Our cats and dogs have fur, which is an ideal place for fleas and ticks to hide! You can check for fleas and ticks on your pet when you groom them. You should look for more than just the flea itself, watch for black and white specs in the fur. These are flea eggs, often called “flea dirt”.
You can also look for skin redness and frequent scratching, chewing, or biting. The biggest problem with fleas is that by the time you see these signs, you probably already have a infestation! Contact your veterinarian to treat the irritation.
Flea and tick preventives are important because getting rid of an infestation is difficult. Each pet in your house should be on year round preventive medication. Fleas and ticks can survive in any warmer environment, such as your home, carpet and crawl spaces, even when it’s cold outside. The preventative medicine can be topical or oral. They are safe and usually treatment of your pet once a month is all that is needed. As your local Lansdale Pet Sitter, I use K9 Advantix II on my dog and Pet Armor on my cats!
To reduce the risk of fleas and ticks around your yard, clear woodpiles, debris and keep your yard as free as possible of wildlife. There is a chemical treatment for your lawns to reduce flea and tick populations.
Fleas and ticks are a health risk, both for our pets and us. Flea and tick bites cause irritation but they can also carry disease! Some people have an extreme allergic reaction to the saliva of a flea, which is transmitted when they bite. Ticks can carry Lyme disease! So generally its best not to have any of these bugs on your pets!
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