How to Help Protect Your Pet from Ticks and Fleas

With National Love Your Pet Day coming up, what better way to express your love for your pet by getting rid of ticks and fleas? We’ve got a few of the basics you need to help make your pet safe.

It’s tough to watch your family friend scratch, bite, and nibble at the pests. At best, ticks and fleas are annoying for dogs and cats, but at their worst, they can spread diseases and cause all kinds of mayhem for any pet.

But there’s plenty you can do to help protect and prevent your pet from getting flea and tick infestations.

Check Your Pet Often

There are flea combs and other pet hygiene and grooming products you can use to sift through their fur and find ticks and fleas.

Some combs are more ergonomic and easier to use than others, and there are double-toothed combs, long-toothed combs, and a lot of other options as well, so you might need to look to find what you and your furry friend like best. There are also electric combs that zap fleas while you’re combing, so you can treat and groom at the same time.

Most pets enjoy frequent grooming and combing sessions, especially if it brings relief when fleas or ticks are taken off in the process.

Be especially careful when removing ticks. Use tweezers and grip them close to the head; otherwise, their head can pop off and cause diseases and other conditions.

Most Common Places to Find Ticks and Fleas on Your Pet

• In and around the ears and eyes
• Under and around the collar
• Between the back legs
• Under the front legs
• Between the toes
• Around the tail

Clean up the Yard

Ticks and fleas like to hang around in long grass and heavily wooded areas. Usually, they’ll latch onto a host, like a deer or a raccoon, and drop off onto your lawn or deposit eggs in the grass.

It’s tough to predict exactly where ticks and fleas will be, but you can reduce the likelihood that they’ll stick around your yard.

• Keep bushes and tree limbs trimmed away from the house
• Shrubs should be well-groomed and spaced at least a foot away from one another and the side of the house
• Grass near the foundation should be trimmed short
• Any debris should be cleared away (fallen tree limbs, grass clippings, fallen leaves, etc.)
• If you have an old truck, refrigerator, or other hardware lying around the yard, it’s a good idea to get rid of those as well.

Visit the Vet for Checkups

Especially if you’ve seen ticks and fleas on your pet before, it’s always best to make sure your family friend hasn’t picked up any problems.

Sometimes the OTC products and treatments just won’t work as well as the prescription medications and treatments. Your vet can walk you through the best treatment for your pet and help you feel comfortable with the process.

Diseases to Check for

It’s not very pleasant to think about your pet contracting some kind of nasty disease, but unfortunately, it does happen.

The following diseases could be caused by fleas AND/OR ticks:

• Flea allergy dermatitis
• Anemia (in very small pets)
• Lyme disease (spread by ticks)
• Rocky Mountain fever (spread by ticks — this disease can occur anywhere, not just the Rocky Mountains)
• Ehrlichiosis

Sometimes, a cat or dog will ingest a flea that has a tapeworm on or inside it. The tapeworms will leave signs behind, including what looks like rice around your pet’s anus or in their feces.

Signs and Symptoms that Your Pet Has an Infestation:

• Flea droppings, or “flea dirt” in the pet’s hair or on the ground
• Eggs, which look like tiny white grains
• Acute redness and swelling, possibly with scabs
• Unusual amounts of scratching, licking, and biting

Treat Your Pet

There are plenty of OTC products you can use to help treat your pet for fleas. Pills, collars, shampoo, and spray.

If you have old products, it might be time to get rid of them. Make sure the products you use are strong enough to get rid of an infestation but gentle enough for your pet. Many cats are highly sensitive to chemicals.

Treat your Home for Ticks and Fleas

Sometimes, when the ticks and fleas just won’t go away, it might be time to take the gloves off and hire the professionals.

Professional pest management plans can make a big difference in the long run.

However, any indoor tick and flea treatment must be accompanied by treating your pet as well. Otherwise, the ticks and fleas in the house could find refuge on your pet and escape treatments, and then they could spread all over again.

With Fox Pest Control, we use family-friendly, pet-safe products to treat homes for ticks and fleas. In conjunction with pet treatments for ticks and fleas, these treatments can help restore your peace of mind.

With Fox, No Bugs is Simply Better.