Fleas

Fleas are wingless blood-sucking parasites that can carry diseases such as tapeworm and can spread from dog to dog or dog to humans. They look like small brownish red seeds and are often visible only when your pet starts to bite and scratch.

Symptoms

Their bites cause redness and itching.

Prevention

We recommend the use of Frontline during flea season. Try to control fleas on and around your pet. A flea comb may be needed if your pet is highly exposed. Drown any fleas you find in a bath of alcohol. If you have a greyhound, avoid flea collars and flea dipping; these could be fatal. Use products that contain pyrethrins, which are plant derived and safe. Make sure you check with your veterinarian for the product that is safe and effective for your pet.

Ticks

Ticks (small grayish parasites) attach themselves to the skin with their mouthparts. Always check for ticks, especially around the ears and feet, when your dog has been in an area where they are common. Tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. All but Rocky Mountain spotted fever disease can go dormant and the symptoms can be subtle, but outcome fatal if not diagnosed and treated. Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever can be transmitted from dog to people.

Symptoms

If your dog is experiencing fatigue, lameness, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, seizures, vomiting or depression, it may have a tick-borne disease. Tests may show low platelet count, change in white blood cell count, anemia, enlarged liver, spleen or lymph nodes. It is advisable to have a tick panel blood test. The test will confirm most tick-related disease, if all strains are tested.

Treatment

Treatment requires antibiotics such as Doxycycline or Amoxicillin. Doxycycline dosage is 600 mg daily for a 60 lb dog given in two or three doses and must be taken with food to avoid stomach upset.

Even though ticks must be attached for 24 hours to transmit disease, it is still important to find and remove them as soon as possible. If you find a tick on your dog, remove it immediately. Do not smother it with alcohol in an attempt to get it to remove itself. Wear latex gloves to prevent spreading the disease. Carefully, without squeezing the tick’s body, get under the tick’s head with fine pointed tweezers and gently pull until you feel the tick release. If it looks like the head has remained, call your veterinarian. If you cannot get to the area with tweezers then try putting a dab of liquid soap on a cotton ball and cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton for a few seconds. The tick may come out and be stuck to the cotton ball. Dispose of the tick in an alcohol bath and disinfect the bite area with an antiseptic. A tick can live for years if not killed. Do not crush, prick or burn a tick because this can release disease organisms within the tick’s body.

Prevention

Frontline is a safe preventative. If you live in an area where Lyme disease is of concern, you can protect your dog with a Lyme vaccine. CBC (complete blood count) screening is important because all but the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever can remain dormant in a dog for years. By testing you can prevent potential future problems. If there is a change in platelet count or white blood cells, then further testing is needed. We suggest a PCR which detect the DNA of any organism in the blood. This test does not detect Lyme disease because the organism is not found in the blood.