Tick and Flea Season

by: Grant Carroll

Any experienced pet owner can tell you that every time spring and summer roll around, it’s time to break out the flea and tick collars. These pests cause more than just annoyance for people and pets. Many diseases are transmitted through tick and flea bites, and every years people literally spend millions of dollars trying to prevent their damage.

Ticks are most abundant in forested mountain areas, but they cause problems everywhere in the U.S. Ticks are arachnids, just like spiders and scorpions, and they stand apart from fleas in their method of attack and diseases they spread. These parasites will crawl onto and attach themselves to hosts at all stage of their development. the fall off in between stages to molt and grow. Ticks carry several pathogens including Lyme disease (both human and canine) and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. They should be removed as soon as possible once they’re found. Dogs are more susceptible to ticks than cats due to their lower grooming abilities, so check them when they come in from playing in bushes and trees and quickly remove any ticks. Tick collars or baths also help kill these parasites.

Fleas are a parasitic insect that cause many problems for people and animals around the world. They were responsible for spreading the bubonic plague during the middle ages. There are different species of fleas specifically for different animals affected, yet they all cause itching bites that can swell and cause secondary infecting with scratching. The best way to fight these pests is though flea collars and powders.

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