Pets Tick Removal

Keep yourself, pets safe from ticks and mosquitoes

— Avoid tick habitat such as tall grass and shrubs and remove leaf litter and tall grasses from your property.

— Early detection is key. It takes about 24 hours for ticks to transmit most diseases, regular checks and removal of ticks can eliminate risk of illness.

— Don’t stray from the trail: While hiking, try to avoid contact with vegetation by walking in the center of the trail.

— Limit rodents, or other possible hosts, from the area.

— Remove mosquito habitat by changing out or removing stagnant water in birdbaths, buckets, toys, tires or any other wet places where mosquito larvae could grow. Larvacide products, such as Mosquito Dunks, dissolve into water that cannot be drained.

— Make sure window screens are functioning and cover gaps in walls and doors.

— Stay indoors when mosquitoes are most active, during dawn and dusk.

— Wear tucked-in long-sleeve shirts and pants outdoors whenever possible.

— Apply insect repellent only to exposed skin and clothing, not under clothing. Follow directions provided on the product. The length of protection can vary. For more information about repellents visit the EPA online at http://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/insect/ or call the National Pesticide Information Center at 1-800-858-7378 for free advice from a health care provider about pesticide use on children.

Last month Ellensburg resident Doreen Harrington noticed her 5-year-old golden retriever, Jazzie, was acting strangely. Harrington had an experience with tick-borne diseases six years ago when her 8-year-old dog passed away from a rare illness contracted from a tick. Since then, she’s limited the amount of time her dogs are outside and regularly shaves and bathes them. She immediately started looking for the tiny culprit.

“She was acting really lethargic — we couldn’t figure it out,” Harrington said. “We couldn’t find a tick on her.”

After several days, however, a family member was petting Jazzie under her collar — where medication was applied a few weeks ago — and found a paralytic tick. The tick was carefully removed with tweezers and the next morning, Jazzie was back to normal.

Even with precautionary measures, it’s still possible for humans and animals to contract disease. Most insect repellent medications for pets must be applied only once every three weeks, Harrington said, but the repellent loses its potency to certain ticks after two weeks.

The Danger in Pet Flea and Tick Medicine

The use of flea and tick removal medicines is almost a routine way of life when you have multiple pets in the house.  It comes to a point that it already looks like a natural process even if the use of Toxic medications on your pets poses long term negative side effects.  The long term negative side effects can even extend up to your family members.  A female flea can lay up to 50 eggs per day and you can only imagine the population explosion that happens within their community.

Full infestation from these fleas can be expected in as short as one week. If you are using flea and tick removal medicines, there are also ways on how you can minimize or lessen the toxic effects of the chemicals that you use on your pet.  Despite your effort in following the instructions word for word, your cat or dog could still suffer from the side effects of these medications.  These side effects are more often than not uncontrollable and you can even see on the leaflet that there are possible reactions from the use of the medicines being given to these pets.

If this is the case, it is best to consult a vet for proper treatment and to prevent further complications.  Avoid applying medications on your pets from over the counter flea control products without the consent of your vet.  Your vet knows a lot about these products and you could be given some pointers on how to use them properly and avoid side effects. If you have consulted your vet with regard to the treatment being given to your pet, then it is alright to purchase another one once the first medication has been finished.

The important thing here is that your vet is aware of the treatments that you are giving to your pet so if anything happens bad to your dog or cat, your vet is aware of what emergency treatment should be administered.  With the blessings of your vet, you avoid mistreating your cat or dog.

If all of these things have been done, you are actually saving a lot of money by avoiding buying the same medications over and over again.  You can also save some money if you buy treatment medications in wholesale.  This is a good investment because flea and tick removal is a long term treatment which can never be achieved if your treatment is short term by buying medications for quite some time only.

You also get some discounts when you make purchases in bulk. Aside from treating your pets with your vet-approved medications, spend some time treating your house as well.  Pet treatment would be rendered useless if there are still fleas and ticks in your carpets and hidden areas of the house, If you are only treating your pet, you will keep finding that you have been doing it over and over again without significant results.

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