What’s “bugging” your pets? And what can you do about it?

Preventing parasites from “bugging” your pet and infesting your house and lawn is important for all pet owners.  Parasite preventatives can do just that--keep those nasty critters from bugging your four-legged friends.  They also help prevent an infestation which can start when those pesky bugs try to take a free ride on your cat or dog into your home.  For many, keeping bugs out of the house and off of your pets is reason enough to use parasite preventatives.  However, the issues go much deeper than the cleanliness and comfort of a home.  Fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, flies, lice and mites are not just pesky, they also cause and transmit serious, and sometimes life threatening diseases.  The list of diseases carried by the previously mentioned parasites includes Lyme disease, heartworm disease, Anaplasmosis, Cat Scratch Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and tapeworms just to name a few.  Here is the worst part; your pets are not the only ones at risk of contracting these diseases.  Many of the diseases listed above, and many more not mentioned, can be transmitted from your pet to you!  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are diseases of animal origin and 60% of all human pathogens are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between species.

So what does all this mean?  It means that Fido is not the only one who benefits from parasite preventatives.  You, your children, your neighbors, and your friends are all at risk when your pet is not protected from parasites.  Your pet needs protection all year long; and this can be achieved with once-a-month treatments.  Cold weather is not a good reason to stop using preventatives on your pet.  Biting parasites, including fleas, ticks and mosquitoes can survive through the fall and winter months.  Last winter, despite the cold weather, our clinic saw pets every month with fleas—including January and February.  Even if your pet only rarely goes outside, anyone who has been outside on a hot July day in Wisconsin knows that it only takes seconds before a mosquito takes a lunch break on your arm.  Within only a few minutes of being outside, your pet is exposed to a wide variety of the disease carrying parasites.    

Many parasite preventatives will only kill the parasite after they have taken their first bite of your pet.  Unfortunately, it only takes one bite for your pet to be infected by a disease carrying parasite.  The best type of preventative will not only kill parasites that land on your pets, but they will repel parasites as well. The veterinarians at Maple Knoll Veterinary Clinic, along with the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) and the CDC recommend routine use of monthly heartworm and intestinal parasite preventative as well as flea and tick control year-round for the safety, happiness, and health of your pets, your family, and our entire community.