Spring is parasite season

Why Flea & Tick prevention is important even if your dog or cat does not have them

Our pets rely on us to keep them healthy and safe and preventing them from harmful fleas and ticks is as easy as a simple monthly chew or wearing a preventative collar. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

But why is it important to prevent fleas & ticks?

• A female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day, which can be up to 5,000 in her lifetime.
• Fleas live on the animal and eat blood to survive, which can lead to anaemia over a period of time.
• The flea can jump as high as 1.2 metres so can move from the ground onto your pet in a flash
• Paralysis ticks are external parasites that suck the blood from their host animal. The ticks salivary glands contain a toxin that can affect the hosts nervous system, and can even lead to death.

Just like fleas, ticks feed on the blood from your pet. They attach to your pet and begin to feed by burying parts of their mouth under your pet’s skin and sucking blood back into their bodies.

There are many types of ticks that are just harmless parasites, but then there is The Paralysis Tick that is extremely toxic. Once a tick attaches to your pet and begins feeding, they release the potent toxin that affects the pets central nervous system that causes progressive paralysis, and if untreated, death. With continual feeding, a tiny tick that starts off the size of a pin head can swell to the size of a pea.

Signs of a paralysis tick in dogs and cats;

• Diminishing movement in the back legs, sometimes moving to the front legs
• Trembling and lack of coordination
• Vomiting, gagging, or coughing
• Variation in tone of bark or meow
• Groaning noise with breathing
• Trouble swallowing

One of the most common ways your dog or cat will pick up fleas or ticks is out on a walk around the neighbourhood and in bushland. That’s why prevention is extremely important.

If you suspect your pet has a paralysis tick, you must seek veterinary help immediately.

We suggest year-round prevention for your pets like NexGard Spectra