Fall. The time of year when cooler weather is welcomed – and perhaps also the time of year when you start to let your guard down and fall behind with your dog or cat’s monthly flea and tick prevention. Well hold up – not so fast!
First of all – fall is still prime flea and tick season. Letting your pet’s flea and tick prevention lapse could cause your dog or cat to become infested with fleas and/or a host for a variety of tick species. We all know that dealing with a flea or tick problem can be frustrating, time consuming, financially consuming and just down right annoying. Given that one adult female flea can lay 40 to 50 eggs per day, consider how many eggs could be in your house if you are a week or two late on administering the flea prevention!
But fleas and ticks are not just nuisances. They can cause illness and disease in your pets, and they can also transmit a variety of zoonotic diseases to humans. In animals, fleas cause itching and can trigger allergic skin problems which can lead to secondary infections. Severe infestations can lead to anemia. Examples of pathogens that can be transmitted by fleas to pets and humans include tapeworms, Bartonella henselae (the bacteria that causes Cat Scratch Disease), Bubonic Plague, Typhus, and Tularemia, to name a few. Ticks can transmit a number of diseases to both pets and humans. Examples include Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis, and Tularemia. Doesn’t that make keeping your dog and cat flea and tick free seem even more important now? Visit our Paws to Protect section for Lawndale’s flea and tick prevention recommendations!
Author: Dr. C. Noureddine, DVM, MS