Across North America, our pets might be exposed to almost a dozen species of ticks, but thankfully, only 1 species of flea.  These annual pests are a concern due to some significant diseases that they carry AND because of the products used to rid our pets of these parasites.

Thomas F. Dock, Practice Manager and Veterinary Journalist, Noah’s Animal Hospitals, tells us what we need to know about fleas and ticks:

While flea control is somewhat straight forward (treat the pet and the environment), it is much more difficult to control tick populations.

Adult fleas live most of their lives ON the pet, not jumping off the animal unless there is a systemic issue.  Flea eggs and larva are found in the home environment and often maintain infestations in homes when the environment is not treated.

A good rule of thumb to remember is that for every adult flea seen on the pet, there are about 100 other fleas in various life cycles in the home.

By contrast, ticks often use multiple different hosts during their lives and different life stages appear at different times of year.

Tick populations continue to migrate into new areas across North America due to the travels of birds and an exploding population of white tailed deer.  Areas formerly considered tick free are now finding themselves involved in an all-out war against these parasites.

Both pests can carry significant diseases, including cat-scratch fever, infectious flea anemia, Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and the newly named SFTS (severe fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome).

So far, in 2018, the Companion Animal Parasite Council (www.capcvet.org, www.petsandparasites.com) have noted more than 73,000 cases of dogs testing positive for Lyme Disease in the US.  That’s about 6% of all dogs tested or 1 in 18 dogs!

Thankfully, your veterinarian has some very effective and safe products to help protect your precious pet against these pesky pests. From topical medications to oral preventives, there is a product that will work well for you, for your pet and for your pocketbook

Some pet owners might point to sensationalized news stories or Facebook memes that seem to point out the dangers of these preventive products.  In the vast majority of cases, there has been no proven connection between the use of the product and the pet’s death.

An important concept to remember is that “correlation does not equal causation”.  For example, if you took an aspirin and then got into a car accident 1 hour later, is the aspirin to blame?

Also, whenever a suspicious death is reported, ALL products/medications that the pet has received in a specific time frame must be listed.

To learn more, visit www.noahshospitals.com.