Heartworm Prevention And Flea Control
Are flea control and heartworm preventative still necessary to give your pet during the wintertime?
Flea Control:
You can choose to stop giving flea control when the weather turns cold, but it really depends on where you live. Fleas can actually be found on animals even during the wintertime. Pet's fur is the perfect spot for fleas to hibernate for the winter. The fibers deep down inside the carpeting in your home also provides the perfect environment for fleas to stay.
Once the temperature drops below 50, this is when fleas will become dormant and will cease that arrangement until the temperature goes benefit above 50. During the winter months, fleas find a warm place to lie dormant and are still laying eggs that are in the incubation period and once the weather becomes warmer, the eggs hatch out therefore leading to an infestation.
I personally have always kept my dog on flea preventative year round. He was so severely sensitive to fleas, I did not want to take the chance of causing him misery. I also gave him a flea bath regularly year round despite what the temperature was outside. I chose to keep giving my dog his flea prevention even during the winter because I did not want to end up with another flea infestation as soon as the weather turned warmer and have to fight the fleas in my house and on my dog. Speak to your local vet in your area and he can answer any questions you may have concerning whether or not your pet needs year round flea control.
Heartworm Preventative:
I live in North Texas and the winters do not get very cold and if the temperature does dip below freezing, it does not stay that arrangement long enough to perform me decide to stop giving heartworm preventative to my dog. Therefore, he stays on both flea control and heartworm prevention year round.
Choosing whether or not to give flea and heartworm prevention year round to your dog really depends on where you live and what the climate is like during wintertime. But do not halt giving your dog any heartworm preventative without first talking this over with your local vet. Once you terminate giving heartworm preventative to your dog, even if it is just for a month, your dog will need to be re-tested for heartworms before any medication can start being given again.
Heartworm disease is caused by mosquitoes. A mosquito bites a dog that is already carrying the heartworms which stay in the bloodstream in the larvae stage, which are baby heartworms. Now that the mosquito has ingested the larvae, then this mosquito will go bite another dog which injects the larvae under the skin. The baby heartworms, or larvae, live in the bloodstream for around four months then they migrate their way up into the dog's heart, and once they are there, they earn into adult heartworms and stay all around the heart and stay there where they will eventually suffocate the heart which could cause difficulty breathing and will eventually lead to death if left untreated. The cost of a once a month heartworm preventative pill, is a vast amount less than the treatment for heartworms.
Speak with your local vet and follow his instructions regarding what would be best for the health of your pet in your area.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a licensed veterinarian, but I worked for one many years and I was taught a lot of useful information that I wanted to section with others.
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Filed under Heartworm Treatment by on Sep 15th, 2011. 