by Rebecca Foxton
Most popular these days are the spot-on treatments such as Frontline, Advantage, Revolution and Bio-Spot. These brands of pet flea treatments all provide a month of guaranteed protection.
Advantage flea treatment kills fleas very quickly. The active ingredient, imidaloprid, acts as a nerve agent that fries their entire nervous system. Ninety eight to a hundred percent of the fleas on the animal die within 12 hours of application.
Brands like Frontline flea and Advantage flea killers have almost instant results and long lasting protection. Your pet need not suffer due to fleas if the treatment is on hand. All you need to do is choose the best dog or cat flea medication for your situation.
Mites, or ticks as they are often called, are external parasites living off the blood of mammals, reptiles and birds. The American dog tick is arguably the best known of the five in North America.
As far as disease transmission to humans goes, ticks come in at a frightening second place to mosquitoes. Everyone knows that Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness, but ticks also spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, equine encephalitis, and ehrlichiosis. They also transmit diseases found in pets and livestock.
Wood ticks are another kind of mite, living in the Rocky Mountains. Dog tick treatments include tick collars and dogs’ flea/tick shampoos. For effective tick control, dogs should be checked in tick season (warm weather = more ticks) and if a tick is found, it should be removed entirely. If you are not careful, part of the tick may be left in the wound, increasing the likelihood of infection.
Unlike diseases passed by ticks, heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes, and the larva then live in the bloodstream of the animal bitten by the mosquito. The parasites go through several stages before becoming adults. Once adult, the heart worms travel to the heart to live off the blood supply. Symptoms such as coughing and difficulty breathing may ensure, and the end result is heart failure.
No owner would like to see their pet die of this terrible parasitic disease, fortunately treatment is available if the disease is caught early enough. Interceptor for dogs is one such treatment, which also tackles hookworms and ascarid infections.
Another common infection that your dog may experience is kennel cough. This is a very contagious strain of bronchitis that often spreads in places like kennels, where dogs are near many other dogs. Fortunately, kennel cough can be treated with antibiotics and prevented altogether by a timely vaccination for canine adenovirus, distemper, parainfluenza, and bordetella.
About the Author:
Dog lover Rebecca Foxton can help you protect your pet’s health with
Frontline Plus. She is a contributor on the popular site www.dogbuffs.com with her series of posts on
How To Kill Fleas.