Itching to be Outdoors

The warmer weather tends to bring all of us outside more – people and pets alike. And with warmer temperatures come unwelcomed pests such fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Preventative measures – as well as immediate treatment if you do find any of these unwanted visitors on your pet - is a must. Many pets are highly sensitive to the saliva from flea bites and can chew and scratch themselves raw where bitten, while mosquitoes and ticks can spread dangerous illnesses such as Heartworm and Lyme disease. You and your veterinarian can work together to a prevention and/or treatment program that works best for your pet and his or her specific needs.

Some “Pest-y” Facts:

-Fleas are tiny wingless insects that can jump incredibly high comparatively speaking to there size – as much as 8 inches, or the equivalent of an average human jumping 150 feet.

-Fleas live for about 100 days. A flea can lay 40-50 eggs in a day, which means a single flea can produce 400-500 offspring in its lifetime.

-If you see a single flea on your pet, you can assume you have close to 100 more nearby in crevices, furniture, carpeting, or on your pet.

-If you find a tick on your pet, it’s important to remove it as quickly as possible as some tick diseases can be transmitted very soon after a tick attaches while other diseases are not transmitted until at least 2 days after a tick has been feeding.

-Ticks are generally divided into 2 categories: hard and soft. Both carry diseases. Hard ticks secret a chemical in their saliva which helps “cement” them to their host.