Dog Fleas & TicksThe TICK season is upon us and many of you are uncertain what you should be doing about it. What exactly is a tick and how does my dog get them? Ticks are small insects that attach to the skin of animals and feed from their blood. Before feeding they are just a few millimeters long but when engorged with blood can grow to the size of a pea. They are often found on the ears, face or abdomen of dogs. Ticks are most common where there are sheep, deer or hedgehogs. They spend much of their lives in the grass but during the season (March to June and August to November), when your dog passes the ticks will try to attach themselves in order to feed. How much of a problem are ticks? They can cause local irritation where they bite and attach and may cause your dog to lick or scratch obsessively at that site. If you try to remove a tick by pulling it from the skin, it is easy to leave the tick's head buried in the skin. This can cause continuing irritation. Ticks can carry infection such as Lyme Disease which they transmit when they feed on the host's blood. Lyme Disease causes lameness due to painful joints, fever, lethargy and loss of appetite. Infected dogs need to be treated with antibiotics. Lyme Disease can also affect people - current estimates are that between 500 and 2000 people a year are infected in the UK alone. In warmer climates - you need to be especially vigilant on holidays in southern Europe - 'tick fever' is an important cause of illness and death in domestic pets. What should I do about ticks on my dog? If you find a tick on your pet, use a tick hook to carefully remove the tick without leaving the mouthparts embedded in the skin Frontline Spot On is rapidly effective in killing ticks within 24 hours of contact. Ticks will not generally be able to pass on infection until they have been attached for 48 hours, so this sould provide good protection. Where there is heavy local tick infestation, you should condsider asking your vet to prescribe a product that will actually repell ticks such as Advantix. Other prescription only medicines that provide good tick control include Promeris, Prac-Tic and Scalibor collars FLEAS Adult dog fleas (scientific name ctenocephalides felis – a little known fact is that the commonest flea found on dogs is actually the cat flea) don’t live for very long. The average life span is just 3 weeks, but during that time the female fleas will lay up to 50 eggs a day, and amazingly enough that can make up to 1000 eggs in one short life. Under ideal conditions (a warm house with carpets, pets and people) eggs can go through their full life cycle to larvae, pupae and hatching out into new adults in as little as 3 weeks, making for a rapid population explosion if we don’t take rapid and early action. Equally, if it is too cold, dry or quiet they can lay dormant for up to a year, hatching out when the weather warms up or even when they start to detect more movement around them. Just when you thought you’d sorted out your flea infestation…. Fleas can cause skin irritation, allergic reactions and nasty skin sores if dogs start to lick themselves excessively in an attempt to rid themselves of these parasites. Some people are also unlucky enough to be attractive to fleas and sensitive to their bites. You can order 100% safe non-prescription Frontline Spot On flea drops for dogs: this product will over the course of 24 hours kill any fleas that are currently on your dog, and stay active in the coat for many weeks. A spray such as Indorex , as Staykill , Acclaim or Skoosh for your home will also prevent any flea eggs that may already be present from developing into adults. There are also a number of very specific and highly effective Prescription Only Medicines available on this site - just scroll down this page - that will give a very high level of parasite control throughout the year. We suggest you ask your veterinary surgeon about the most effective product, then ask them for a prescription so that you can purchase the products as a massive discount from us!
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