Safe and Effective Flea And Tick Prevention For Pets

Spring and summer are when we spend lots of time outdoors with our dogs. It is also the best time to focus on flea, tick, and heartworm prevention. You definitely don’t want fleas and ticks around your pup. Ticks spread numerous diseases and can do so with one single bite! If your dog has severe flea and allergies, your pup will have a rough summer.

Hotter, wetter weather and global warming have prolonged flea and tick season. Studies also show that larger breeds are more often affected than smaller breeds because they spend more time outdoors. More useful tips on dog care on globalpets.info.

Understanding the risk factors in your area and protecting your pets can go a long way. Regular grooming is an excellent way to check for fleas and ticks, and a clean, healthy coat is less likely to harbor fleas and ticks.

What are Flea and Tick Preventatives?

“Fleas and ticks can carry and transmit diseases, which is why preventing infection is important. Preventatives are types of medication that can be safely and routinely given to deter fleas and ticks from biting your dog,” explains Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine.

Fleas

Fleas are probably the most aggravating external parasite around. Some dogs are sensitive to flea saliva, and a single bite can cause flea allergy dermatitis. To get rid of fleas on a dog, talk to your veterinarian.

There are many good flea and tick control products. These are available as topicals, collars, or in a chewable form. A dog that spends a lot of time outdoors or swimming may need a different flea and tick preventative product than a dog that’s mostly indoors.

Ticks

Ticks are as nasty as fleas and can cause havoc in your home. They have brown or black tear-shaped bodies with eight legs. Ticks use their sharp mouthpieces to latch onto your dog’s skin.

This is usually around the ears, neck, legs, feet, and head. To remove a tick, you’ll need to use tweezers to grasp its head. There are many products to kill or repel ticks, and your pup can also get vaccinated against Lyme disease if you live in an area that’s tick-infested.

What Kind of Flea and Ticks Products are Available?

There are numerous flea and tick products available today, with the monthly cost per dose depending on the products and size of the dog. It all comes down to the veterinarian and owner’s preference for which flea and tick preventative to use, such as whether you should opt for flea and tick collar vs. topical vs. chewable.

“Oral preventatives containing isoxazoline (e.g., Nexgard, Simparica, Credelio, Bravecto) also do not prevent tick attachment, but they have a relatively fast tick kill time,” says Cornell Veterinary University. Topical flea and tick products with fipronil (e.g., Frontline) do not repel or prevent tick attachment. “

 Topical options containing permethrin (e.g., K9 Advantix II, Vectra 3D) will repel and prevent tick attachment,” adds Cornell. They go on to say that the kill time is important to note for any flea and tick product because of the many diseases that can be spread if a tick stays on for a long period of time.

Flea-Borne Diseases in Dogs

Fleas can cause a number of diseases with similar symptoms, like scratching, anemia, and alopecia. If left untreated, flea-borne diseases can result in fever, pneumonia, and muscle wastage.

Our choice of flea and tick products has grown exponentially over the past couple of years. Talk to your veterinarian to find a flea and tick preventative that’s effective and safe for your dog’s age, health, and breed.

Tick Diseases in Dogs

You’re probably wondering about the many diseases caused by a tick bite. Tick-borne diseases occur when ticks are infected with a pathogen, attaching to a dog and transmitting the pathogen into the dog’s bloodstream.

The most common diseases spread by ticks include the following:

• Ehrlichiosis
• Anaplasmosis
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Hepatozoonosis
• Babesiosis
• Lyme disease

Safe and Effective Flea And Tick Prevention

Natural Alternatives

Preventative approaches are still the best options for flea and tick control. Topical, spot-on products with natural active ingredients, including peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, cinnamon oil, sesame oil, and thyme oil, are also popular natural alternatives.

There are also veterinarian-formulated natural flea and tick product options that feature peppermint oil together with clove extract to kill fleas and flea eggs on contact.

The downside of all-natural flea and tick preventatives is that they must be applied every two to three days compared to monthly topical treatments. On the other hand, you can find monthly all-natural topical and herbal repellant collars that provide monthly protection.

Rosemary Rinse for Fleas

A rosemary rinse will help repel fleas from your furbaby; besides, it’s easy to use, and you probably have it at home. All you need to do is boil up some Rosemary tea, let it cool, and drain out the leaves. You can use it as a final rinse after bathing your pup or as a spritzer after a trip to the dog park.

Brewer’s Yeast for Fleas

Brewer’s yeast has always been a popular go-to for deterring fleas. You can try combining it with coconut oil for a better taste. What it does is it makes the dog’s blood smell and taste like Brewers Yeast, discouraging fleas from your pup.

What to Do if Fleas and Ticks Attack

While sometimes it’s more difficult to eradicate fleas and ticks, you can go a long way by opting for veterinary-formulated or veterinary-approved flea and tick preventatives that are safe and effective.

Fleas and ticks can be a huge problem for pets, but getting rid of them doesn’t have to be difficult. Using repellents like flea and tick dog shampoos that contain tea tree oil, lavender, fennel, rose geranium, and neem has proven effective against fleas and ticks.

You should also always manually remove ticks with a tweezer and fleas with a flea comb, and clean the comb in hot, soapy water. Another very popular option is diatomaceous earth, which you can sprinkle indoors and outside instead of using anything toxic.