Fleas & Ticks: More Than Just a Nuisance
Although fleas and ticks pose a threat year-round, they become most active during the warmer months. And unfortunately, your pup’s soft, warm fur is a personal paradise for these parasites! Fleas can cause severe itching and skin irritation – and keep in mind, for every flea on your pup, there could be hundreds of eggs and larvae around your home. Ticks can hide almost anywhere, are tough to eliminate, and can lead to serious and debilitating tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
FLEA 4-1-1
There are more than 200 species of fleas affecting dogs, the most common being Ctenocephalides felis, (ironically) known as cat fleas. They don’t have wings, so they can’t fly – but they are SERIOUS jumpers with the ability to jump 100 to 200 times their size!
In order to sustain life and reproduce, fleas require blood from a host. Fleas transmit disease and can cause tapeworm infections and anemia. These suckers can take in 15 times their own weight in blood!
Fleas are also the most common cause of skin disease in dogs. When a flea bites, it injects saliva into the dog’s skin – for sensitive pups, this can cause an allergic reaction. Signs include severe itching, hair loss (especially in front of the tail), scabs, and red, irritated skin, which may lead to skin infections.
Your dog probably has fleas if:
You see flea droppings (dark specks) in their fur.
You notice flea eggs (white specks) in their fur.
They are excessively licking or scratching.
They have scabs or hot spots on their skin.
To keep fleas out of your house and cut down on the number of bites, it’s important to get fleas off your pup pronto!
Give ‘em a bath – just lukewarm water and mild soap can make an enormous difference! Be gentle, your pup’s skin might be especially sensitive.
Use a flea comb – a flea comb traps fleas while allowing fur to pass through. Pay close attention to the neck and tail areas, where fleas tend to feed.
Eliminate the fleas – if you see a flea on the comb, dunk the comb into hot, soapy water to kill the flea. Don’t try to squish fleas – they jump quickly and can be hard to kill by hand.
Check up regularly – use the flea comb at least once a week until you’re sure that your home and pup are flea-free!
If you don’t want to tackle this at home, bring ‘em to your local Scenthound for a Flea & Tick Treatment, which includes a bath with flea/tick shampoo, blow-dry, and pest removal with a flea/tick comb. Click here to find a Scenter near you.
An adult female starts laying eggs the day after its first consumption of blood, producing up to 50 eggs per day and about 2,000 in its lifetime! When it’s too cold or there’s no host available, flea pupae (the development stage before becoming an adult flea), have the ability to remain in their tiny cocoons hidden in your house until it warms up or an ideal host comes along.
Clearly, it doesn’t take long to have an infestation on your hands, leading to a pricey and time-consuming extermination process.
TRUTH ABOUT TICKS
Ticks are another type of blood-sucking parasite that cling to animals and people. Once attached to a host, ticks feed ravenously. As they feed, they can transmit a large number of diseases including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and ehrlichiosis (a bacterial infection).
Unlike fleas, ticks don’t need a host to survive – they can wait an entire year without feeding! They typically live in grassy and wooded areas, preferably in a humid environment, lying in wait for a host to walk by so they can latch on.
You can easily spot ticks on your dog – they are often found near the head, neck, ears, or paws. You may also feel them when you’re petting your pup. If you find one, it’s important to remove it ASAP to reduce the chance of spreading disease.
Tick removal consists of three basic steps:
Use tweezers to grasp the head of the tick as closely to the dog’s skin as possible.
Pull with a firm, steady, upward motion.
Apply a disinfectant to the wound to prevent infection.
Unfortunately, people can get many of the same tick-borne diseases that affect dogs. If you don’t want to risk it, let Scenthound sort things out – we’ll remove the tick as part of our Flea & Tick Treatment. To get started, click here to find a Scenter near you.
Signs of Tick-Borne Diseases:
Loss of appetite
Fever
Swollen lymph nodes
Joint swelling or pain
Ticks can cause other health problems including anemia, skin irritation or infection, and tick paralysis (motor paralysis caused by a toxin in the tick's saliva that attacks the nervous system).
PREVENTION
Your first line of defense is to make your home and yard less appealing to fleas and ticks. Mow the lawn regularly and keep trees and shrubs manicured. If you’re planting new shrubs, keep them away from your house and each other – air movement and sunlight kill flea larvae. Be sure to seal off any openings to crawl spaces, garages, sheds, or under decks to avoid rodents and feral animals from setting up shop. But, thanks to effective topical flea and tick control products, infestations inside homes are much less common today.
A dog with fleas and ticks can infect you, your home, and your other pets – so preventatives are the smartest option. Choices include oral medications, topical drops, and special flea and tick collars for your dog. It’s best to work with your veterinarian to decide on the right regimen that fits your pup’s age, health, and breed, as well as the environment you live in. There are no vaccines for most tick-borne illnesses! Using up-front treatments helps avoid serious health problems and higher costs later.
When temperatures rise, flea eggs are safe to hatch outside, and ticks can thrive in woods and tall grasses. This is also the time of year that you and your dog are more likely to spend hiking and walking and enjoying nature. The best defense against fleas and ticks is to keep your dog on a year-round flea and tick preventive medication as recommended by your veterinarian.
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Dr. Jim MacLean
Chief Veterinarian, Scenthound
Dr. MacLean’s first job was working as a grooming assistant when he was 15 years old. Since then, he has worked in every aspect of small animal veterinary hospitals, has practiced in small animal medicine and surgery for 26 years, and has owned and started multi-doctor veterinary hospitals.
With a mind for both medicine and business, Jim received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from VMRCVM at Virginia Tech in 1994 and his MBA from Georgetown University in 2011.
Coming full circle, he joined the Scenthound pack to bring his expertise and experience to the grooming world. As chief veterinarian, Dr. MacLean guides Scenthound from a health and medicine perspective and helps achieve our mission to improve overall pet health on a broader scale.