Fleas and Ticks

If your pet has been bothered in the past by fleas and/or ticks you may want to prepare for the upcoming flea and tick season.

Fleas are very small, six legged jumping parasites that depend on a blood meal from their host for their survival. Fleas are much more than just a nuisance for you and your pet they are also disease-transmitters. Fleas cause irritation for the pet when they deposit saliva while taking a blood meal. Allergy to these mouth juices develops in many dogs causing great discomfort and potential infections of the skin. For the dog and a somewhat lesser degree for the cat the flea serves as an intermediate host for heartworm disease. The flea passes the larval form - the microfilaria - to the dog host during the process of obtaining the blood meal. I have seen severely infested dogs suffering from anemia due to the volume of blood taken by the fleas. The host dog becomes weakened and is therefore an easy target for other parasites and generalized infections. Another factor to consider is that you and I are potential hosts for this pest, the flea, and can contract such dreaded diseases as typhus, tapeworms, bubonic plague and even tetanus.

The tick is a round bodied, eight legged parasite who, like the flea, depends on the blood of the host animal for survival. The tick, unlike the flea, burrows it's head into the skin of the host and after a several day feeding period drops off the host to find a place to deposit eggs thus completing the life cycle. Ticks generally flourish in wooded or brushy areas where they can easily "hop" on their next meal ticket as it walks by. Ticks can transmit a number of diseases to their host including Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, tularemia and Q-fever. The deer tick transmits Lyme Disease to domestic animals and man.

How can you determine if your pet is having a problem with one or more of these pests?

When you groom your dog or cat periodically part the hair and look for the fleas. This can be a little difficult because of their size so I recommend looking for "flea-dirt", black deposits of digested blood left on the dog's skin by the flea droppings. Good places to look are in and around the ears and the groin area. A simpler way is to stand your pet on some dampened paper towels and brush or comb vigorously. The action of combing or brushing will loosen the "flea-dirt" which falls on the dampened cloth. The otherwise black specks on the skin turn reddish brown color indicating digested blood and the fact that fleas are present or have been present.

Ticks are pretty easy to identify as by the time you see them they have burrowed their head into the skin and are taking a blood meal causing their body to enlarge.
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT PULL THE TICK OFF THE DOG as this will more than likely leave the head in the skin and an infection will result. Take a cotton swab, put some petroleum jelly on the cotton and then put the jelly around the head of the tick. After a few minutes light a match then blow it out and immediately touch the hot end of the match to the rear of the tick. May take a couple of tries but the tick will let go. Clean the wound with alcohol or disinfectant and apply a triple antibiotic ointment.

If you identify that there is a problem contact your veterinarian for recommendations on a total environmental control program along with preventative measures for your pet. I personally have my dog Wilson on monthly heartworm/other parasite preventative year round AND a flea/tick preventative.

If your home environment has been invaded there are professional treatments available that are non-toxic to pets and people and they work.