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Spring is here!! It’s time to enjoy the sunshine, warm air, flowers and birds…It’s also time to dread the arrival of ticks, mosquitoes and fleas. These pesky pests start arriving after the ground thaws and bring with them nasty diseases that are dangerous for you and your pet.

The staff at Linwood Animal Hospital is already starting to remove ticks from some of our patients. Ticks are the first arrivals of the season and usually are the last to leave in the fall. They can be found anywhere outside but are most common near woods, bushes and tall grasses. 

Dogs and cats with ticks can be infected with Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis and Tularemia. These diseases can affect people too if the ticks detach from your dog or cat and attach themselves to you or your child. This could be a risk factor for your children if the family dog or cat sleeps in their bed. 

Luckily there are many safe and effective products available! Please consult your veterinarian before you choose your flea & tick preventative. Some topical tick preventatives are extremely toxic to cats and others can cause skin irritations. Some dips are exceedingly harsh to the skin and cause irritations, dry skin and rashes. Make sure you find a product that is safe for everyone in your family to be around. 

Now that the ticks are out the mosquitoes won’t be far behind! It’s time to start thinking about heartworm preventative too. Heartworm Disease is a serious often fatal disease of dogs and sometimes cats caused by a parasitic worm (Dirofilaria immitis) which is transmitted by mosquitoes. Although outdoor animals are more frequently infected, mosquitoes often find a way into our homes and therefore can bite and infect “indoor only” cats and dogs as well.

Disease transmission occurs when a mosquito bites a dog or cat already infected with the disease and ingests baby heartworms (microfilaria) that live in the bloodstream. The worms mature in the mosquito and when the mosquito bites the next dog or cat, some of the tiny worms are injected from the mosquito into the dog or cat. The worms grow for 3 to 4 months in the tissues and eventually migrate to the heart and lungs where they develop into adult worms which start producing microfilarial young of their own, ready for the process to start again with the next mosquito bite.

Heartworm Disease is easily prevented. Because of monthly oral preventive medication, Heartworm is much less commonly diagnosed in pets than it used to be. Regular veterinary care with annual heartworm testing and properly administered heartworm preventive are the keys to success.