Conditions Associated With Those Nasty Blood Sucking Ticks And Fleas
Besides just being a nuisance and an annoyance for your dog, fleas and ticks pose serious health risks for your dog. In fact, fleas and ticks can also cause serious health issues for people. Fleas often bite humans and some people are very allergic to their salvia, leading to welts and significant rashes. Children are usually most affected by the bite of a flea and with constant scratching secondary skin infections can occur.
Of course flea allergies are extremely common in dogs of all breeds. This leads to compulsive scratching, hot spots, hair loss and even mutilation of the skin as the dog scratches, bites and licks to try to relieve the itch. Besides causing skin irritation fleas are also the vector that transmits tapeworm to dogs. There are other diseases transmitted by fleas as well. One species of flea known as Xenopsylla cheopis or a rat flea is the cause of the bubonic plague that killed over 200 million people. Fleas always have one species they prefer to live on, hence the name rat flea or dog flea or cat flea, but they will bite and feed on any most mammals if what the primary feeding source is not available.
Ticks are much less picky than fleas and will happily feed on almost any warm blooded animal, including humans. Ticks are not insects but rather are a type of arachnid in the same family as spiders. Ticks can be soft or hard shelled but in the United States most ticks will be hard shelled. Ticks are found across the country with different areas more commonly associated with a different species.
Ticks of different species carry different diseases that can be found in dogs and cats and in some cases also in humans. One of the most common tick associated diseases found in people as well as animals is Lyme Disease. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, tick paralysis and anaplasmosis are other common tick borne health conditions found in most parts of the United States.
Both ticks and fleas can also cause anemia in dogs and cats. When large numbers of fleas and ticks feed off the pet the number of blood cells in the body is greatly reduced. When dogs are already stressed or ill this can often create life threatening conditions in a very short period of time.
Eliminating fleas and ticks from your dog has never been as easy as it is today. There are a variety of different options including monthly topical applications, chewable pills, vaccinations, sprays and treated collars. We are happy to talk with you about the best flea and tick prevention program for your pet to prevent any of the heath conditions associated with these nasty little pests.