Fleas, Ticks, and Heartworms

After a cold and snowy winter, it's very nice when Mother Nature brings us some beautiful weather. Unfortunately, along with this beautiful weather, we receive some not so beautiful seasonal pests. Internal parasites, such as intestinal worms and heartworms, are more prevalent in warm weather. Similarly, external parasites, such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitos are also on the rise in nice weather.

Currently, I am seeing animals with fleas just about every day. We are regularly seeing cases of flea bite dermatitis, flea allergies, and home infestations.

I have also begun to see tick infestations as well. We have had several positive tests recently for Lyme disease as well as other tick transmitted diseases.

Unfortunately, we also recently diagnosed a case of heartworm disease in a local dog.

Please consider using SAFE and EFFECTIVE products to control and prevent internal and external parasites. For dogs, we recommend Vectra 3D and Tri-Heart. For cats, we recommend Revolution. If you are using a different over-the-counter product, please feel free to ask us about it. We will give you an honest comparison to our recommended products. There are many over-the-counter flea and tick products that are very toxic (poisonous) to our pets, and we often see these overdose cases in our practice. There are also many products that simply don't work, and we also see these cases every day.

If you would like to read more about the health issues your pets could experience from internal and external parasites, please read my blog article entitled "Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful".