Spring Check-Up For Your Dog.

Hello everyone! Seems like winter is finally on its way out. This means that it is time to be thinking about flea infestation and mosquitoes that carry heartworms. I am going to start with heartworms. Following the bite of an infected mosquito, young heartworms enter the bloodstream of the dog and actually mature within the canine heart. Symptoms are: tiring easily, chronic cough, coat loss and weight loss.

This is a very serious problem and can be treated with drugs to destroy the worms. But, preventive medicine is a better means on control. There are 2 things you can do: screen your dog against mosquitoes, and regularly give him heartworm preventive pills that you can get from your vet. But before your vet will give you the medicine he has to perform a blood test on your dog to make sure no heartworms exist.

Now I would like to mention those pesky fleas. Even though some of us think of the flea as not a big deal, it is! An infested dog suffers from blood loss and itchy skin, and can even contract tapeworms, which spend part of their life cycle in the flea. Dogs with fleas generally lose areas of hair, especially in the lower back, neck and inner thighs. Fleas are looking for a meal, and they will try to find one on a human, too. Bathing your dog with a flea shampoo or using a dip after using a regular dog shampoo is effective.

A very important thing to remember. If you are going to use a dip, make very sure that you use a regular shampoo. The reason for this is that if you use both (flea shampoo and dip), it would be too toxic to your dog and could possibly cause a severe life-threatening reaction. The best preventive is the between the shoulder liquid that you can get from your vet. The over the counter products work, but do not kill eggs or larvae, even though it says they do. They do not have the extra ingredient that the vet uses and sells. It is too strong to be sold without a prescription. I will have more tips on getting your dog ready for spring. Thanks for visiting.