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Dog’s fleas and ticks are a pet owner's worst nightmare. They infest pets and can be quite hard to get rid of. Fleas prefer warm weather and a lot of humidity. For some areas, summer is the only time owners have to worry, other areas aren't as lucky. Both cats and dogs are infested with fleas through contact with other animals or the environment. However, you need not worry as a flea treatment for dogs can help you get rid of this problem. Fleas can be treated with a variety of medications and chemicals. Moreover, always consult a professional vet before using any dog’s flea medicine.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Flea bites make your pet itch all over and in some cases, animals with sensitive skin can have severe reactions to it. Flea allergies are also a common phenomenon where a dog with the allergy will start itching all over even if it is bitten by only one flea. Constant scratching can lead to hair loss, skin infections, and inflammation. To see if your pet has fleas, go through its body with a fine comb. Fleas like covered hot areas so you will likely find them on your pet's stomach, inner thighs, and other furry areas.
Unlike mites and ticks, you can see fleas crawling on your pet's skin. They are tiny and usually have a dark brown color to them. Flea dirt is another sign of the presence of fleas. Technically, this “dirt” is flea feces and contains processed blood. To make sure it is flea dirt, you can pick them out and place them on a wet tissue. After a while, the dirt will start spreading out like a bloodstain. This is a definite sign of fleas in your pooch.
Treatments
Flea and tick prevention for dogs begins with acknowledging the fact that your pet is suffering from this troublesome problem. This should be followed by the willingness to treat the pet which requires both time and money. To relieve your pet of the symptoms of a flea infestation, you can either use natural or chemical treatments. Chemical treatments are spot-on and quickly eradicate fleas. Pills are also effective with flea removal as they work within 30 minutes to remove over 90% of fleas on the body. The pills are not effective for dogs that are allergic to flea bites.
There are also preventative medications that stop your pets from getting infected in the first place. Some medications target grown fleas and some target just the eggs. Depending on how far your pet has been infested, you can administer it accordingly. Some broad-spectrum medications such as Sentinel Heartworm tabs work both on heartworms and fleas. If you do not prefer the chemical way, you can use flea shampoos. They are effective in getting fleas as long your pooch is okay with being covered in a lather for 10 minutes. Once you wash off the shampoo, all the dead fleas can be combed out with a flea comb.
Flea collars also stop fleas from getting on your pets. As long as they're high quality, they can repel or kill fleas with ease. Various home remedies like lemon juice, apple cider, rosemary dips, and lavender oils are also recommended.
Oral Tick and Flea Treatment For Your Dog
Common pests like ticks and fleas are easy to prevent, but the damage they can do once they latch on to your dog's skin and hair is not so easy to fix. That makes it vitally important to keep your dog on an effective preventative if you want to keep bug problems like flea infestations, Lyme disease, and other skin infections at bay. Up until now, topical preventatives were the standard option for preventing ticks and fleas, but advances in pharmacology have flooded the market with oral preventatives that are slowly gaining popularity. Therefore, pet parents confidently use flea medicine for dogs as an effective method to eliminate fleas.
Are oral medications more effective?
Oral medication can effectively kill up to 99.9 % of the adult fleas in your dog's body. Topical treatments, on the other hand, have a success rate of 88.5%. The difference is huge, especially if your goal is to keep your dog healthy and flea-free. The convenience of oral medication is another big factor that tips the scales in its favor.
Unlike topical preventatives, they are much easier to administer and don't leave behind a sticky mess. Most oral medications come as soft chews or
beef-flavored pills. Flea chews for dogs or flea pills for dogs can be consumed by your dog like a treat, and help him stay protected from ticks and fleas for up to 3 months.
If you are a dog owner, we are sure you have been in a situation where you have had to get separate preventatives for ticks, fleas, heartworms, and intestinal parasites. We all know that this can be quite expensive and inconvenient, especially if you have more than one dog in your household. Fortunately, most oral flea medications are also effective in preventing other pests. You have tablets that need to be administered just once a month to prevent hookworms, heartworms, whipworms, and roundworms.
How to choose the right oral preventative for your dog?
You need to take your dog's lifestyle into account when choosing an oral preventative. If your pet does not stand the risk of getting exposed to ticks and you want to stick to an easy regimen, you can go for a chewable tablet that has to be administered just once every month. If you are concerned about a possible tick infestation, then there are targeted medications on the market that guard against both ticks and fleas. You will still have to give your dog heartworm medicine separately, but you get to avoid the sticky mess of topical treatments.
Bear in mind that most of these medications are given on a prescription-only basis. So, you need to check with your dog's vet to figure out your options. He/she will help you choose a product that is tailored to your dog's needs and lifestyle. If your dog still has fleas after the treatment, then you need to clean your home to get rid of the pesky little eggs and larvae.
Flea Collar
The flea collar is one of the choices for flea treatment for your dog. Flea collars are inexpensive and easy to use, making them an option for many dog owners. If you have a dog that is sensitive to other treatments, a flea collar may be a good choice. However, even if this method does work for your pet, it is not guaranteed to work forever or keep their skin condition under control.
The flea collar for dogs is the option that avoids many of the problems with injections, pills, and lotions. First, it is not going to harm your dog if she licks it.
If you have ever seen a dog lick its fur after getting a shot or an injection, then you know why this is important. If they are licking their fur and ingesting something that can be harmful to them (like some topical flea treatments), it could cause issues with their health or even kill them.
The second benefit is that it is a very inexpensive way of ridding yourself of the fleas in your home. The collar does not require any additional costs, unlike other alternatives like store-bought sprays and powders. Furthermore, there are no recurring costs associated with using this method of killing fleas on your pet. Flea collars like seresto flea collars have gained a high acceptance rate among pet parents due to their high efficiency in treating fleas.
Flea Shampoo
Flea shampoos can incorporate a range of ingredients that have antibacterial qualities, which can reduce the risk of infections among dogs. Some of the most common antibacterial ingredients include tea tree, eucalyptus, and peppermint.
Antibacterial shampoos are ideal for dogs with skin allergies or dryness because they help prevent bacteria from thriving on the skin's surface. Antibacterial shampoos also help treat existing infections by killing off any additional bacteria that may be present on your pet's coat.
Aside from killing fleas, flea shampoo for dogs will also provide a variety of other benefits for your dog's skin and coat. The most important thing to note is that they can be used to clean your dog's coat. There are many different types of flea shampoos on the market today and most of them are designed to serve two purposes: killing fleas and leaving your dog's coat looking shiny.
