEAS AND TICKS.
Just returned from taking your dog for a walk? Use a comb to thoroughly check his body for any ticks that may have climbed onto his coat. If you spot a tick, remove it immediately. Even if your pet is on a preventive product, you may still find ticks hitching a ride. Remember that many products thwart ticks by interfering with their ability to feed, not their ability to attach.
Look for flea dirt, which resembles black pepper specks but is actually the flea droppings left on your pet’s coat. Scratching, chewing, or licking persistently can also be signs that fleas are present. If your pet is on a preventive product, however, these signs most likely point to some other cause. The best course of action is to contact your veterinarian.
5. PROTECT ALL PETS IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
Just because a pet is always kept indoors does not mean it cannot get fleas or ticks. An owner or another pet in the household that spends more time outdoors could unknowingly bring these parasites inside.
With so many easy-to-use and highly effective preventives available, there is no reason to let pests have a free ride on your pet. Ask your veterinarian which type of prevention is best for your pet, be diligent about administering it regularly, and follow the above recommendations. Then get set for a summer of pest-free fun.
FLEA WORRIES
It is far easier to keep fleas away than to get rid of them. Thus, protecting your pet—and your household— against these parasites is essential. Flea saliva produces an immune system reaction that can cause itching and chronic flea allergy. “If you have a flea problem, you will have to treat the house, yard, and your pet’s bedding with other products,” says Dr. Eldredge. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a treatment plan.
MOSQUITO TROUBLE
Last summer, Hurricane Katrina devastated many Gulf Coast areas, displacing tens of thousands of people and pets. As if the storm-ravaged region has not been hit hard enough already, the residents now have a new threat to worry about: mosquitoes. This summer, experts expect the mosquito population, particularly in Louisiana, to surge. Abandoned swimming pools, blocked drainage ditches, and wastewater treatment plants are all ripe new breeding grounds created by the storm. This increase in mosquito numbers brings with it a much higher risk of mosquito-borne illness, like heartworm, and another good reason to protect your pets.