Thursday 30 July 2009

Dogs: Heart Worm, Fleas and other Parasites

By Owen Jones

You have to destroy heart worm, fleas and other parasites in dogs whenever they raise their ugly heads by using the relevant treatment against them. Loads of medications have come onto the market to protect dogs from heart worms, fleas and other parasites such as hook worms, whip worms, round worms, lice, ticks etc.

Of the heart worms, fleas and other parasites, fleas can produce a hyper sensitive reaction in the affected animal. Animals infested with fleas scratch their bodies very vigorously. Often the scratching is so severe that the skin becomes super-sensitive and dermatitis is the result in the scratched areas.

The result is often that your dog can not lie down for long or sleep comfortably due to the constant bites by the fleas. So, the animal looks as if has some severe skin issues. If the your dog is not properly attended to for these flea bites, there will often be secondary bacterial invasions in these areas and there may even be a rotten smell emanating from the animal's affected skin.

You ought to inspect your pet closely in order prevent a serious outbreak. It is essential to prevent such a serious infestation as they are extremely distressing to your dog. Similarly, the skin of the animal needs to be inspected often for the presence of ticks and lice. In order to do this effectively, you need to look at the dog's skin by separating the dog's hairs. The easiest way to do this is by slowly back-combing or ruffling the pet's hair.

Often, if your animal is anaemic, and he is not infested with fleas, you need to check for hookworm. Symptoms of hookworm are anaemia, loose stools and a pot belly. The dog's owner may recognize these symptoms themselves, however, to be honest, the dog ought to undergo a routine health check at the vet's involving faecal and hematological examinations.

There are many commercial products on the market. Some of which are useful for dealing with all these conditions by a single dose. Drugs like ivermectin are highly effective and are available in injection, oral and solution forms. The latter should be applied directly to the skin. These drugs can lead to the prevention of the above conditions too.

So, the best policy to adopt is to keep a keen watch on your dog. This can very easily be done at bath time and when you are brushing him. You can use an anti-flea and anti-tick shampoo, which will keep these pests at bay, if used regularly. Couple this with frequent grooming with a lice comb and the use of a flea collar should keep your pet flea, lice, and tick free.

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