Fleas, Ticks And Worms

By Guest

Fleas and other parasites should always be given the highest priority by dog owners. Flea bite allergy in dogs is all too common and causes worry to many dog owners every year, especially in the summer, although all year round if your dog lives indoors with central heating. This is because flea bites often produce allergic reactions in the area bitten by the fleas, which is very often on the back just above the tail. In these cases, the affected area becomes red and bald due to the dog’s continuous scratching of itself.

Heavy flea infestations can cause severe dermatitis in dogs. If the flea bites cause an allergic reaction or even dermatitis in your dog, he/she really ought to be taken to the veterinary doctor, because mostly, the dog will be suffering severe discomfort by now.

The vet will provide you a salve to ease the itching and reduce the inflammation and some powder or a spray to kill the fleas. Prevention is better than cure and medicated collars are available to treat and prevent an infestation of external parasites like ticks and fleas.

Besides fleas, other parasites like ticks and lice plus internal parasites like hookworm, round worm, whip worms etc. can affect the health of your dog. For instance, if hookworms infect a dog, that dog will usually be anaemic. The signs of anaemia become more prominent depending on the severity of infection by the hookworm.

Hookworm larvae will enter directly through the skin and cause severe problems inside the infected dog. Such dogs may have lesions on the paws and on the skin due to dermatitis. Frequently, skin rashes result in such cases and the affected animal may also pass runny stools, which are tinged red with blood.

Most dogs and all puppies get round worms, which is why dogs can sometimes be seen rubbing their bottoms along the ground. However, if round worms are present in very large numbers, affected puppies show a pot belly, which is easily noticeable by the dog’s owners themselves. A dose of piperazine salts is given orally for the cure of this problem. However, broad-spectrum anthelmintics like pyrantel pamoate, fenbendazole etc. are also given to treat this very common condition.

Many drugs have arrived on the market to treat fleas and other parasites, although nowadays, the medical agent called ivermectin seems to be preferred by many dog owners to clear up fleas and other parasites in dogs. This drug is available for injection or oral use and is now even available for external application too.

If you are having problems getting rid of fleas on your dog, please follow the previous link or if you just want to read more about dogs, please go here: Man’ Best Friend – the Dog

categories: fleas,parasites,dogs,pets,home,family,animals,insects,blood,skin care,medicine,outdoors,other

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Tags: animals, blood, Dog, dogs, family, fleas, home, insects, Medicine, other, outdoors, parasites, Pets, skin care

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