Our furry balls love to be cuddled every time of the day and vice-a-versa. We love our babies to exchange warmth. These babies are naughty by nature loves to explore everywhere like grassy area, bushes, or mud & puddles. Dogs have the gift of being good sniffers and so due to their inborn qualities, they are an explorer.
It’s a common behavioral aspect dogs tend to relieve their bladder or poop in areas that have more grass or bushes. The grass-bush area is a storehouse for ticks and fleas. Yes, these ticks and fleas stay on rocks, crevices, cracks, and on and near grass-bush areas, and the reason why we observe small ticks and fleas on our dogs.
Most frequently, our veterinarians tend to ask us this one particular question when our pets fall sick: “did you see ticks on your pets’ bodies?”
UNDERSTANDING TICKS
Ticks are a parasite that causes immense harm to the host. Ticks are ectoparasites in nature that harm a wide range of animals. Ectoparasite means Ecto: outside Parasite: harmful organism examples fleas, mites, lives, and ticks. A parasite is an organism that lives on the body or in the skin but they are generally not found within the body. Infestation with an ectoparasite is called ectoparasites. Ticks are small, blood-sucking bugs, which feed on the blood of the host. They attach to the skin of organisms and derive nutrition from the host. Ticks are very harmful to dogs as they transmit harmful infections and diseases.
TICKS AND DISEASES
Ticks are blood-sucking and disease-transmitting bugs. Several diseases can be transmitted to your pet via a tick bite. Some of the most common tick-borne diseases are Lyme disease babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, and tick paralysis. Some disease that occurs from the ticks is as follow.
1. TICK FEVER
It’s a broad term used for infection caused by ticks. Ticks transmit various microscopic organisms such as protozoa – Babesia or Ehrlichia. These two organisms cause Tick Fever or in medical terms- ‘Babesiosis’ and ‘Ehrlichiosis’.
BABESIOSIS& EHRLICHIOSIS
Babesiosis is a disease caused by the organism Babesia and this organism. The tiny parasite infects your dogs’ red blood cells and is a life-threatening infection that rapidly destroys the red blood cells and platelets. On the other hand, Ehrlichiosis is caused by an organism named Ehrlichia affects the hemodynamic structure of the body.
RBC or red blood cell transport oxygen and essential nutrients throughout our body and ensures each organ-tissue-cell receives enough oxygen and nutrients. Babesia requires the RBC to grow and divide and eventually many cellular reactions take place ultimately leading to the untimely death of RBCs. This leads to severe anemia and even low platelet counts.
What does low RBC lead to?
1. Low RBC means low Oxygen [hypoxia]
2. Many tissues and cells are not getting enough nutrients
3. Feelings of fatigue, tiredness, and weakness.
4. Cells are not functioning optimally which eventually leads to - Cellular dysfunction and death.
5. Immunity of the body to go down, affecting immune system badly
6. Other viral-bacterial infections may immediately set in.
2. ANAEMIA
Anemia is a deficiency of blood RBCs. These ticks are particularly very efficient in sucking blood from the dog thus, if your dog is affected by a large number of ticks, anemia will be the result. Even one tick is indeed efficient and sufficiently enough to transmit tick fever. As these ticks carry infectious organisms like Babesia or Ehrlichia we cannot say which tick bite will or will not lead to threatening disease. It is always better to stay vigilant and safe against the same. If you observed the small black creatures on your dog yes, they are the fleas.
FLEAS: THE LITTLE RUNNER BUGS
Fleas are small flightless insects that are in the family of ectoparasites just like ticks and they too, act as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by consuming blood from their hosts. The difference between ticks and fleas is that ticks are attached to the body where they suck blood and get engorged whereas the fleas suck blood but they do not stay attached to the skin, instead they keep on moving or running on the skin.
WHAT HARM DOES A FLEA CAUSE?
· Anemia,
· Irritation and
· restlessness.
FAD and Parasitic Diseases are the most common manifestation or sequel to the flea bite.
Major one is
1. FAD: FLEA ALLERGIC DERMATITIS
Due to flea bites, there is irritation on the skin which causes your pet to itch more as a result of the intense biting action and irritating saliva of the fleas. Flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) or flea bite hypersensitivity in dermatologic disease.
HOW TO OBSERVE?
· Itching more than usual
· Restlessness due to itching
· You observed black fleas on the skin
· Some red papule on skin
· Redness on the skin
· Rough hair coat
CLINICAL SIGNS ASSOCIATED WITH FAD DEPENDS UPON:
· The frequency of flea exposure
· duration of disease
· presence of secondary or another concurrent skin disease
· degree of hypersensitivity
2. PARASITIC DISEASE:
Fleas carry one of the life cycle stages of tapeworm named Dipylidium caninum. Fleas bite the skin and thus cause immense irritation to the dog resulting in the dogs tending to bite or scratch their skin. Usually while biting, they might end up swallowing the flea. On swallowing, the fleas get digested in the stomach releasing the tapeworm organism. The result is our pets end up suffering from tapeworm infection. It is indeed a complex system.
how do I co-relate?
1. Does your dog have fleas on the body?
2. Have you observed irritation, itching recently?
3. Has your dog been given access to bushes, grass-laden areas?
4. Have you observed a white-rice grain seed-like structure in your dog’s feces?
5. Then you might need to get your dog dewormed but along with this, you will need to address the flea issue at the earliest.
PROTECTION OF MY PET
We can always protect our pets from tick-flea infection beforehand. Yes, ticks and fleas can be a nuisance, which potentially carries deadly infectious organisms like Babesia, Ehrlichia, or dipylidium, and always safeguard our pets from the dangers by adopting preventive measures.
1. SPRAYS, SPOT-ONS, AND SHAMPOOS
There are many chemical-based anti-tick and anti-flea sprays available in the market. These drugs act by killing the flea and ticks which are present in the body. Chemical compounds such as fipronil, nitenpyram, afoxolaner, fluralaner, or Spinosad are essentially active against these ecto-parasites providing relief to your pets from the flea-tick nuisance. These come in various formulations and forms like shampoos [while giving a bath you can effectively remove ticks and fleas] or in form of spot-on which give protection against ticks-fleas for a month or in form of spray which you can apply after or before walks.
2. ANTI TICK & FLEA SHAMPOO: Me & My Ticks & Flea Pet Shampoo
With growing concerns of side-effects and ill-effects of chemical-based flea and tick shampoo, Goel Vet Pharma presents Me& My Anti-Ticks & Flea Pet Shampoo which is made up of natural ingredients like Tea Tree & Neem Extract. This shampoo acts best against ticks and fleas and ensures that not only is your pet protected against ticks and fleas but also, has good skin and fur due to its natural products.
3. PROTECT YOUR BACKYARD
In case you have noticed your backyard is infested with ticks and fleas, you can opt for insecticide sprays or call pest control to protect your pets and maintain a good hygienic environment. This way you can always ensure double protection against these pests.
4. BRUSH YOUR PETS FUR OFTEN!
Brushing your pets’ fur with help of a comb can help in detecting or noticing fleas and ticks at the earliest so you can take necessary steps against the same!
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