Image: Cat scratching (Noelle via Unsplash)
Fleas and ticks survive on drinking your pet’s blood. Dogs, cats, and rabbits can get these nasty parasites. The main signs of fleas and ticks are itching, biting skin, and scratching a lot, which then causes red, inflamed skin. If your dog is light coloured, you may see the fleas moving around and even jumping!
Ticks are easier to spot on light-coloured pets, as ticks are black/red in colour. They are also easy to spot as they can grow quite quickly. If you suspect your pet has these, please call us for an appointment to give your pet treatment. The medication is pretty effective and works in a few hours to kill the parasites.
Bathing/showering your dog will do nothing, and any ‘home remedies’ will also do nothing. Over-the-counter medications from shops are also not very effective. You will likely not have killed the eggs and will notice fleas returning in a few days.
If your pet has fleas, they will also be in your home. We recommend hot washing all bedding, vacuuming everywhere, and then using a flea spray all over the house to kill any fleas or eggs on the carpets or bedding.
Image: Dogs in the bedroom (Jamie Street via Unsplash)
We recommend monthly parasite control, so even if your pet does come across these parasites, they will instantly die because they have parasite cover on board.
If fleas go untreated, your pet can become seriously unwell, and we have seen cases where the animal was so anaemic they were put to sleep. There was no saving them as they had lost too much blood.
Our Coquet Pet Club is a monthly direct debit that includes monthly preventative parasite treatment. For more information, please visit our Coquet Pet Club page here.
For more information on ticks and how to remove them, see our previous article: Preparing for Flea and Tick Season
If this article has raised any concerns, or you require further advice on fleas, ticks, or treatments, please call us at Coquet Vets on 01665 252250.
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