What To Know About Fleas And Ticks
In the last few years, winters in the United States have been warmer than ever, which means that bugs and critters are showing up earlier and earlier in the spring. For pet owners, this is important to know because it means that as you spend time outdoors with your pets in the nice spring and summer weather, it’s more important than ever to remember to protect your animals from fleas and ticks.
Below, we’ll look at what you need to know about these two pesky insects to keep your pets safe.
What Are Fleas And Ticks?
Ticks
It’s important to check your animals for ticks every time they come in the house from outdoors. Furthermore, keep in mind that ticks like to live in long grass, so keep the grass short where it surrounds your home.
Fleas
Fleas can come into your yard from all sorts of wild animals, including coyotes, untreated dogs and cats, raccoons, and skunks. If you can keep these animals away from your property, you’ll be protecting your own cats and dogs from fleas. But you might try some other tactics at keeping fleas away as well.
For example certain types of plants may repel fleas naturally. Speak to a local landscaper or garden serviceman about plants that you can implement into your own garden or yard landscape to help repel fleas. You should also be giving your dog or cat a regular flea bath with a proven-effective flea shampoo.
See Your Vet For An Effective Flea And Tick Control Product
There are numerous products on the market that can help with flea and tick control. Most of these need to be administered by a professional veterinarian.
One popular product is a special treatments that goes topically on the fur of your animal to repel ticks and fleas. There are also oral medications that you can give your dog or cat to prevent diseases that may be linked with tick and flea bites.
Furthermore, if you have noticed flea or tick bites on your animal already, you may want to see your veterinarian to make sure that the bites are not infected. Ticks, especially, can be dangerous as they can cause Lyme disease. If you find a tick on your pet, take the proper precautions to remove it and save it in a small plastic bag or container. If your pet end up showing any symptoms of Lyme disease, it’s important to take the tick and your animal in for a checkup to make sure that they do not have Lyme disease and are healthy.
Contact La Habra Animal Hospital & Pet Motel
Our staff at La Habra Animal Hospital & Pet Motel can help you make sure that your dogs and cats are fully protected from fleas and ticks. We offer numerous products and services to keep you and your animals tick- and flea-free.
To make an appointment, give us a call at (562) 697-3885. We look forward to welcoming you to our La Habra location!