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By Peter H. Eeg, DVM
It's spring again and time for a young animal lover's thoughts to turn
to the fear and loathing of trying to avoid seeing their favorite pet
under the writhing spell of fleas and ticks.
These amazingly resilient little parasites can produce huge headaches
and body aches for your canine and feline companions. They reproduce
rapidly, are highly adaptable and increasingly resistant to the popular
over the counter control agents you can get from your local home mart.
All these wonderful traits alone should be enough to have you hiding
under your favorite deck in fear, but wait, there is more.
Fleas can be responsible for stimulating a severe allergic skin
reaction called, "flea bite allergic dermatitis" FBAD for short. FBAD
in and of itself will make both you and your furry companion
uncomfortable and irritable. Then allow for just a little too
overzealous scratching on the part of your pet and you have created a
secondary bacterial skin infection to exponentially raise the intensity
of the irritation. This bacterial dermatitis can, if left untreated,
lead to huge areas of skin damage and potentially life threatening
complications.
Ticks have their own terrifying arsenal of deadly friends that they can
carry with them like free samples. Our friendly neighborhood tick can
carry a dizzying number of other pathogens (evil microscopic bugs),
lyme disease, rocky mountain spotted fever, hemobartonella,
erlichiosis, and tick fever just to name a few. If they don't infect
your pet with one of these deadly organisms then there is always the
potential for the anti-blood clotting agents they have in their saliva
to create ulcers and damage to surrounding healthy skin cells.
No matter what wonderful home remedies your favorite Aunt Flo can
offer, you are best advised to seek the experience and extensive
knowledge that only your local veterinarian can offer on eliminating or
better yet preventing fleas and ticks. They have been trained to offer
you the latest expertise and guidance on the proper treatments and
repellents that are currently available. They have the latest effective
treatments and the most advanced preventatives many of which are only
available through licensed veterinarians.
Don't wait for your pet pal to start doing the itchy, scratchy twostep
before you get a complete education on the dangers of fleas and ticks.
Good help is only a phone call to your veterinarian away.
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