Monday – Friday
8:00 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

520.881.3221
4340 E. Broadway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85711

Keep Bugs Off Your Buddy: Flea, Tick, and Heartworm Prevention

For many pet owners in Tucson, keeping fleas and ticks off their dog and cat seems like an ongoing process. Some pet owners may wonder how their animals get fleas and ticks. Even if there are no other animals living in your home with fleas and ticks, it is possible that a feral cat or wild animal walked through your yard. They had ticks, and they left their ticks in your yard. The female flea or tick laid eggs in the yard, and when those developed, they attached themselves to your pet. Each female flea lays 2-40 eggs per day for several weeks and those eggs are shed wherever the host roams. The eggs then develop through different stages and attach to your pets. Fleas and ticks are very dangerous for pets. One of the primary reasons why they are dangerous is because when one of these insects feed off of your pets, they are injecting their saliva into your pet’s skin. It is very common for pets to be allergic to the saliva of these ticks and fleas. The allergic reaction will cause the pet to start to scratch and bite the area where the flea bit them. Over time, they start to lose their hair, and the areas could become infected.

Additionally, smaller animals such as puppies and kittens can become anemic if they have a heavy flea or tick infestation. Remember when these animals attach themselves to your pets, they are sucking the blood out of your pets as well. Fleas are also dangerous because they can transmit tapeworms and several diseases to your pets, like tick fever, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and more. These diseases will make your pets sick, and some of them may even prove fatal.

There are certain parts of the country where there are higher tick and flea infestations. Depending on where you live, your pet will be more prone to attracting certain types of ticks and fleas. It is important to take preventative measures in order to prevent your animal from becoming infested with ticks and fleas.

Heartworm disease is transmitted by a mosquito that feeds from an infected dog that then transmits heartworm larvae into your dog or cat when it takes a blood meal from them. The larvae migrate through the body and adults settle in the heart and lung arteries which cause severe disease leading to lung disease and heart failure if not treated.

Talk to the Tucson veterinarians at Encanto Pet Clinic, and see what medicines or what treatments they recommend in order to protect your pet. Encanto Pet Clinic offers many options for the prevention and treatment of fleas, ticks, and heartworm, including Frontline and Heartgard.  It’s possible that flea and ticks can be spotted during a regularly scheduled dog grooming appointment by one of our expert pet grooming specialists.