Kristopher’s Pet Blog

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External Parasites and the Health of Your Pet

Fleas

Flea Basics
Fleas thrive when the weather is warm and humid. Depending on your climate, fleas may be a seasonal or year-round problem. Your pet can pick up fleas wherever an infestation exists, often in areas frequented by other cats and dogs. Adult fleas are dark brown, no bigger than a sesame seed, and able to move rapidly over your pet’s skin.

Adult fleas live their entire lives on your pet. Female fleas begin laying eggs within 24 hours of selecting your pet as a host, producing up to 50 eggs each day. These eggs fall from your pet onto the floor or furniture, including your pet’s bed, or onto any other indoor or outdoor area where your pet happens to go. Tiny, worm-like larvae hatch from the eggs and burrow into carpets, under furniture, or into soil before spinning a cocoon. The cocooned flea pupae can lie dormant (inactive) for weeks before emerging as adults that are ready to infest (or reinfest) your pet. The result is a flea life cycle of anywhere from 12 days to 6 months.

Risks and Consequences
You may not know that your pet has fleas until their number increases to the point that your pet is obviously uncomfortable. Signs of flea problems range from mild redness to severe scratching that can lead to open sores and skin infections. One of the first things you may notice on a pet with fleas is “flea dirt” — the black flea droppings left on your pet’s coat.

Fleas bite animals and suck their blood; young or small pets with heavy flea infestations may become anemic. Some pets can develop an allergy to flea saliva that may result in more severe irritation and scratching. Also, pets can become infected with certain types of tapeworms if they ingest fleas carrying tapeworm eggs. In areas with moderate to severe flea infestations, people may also be bitten by fleas. While fleas are capable of transmitting several other infectious diseases to pets and people, this is rare.

Treatment and Control
Your veterinarian will recommend an appropriate flea control plan for your pet based upon your needs and the severity of the flea infestation.

Fleas spend a lot of their time off of your pet and in the environment. In addition to treating your pet, reduce the flea population in your house by thoroughly cleaning your pet’s sleeping quarters and vacuuming floors and furniture that your pet comes in contact with frequently. Careful and regular vacuuming/cleaning of the pet’s living area helps to remove and kill flea eggs, larvae, and pupae. You may also have to treat your house with insecticides to kill the fleas; consult with your veterinarian about products safe for use around pets and children.

With moderate and severe flea infestations, you may be advised to treat your yard in addition to treating the inside of your home. Your veterinarian can recommend an appropriate course of action and suggest ways to prevent future flea infestations.

Ticks

Tick Basics
Hosting a tick is the price dogs or, less commonly, cats may pay for investigating shrubbery, brush, or wild undergrowth. Ticks have a four-stage life cycle, and immature ticks often feed on small, wild animals found in forests, prairies, and brush. Adult ticks seek larger hosts like dogs and cats who venture into these habitats. Tick exposure may be seasonal, depending on geographic location.

Risks and Consequences
Ticks are most often found around your dog’s neck, in the ears, in the folds between the legs and the body, and between the toes. Cats may have ticks on their neck or face. Tick bites can cause skin irritation and heavy infestations can cause anemia in pets. Ticks are also capable of spreading serious infectious diseases (such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and others) to the pets and the people on which they feed. Disease risk varies by geographic area and tick species.

Treatment and Control
Prompt removal of ticks is very important because it lessens the chance of disease transmission from the tick to your pet. Remove ticks by carefully using tweezers to firmly grip the tick as close to the pet’s skin as possible and gently pulling the tick free without twisting it. After removing the tick, crush it while avoiding contact with tick fluids that can carry disease. Do not attempt to smother the tick with alcohol or petroleum jelly, or apply a hot match to it, as this may cause the tick to regurgitate saliva into the wound, increasing the risk of disease.

Pets at risk for ticks should be treated during the tick season with an appropriate tick preventative. Your veterinarian can recommend a product best suited to your pet’s needs. Owners who take their pets to tick-prone areas during camping, sporting, or hiking trips should examine their pets for ticks immediately upon returning home and remove them from their pets. If your pet picks up ticks in your backyard, trimming bushes and removing brush may reduce your pet’s exposure to tick habitats.

Ear Mites

Mite Basics
Ear mites are common in young cats and dogs, and generally confine themselves to the ears and surrounding area. Mites are tiny and individual mites may be seen only with the aid of a microscope. Your pet can pick up ear mites by close contact with an infested pet or its bedding.

Risks and Consequences
Ear mites can cause intense irritation of the ear canal. Signs of ear mite infestation include excessive head shaking and scratching of the ears. Your pet may scratch to the point that it creates bleeding sores around its ears. A brown or black ear discharge is common with ear mite infections.

Treatment and Control
Treatment of ear mites involves thorough ear cleaning and medication. Your veterinarian can recommend an effective treatment plan.

