Bloodsuckers: Those Troublesome Fleas Are Back!

Posted by The Popular News Today on Thursday, February 23, 2012

By James Worthington


It's the same sad tune each year: My puppy has fleas and they are out of control!

Every time warm weather condition approaches, vets across the nation will certainly once again be overflowed with complaints and questions from worried puppy and cat managers that are waging the recurrent war from external parasites, especially fleas and ticks.

The complication of parasites and the problems they cause is a comprehensive and significant one, but one that has been encountered by close to every animal manager at one time or another. In an effort to spare your dog a pile of suffering this coming summer, we would want to answer 2 questions that are most generally asked by pet owners about those disturbing parasites; fleas and ticks.

What Just Are Fleas & Ticks?

Fleas are little insects that, as grownups, should draw blood from yet another creature to preserve their own lives. Fleas are wingless, six-legged parasites, capable of jumping with surprising speed and might infest your dog alone by the thousands. The flea is a dark, reddish-brown color, similar to dried blood and is a common external parasite discovered in many parts of the Us.

The tick, a buddy in misery to the flea, is usually dark in color, several times larger than the flea, and when on your animal does not move about yet rather attaches itself to your dogs skin and remains at that spot till it has pacified its hunger for blood.

The female tick, engorged with blood, might look like a big, grayish-white, puffy pea-sized object which, on closer assessment, is attached by its little mouth to the animals skin. Commonly in close proximity to the underbelly of the female lies another smaller sized tick, a male hanging around to perform the breeding pattern.

How Will certainly I Know If My Pet Has Fleas Or Ticks?

The most common reaction of an animal infested with external parasites is an insatiable desire to scratch or chew at his skin. Frequent regular checks of your pets skin and coat are advisable, particularly during warm spring and summer months when the parasite problem reaches its peak performance. Fleas are often spotted leaping from place to put over the animals body.

If no fleas are readily apparent, part the animals fur close to the skin and check for flea excrement, which are specks of black, pepper-like dirt that, when wet, restore the color of the blood ingested by the flea. This revelation is an excellent assurance that fleas appear in your dog. On long-haired animals, checking the lower abdominal areas, genitals, and other locations of sparser hair development will sometimes give clues when all else fails.

Ticks are more effortlessly detected because they are quickly watched by the naked eye. If lengthy hair is in the means, a complete stroking of the animals skin from head to toe will typically reveal the whereabouts of ticks by the feel of their little, hard-shelled bodies close to the skin.

Engorged female ticks are generally rather obvious because of their drastically enlarged size and unique look. Ticks frequently go unnoticed when lodged in ears, around the anus, on the tail, and in between paw pads, so be sure not to neglect those locations.




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