Flea, Ticks, and Mosquitoes ...Oh My!!!

Part 2 Ticks

With the warmer weather upon us, ticks are beginning to emerge in the environment. They feed on blood but are not as irritating to dogs as fleas are. Ticks carry many infectious diseases such as Lyme disease, ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or even tick paralysis.

A tick's life cycle can last up to 2 years with the larvae, nymph, and adult stages all able to feed on pets and people. Right before a female tick lays eggs, she consumes a massive amount of blood (up to 600 times her body weight in blood). These are the engorged ticks you find on your pet.

Ticks tend to gravitate to vertical objects to lay eggs or to wait for a passing host they can jump on. Carbon dioxide, as well as heat and movement, stimulate them to seek out a host. They will often be found on or around bushes or rock walls, and are rarely found out in the middle of your yard. Dogs who like to investigate bushy areas or wooded areas with heavy brush are at risk of picking up ticks.

Fortunately, there are several good tick preventions products that both kill and repel ticks that are combined with a flea control so that you only need to apply one product monthly to control both ticks and fleas. Please feel free to contact our office at 816-353-6681 for our current recommendations.

Fleas, Ticks and Mosquitoes...Oh My!!!

Part 1 Fleas

Along with the arrival of warm weather, Mother Nature annually re-introduces large populations of bugs. Spring is an active period for many pests, including fleas and ticks. Fleas are the most common parasite affecting dogs and cats. They can jump onto your pet, or you, from infested environments such as homes, yards, wooded areas and parks. Adult fleas live on the pet, they generally do not jump from pet to pet or pet to human.

Once a host has been found, they typically stay, feed and mate. Female fleas start laying eggs 24 hours later, 40 - 50 eggs every day, laying up to 2000 eggs over their lifetime. We used to think that fleas jumped off their host to lay their eggs in dark crevices in or around the house, now we know that fleas don't leave their host. Laid in the fur of our pets, the slippery eggs roll off -- ending up in the carpet or outdoors, wherever our pets spend most of their time.

In a flea infestation, only 5% of the fleas are adults living on your pet, the remaining 95% live as immature stages in the pet's surroundings. Even if all adult fleas are killed, the immature life stages will continue to develop into adult fleas and reinfest your pet for months. This is why it is important to protect your pet monthly, the flea life cycle is constantly in action producing new adult fleas from eggs laid 3 weeks or more ago.

The two most common health issues fleas can cause are tapeworms and flea allergy dermatitis. Fleas carry tapeworms, which are transmitted to your pet after ingesting a flea, usually by grooming in cats and chewing in dogs. Flea allergy dermatitis is one of the most common skin allergies seen by veterinarians, usually causing pets to itch and scratch themselves by their tail.

Consistency is the key to controlling flea populations. You must treat your pet each month to continue to kill the new adult fleas that are emerging from the environment. Fortunately, there are several flea prevention products for your pet that work well. Please feel free to contact our office at 816-353-6681 for our recommendations.