Sarcoptic Mange Mites

Mite Basics
Microscopic sarcoptic mange mites cause sarcoptic mange, also known as scabies. Sarcoptic mange mites affect dogs of all ages, during any time of the year. Sarcoptic mange mites are highly contagious to other dogs and may be passed by close contact with infested animals, bedding, or grooming tools.

Risks and Consequences
Sarcoptic mange mites burrow through the top layer of the dog’s skin and cause intense itching. Clinical signs include generalized hair loss, a skin rash, and crusting. Skin infections may develop secondary to the intense irritation. People who come in close contact with an affected dog may develop a skin rash and should see their physician.

Treatment and Control
Dogs with sarcoptic mange require medication to kill the mites and additional treatment to soothe the skin and resolve related infections. Cleaning and treatment of the dog’s environment is also necessary.

Demodectic Mange Mites

Mite Basics
Demodectic mange caused by demodectic mange mites is mainly a problem in dogs. Demodectic mange mites are microscopic, cigar-shaped, and not highly contagious. A mother dog, however, may pass the mites to her puppies.

Risks and Consequences
Localized demodectic mange tends to appear in young dogs as patches of scaly skin and redness around the eyes and mouth and, perhaps, the legs and trunk. Unlike other types of mange, demodectic mange may signal an underlying medical condition, and your pet’s overall health should be carefully evaluated. Less commonly, young and old dogs experience a generalized form of demodectic mange and can exhibit widespread patches of redness, hair loss, and scaly, thickened skin.

Treatment and Control
Your veterinarian will discuss treatment options with you. Treatment of dogs with localized demodectic mange generally results in favorable outcomes. Generalized demodectic mange (demodecosis), however, may be difficult to treat, and treatment may only control the condition, rather than cure it.

Important Points

Look for fleas, ticks, and coat abnormalities any time you groom your dog or cat or when you return home from areas that are likely to have higher numbers of these parasites.

See your veterinarian if your pet excessively scratches, chews, or licks its haircoat, or persistently shakes its head. These clinical signs may indicate the presence of external parasites or other conditions requiring medical care.

Prompt treatment of parasites lessens your pet’s discomfort, decreases the chances of disease transmission from parasite to pet, and may reduce the degree of home infestation.

Discuss the health of all family pets with your veterinarian when one pet becomes infested. Some parasites cycle among pets, making control of infestations difficult unless other pets are considered. Consult your veterinarian before beginning treatment.

Tell your veterinarian if you have attempted any parasite remedies, as this may impact your veterinarian’s recommendation.

Be especially careful when applying insecticides to cats, as cats are particularly sensitive to these products. Never use a product that is not approved for cats, as the results could be lethal.

Follow label directions carefully.

Leave treatment to the experts. Your veterinarian offers technical expertise and can assist you in identifying products that are most likely to effectively and safely control your pet’s parasite problem.

WoodCreek Pet Products
http://www.woodcreekmall.com/FleaTick.html

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Keep Your Cat Off the Counter for Good!

Disciplining a cat has long been known as an exercise in futility. These proud creatures will happily ignore scoldings and other methods to do just what they want. Kitchen counters are like magnets to cats. Cats love high surfaces, and, as a bonus, the kitchen counter smells delicious. Your counter is often full of good things to eat, or at least, still smelling of them, and any self-respecting cat is required to investigate. It may seem impossible to keep your pet from “counter-surfing.” Before kitty drives you to your wits’ end, try a few simple tricks to discourage him.

Cats hate the sticky feeling of tape, so try applying some sticky-side up to the edge of the counter. The sensation of stickiness on your cat’s paws may be enough to keep him off the counter. The disadvantage to this method is that you will have to keep applying the tape as long as you want to repel the cat, and cleaning the adhesive off your counter later can be a chore. Strips of aluminum foil are also suggested, as some cats hate not only the feel of it on their toes, but also the crackling noise. Be careful, though—some cats find aluminum foil highly attractive and will pull it down for a toy. Make sure that your cat does not ingest any foil if this happens.

Another method of repelling your cat from the counter is to employ a loud noise that will upset your cat when he has done something wrong. A few pennies in an empty aluminum can, shaken when the cat is on the counter, can make him learn that the counter is off limits. If you place a few of these cans along the edge of the counter where the cat will be sure to knock them off when he jumps up, the resulting racket will bring down the cat. Other loud noise methods include a popped balloon, or slapping noisemakers based on mousetraps. The traditional water spray method can also work, though it is important to make sure that the cat connects the discomfort of being wet with the counter, and not with you.

It is also important to make sure that temptations that entice your cat to jump on the counter are reduced. Keep good smelling food off of the counter top, make sure that there are other high places that your cat can sit, and make sure your cat has ample space to roam. These steps, combined with the above preventatives, can help keep your cat off of the counter.

