Fleas And Ticks
Saturday, January 24th, 2009–> |
Fleas and ticks often live on your pet and ultimately on you, however not by choice I’m sure. What’s the down side to all this? Let’s start with fleas. Fleas can cause medical problems such as flea allergy dermatitis, tapeworms and secondary skin irritations. Flea season comes when it warms up. The spring and summer months are when the fleas kick into high gear. The good news is the cooler weather slows or completely interrupts the flea’s life cycle. The University of California performed a study that showed vacuuming got rid of 96 percent of adult fleas. After you vacuum be sure to get rid of the vacuum bag or completely empty a bagless vacuum. Remember, vacuuming doesn’t kill the fleas it just moves them from one place to another.
Here are some factors that play a roll in the development of fleas. Using dehumidifiers with air conditioning and vacuuming dramatically reduce the flea population. Flea eggs need a relative humidity of 70 - 75 percent to hatch. The flea larvae need at least a 50 percent humidity to live and flourish at higher temperatures. If you want to kill the fleas put them in soapy water. The soap in the water will make the fleas sink to the bottom of the bowl and drown. Put at least two inches of water in the bowl. Here’s a little trick I learned; put a bowl of soapy water on the floor and at night shine a light on the bowl. You can put it somewhere out of the way. The heat from the light will attract the fleas and they will jump in the soapy water, then it’s over for the flea! It works, I tried it. You won’t get rid of all your fleas in a day doing this, it will take some time. It’s a low cost non chemical method that doesn’t hurt your pets.
The other Villain we have lurking in the shadows is the tick. A tick can cause as many problems as the flea. The tick can cause medical problems for you, as well as your
pet. You can often find ticks in tall grass and bushes. The Tick is a blood feeding parasite. The tick will wait in the tall grass or bush and wait for it’s victim to pass by and then it will attach itself. The only method of transport for the tick is physical contact with the cat, dog or even you as the victim. Ticks can’t jump or fly, but they can drop out of their perch and onto the host and they can climb. There are some species that will actively stalk a Cat or Dog by foot. That’s kind of a scary thought. Temperature changes and the length of day are things that signal the tick to find a host. Ticks can detect heat emitted or carbon dioxide from a nearby Cat or Dog.
Now what to do if you or your pet get a tick and he makes you his home.
You need to evict the critter. To remove the tick; get a pair of tweezers and grab the tick at the head as close to the skin line as possible (they make special tweezers for this). Pull slowly and gently, do not use a twisting motion. A twisting motion could cause the head to break off the tick body and stay in your pet. As you pull slowly, the tick mouth parts should release . You should see a small crater in your pets skin. If you see what looks like black lines then you have left the head of the tick behind. If that occurs you may have to take your pet to the vet, as it may lead to an infection. I hope this short little article has given you some of the basic information on what to do about ticks and fleas if they are causing you or your pet a problem. Stay tuned to this site as new information is posted. Keep on the lookout for Fleas and ticks.
