Fleas and Ticks
Fleas can be horrible. Not only do they infest your pets, but also they live in many dark spaces in your home. They like dark and warm places. They can be found in carpet, bedding, and more. If you get fleas in your home, it is not easy to get rid of them.
Fleas cause your pets to be itchy. They may dig themselves raw until their skin gets infected. The worst part about fleas is that many pets are allergic to them. Even one or two fleas will drive these pets crazy.
Ticks are also a problem in our area. They feed off of the blood of your pets. This is often not enough to make your pets sick. However, many ticks carry terrible diseases such as Lyme Disease, Ehrlichia, and more. Some dogs are allergic to tick bites, which causes a serious problem.
Fortunately for us, we offer a prevention (or preventative choices) for fleas and ticks. These medications need to be given every month for the best results. We also recommend giving them all year round because fleas and ticks can cause problems no matter what time of year it is.
Heartworm
Heartworms (or even a single adult heartworm) can cause a lot of damage to an infected dog. Adult heartworms can grow as long as twelve inches when they are full grown. At that point, they live in the heart and lungs which cause a dog to go into heart and lung failure.
The treatment can be just as deadly. When the adult worms are killed, they travel throughout the bloodstream and can cause all kinds of problems. For this reason, dogs who are receiving treatment need to be monitored closely. There are times when a dog may need additional treatment to get rid of all of the heartworms.
It is much easier to test your dog for heartworm and keep him or her on a preventative than to lose your dog to this deadly but easily preventable disease.