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Puppy Potty-Training Tips

While your lovely new puppy may have an abundance of licks and cuddles, what it doesn’t have the built-in knowledge to tell you when it needs to go potty. Potty-training can be one of the most challenging tasks a pet owner can face, and without positive training techniques and patience, it can be a very daunting experience! In this article, we’re going to discuss a few tips that can help significantly ease the stress of training your pup.

Before you begin training your puppy, you must realize that it is a learned process for him, and he is, after all, only young. Potty training a dog takes a lot of patience, and you can usually expect accidents to occur for a good 1 – 2 months whilst training. When your puppy has an accident, you have to be willing to take some of the blame onto yourself (”I should have been watching him better.”) and pay more attention to his body language. Puppies generally show signs that they need to potty, such as whimpering, restlessness, or the ever-famous “enthusiastic sniffing & circling” of the floor (not to be confused with his sniffing the furniture or walls, which is just his way of getting to know your home).

The first thing you must realize is that 15 – 20 minutes after a puppy eats or drinks, he will usually be ready to potty. The key is to have him in the right place when the time comes. Taking your pup outside about ten minutes after he eats for a ten minute romp around the garden not only saves you from having a mess to clean up indoors, he will also become familiar with the routine and recognize the proper environment for “potty time”.

The next tip is to try to schedule your dog’s meal and potty schedule around your availability to take him outside. Try to think of times in the day when you can spare about 30 minutes—that’s roughly the amount of time you should commit per feeding/potty session. As mentioned before, it’s very important that you establish a routine with your dog, and you’re more likely to keep up the routine if it works to your convenience.

When you’re home with your dog, try to keep him with you as much as possible. Not only does this make it easier for you to learn and recognize his signs of needing to potty, but it also helps to establish a bond between you and your puppy.

Praise your pup when he does his business outside. Pick a word or phrase you want him to recognize as praise. Typically it tends to be something like “Good boy/girl”. Now is also a good time to begin teaching your pup the word “no”. Repeating it clearly and firmly when your puppy has an accident will familiarize him with the phrase and he will eventually realize that this word crops up when he does something naughty.

Lastly, try to make the process as simple as possible. While it’s great fun to romp around the yard with your pup, you’ll want the focus of potty trips outside to be solely for that purpose. Later on you may want to combine walks and play-time with potty breaks, but for the sake of keeping your puppy as least confused as possible, try to separate the activities until he has become housebroken. Also, try making a pallet of newspaper in an area of the house your puppy can find easily but won’t offend family/guests. If you catch your pup in the act but can’t make it outside to correct him, move him to the newspaper quickly to show him that until he gains better control, there is one place in the house acceptable to potty. Some have reported that leaving a small bit of pup urine on the newspaper will encourage him to go there.

Keep in mind that this process can be stressful on the pup as well as yourself, but don’t forget to have fun and work on creating a solid bond with your new family member!

Sources: http://www.helpyourpets.com, http://www.training-dogs.com, http://dogs.lovetoknow.com

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Adopt a Pet

There are three main ways to adopt a pet for your family. The location of the pet really depends on what type of breed you are looking for. In this article we will discuss mostly dogs and cats, how to adopt them, and where to adopt them.

The three main ways to adopt a pet include a breeder, private owner, or retail location. The retail location can be a pet store or humane society. First let’s discuss a breeder. If you are going to adopt a dog or cat of a specific mix, you are going to want to find a breeder that offers that particular combination. Most often you can find a breeder through an online internet source that gives you a description of the breed. You will want to check out a few breeders to compare the cost of that pet, as well as the facilities. You should never exchange money until you have seen the dog or can be guaranteed the breeder has the animal’s best interests at heart. Most often, adopting through a breeder is going to be expensive, and they do not pay for vet costs once you have adopted the pet. In other words, if you have exchanged the money but haven’t picked up the dog, any vet visits will be for you to take care of, even neutering or spaying will be out of your pocket.

With a humane society, you will find any pet is going to be neutered or spayed before the animal will be released. This type of location offers rescued animals, pre-owned, and occasionally new pets. The retail stores will be the same depending on what city you are located in. Although some retail stores will just have specific breeds directly from the breeders. In these places you cannot adopt a dog or cat until it has all of the proper shots and has been neutered or spayed. They will also be looking into your background.

In fact, both the breeders and retail shops are going to want your history. They will ask why you are adopting a pet, perhaps even stop by your home or ask where it is located, as well as call some references. Most places will not allow a pet to be adopted until they are satisfied that it is going to a good, “forever home”.

With private owners you will experience something a little different. Private owners are not breeders, but someone who can no longer take care of their pet or has had a litter of kittens or dogs. It is very easy to adopt from most private owners as they have the pets up for free or a small fee. You will be responsible for the neutering or spaying. Also, the fee is usually less than the humane societies and breeders. The conditions may be less than stellar for some homes. It will depend on where you have found your pet. You always want to make sure the cat or dog is healthy and has had at least one visit to the vet before private adoption.

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