Getting Rid of Fleas & Ticks from Your Dog

Parasites are the dog’s worst enemies. Fleas & ticks can send dogs scratching profusely all over their bodies. These annoying parasites cause their hosts discomfort and even fatal health problems. If you suspect that your pet suffers from flea and tick infestation, don’t just watch the poor dog scratch and bite himself until nothing is left of his coat. Help him fight fleas & ticks so that your pet will look good and be healthy again.

To be able to control fleas & ticks, you must first understand how these parasites thrive on a dog’s body. Fleas are blood suckers that can multiply quickly. In just a few weeks, an adult flea can lay about 2,000 eggs. Fleas spend most of their adult life on dogs, biting on a large portion of skin and sucking blood. Only one bite of a flea is enough to make a dog feel itchy all over. It’s because some dogs are allergic to the saliva coming from fleas. In extreme allergy cases, dogs constantly bite at themselves, causing them to lose large patches of hair. It then leads to bleeding and forming of thick, hardened skin at the base of the tail, around the rear legs, and on the feet.

If your dog shows signs of flea infestations, check his body right away. Look around your pet’s belly, ears, and the base of the tail. If you see small brown oval bugs, then your dog has fleas. Give your dog a bit of relief by using flea control products that can help eliminate fleas. A wide variety of flea control products are available nowadays, including flea shampoos, flea sprays, and flea pills. Some of the latest products on the market are formulated to kill adult fleas and stop the development of the life cycle of fleas. Before getting an anti-flea product, it’s best to consult your vet first so that you know which ones can really work to relieve your dog of discomfort.

Ticks are also common among dogs. Most ticks have a life span of up to two years and can produce as many as 5,000 eggs. These pests not only irritate the skin, but also cause a dog and its owner to get ill. Ticks thrive on shrubs and long grasses where dogs usually pass by. Then ticks cling onto the fur, crawl down from the hair to the skin, and bite a big portion of the skin. Ticks are big-time blood suckers, taking in blood for hours or days until they’re full. Tick infestation can be harmful to your dogs because ticks carry disease-causing organisms. Among the diseases transmitted by ticks are lyme disease and tick paralysis.

One thing you can do to control ticks is to use products designed to prevent ticks from clinging onto the skin. A myriad of products are currently available on the market to solve tick problems. To know which one is the best and safest for your pet, again, visit your vet for consultation.

Fleas & ticks are annoying and harmful pests that should be eliminated immediately. The best thing that you can do for your best friend is to fight his worst enemies, which are of course fleas & ticks.