Getting Up Close with Fleas and Ticks
Fleas and ticks irritate the hell out of your pets and make not only their life but also your life miserable. During the colder months, these pesky parasites make the warmer bodies of your pet as their home for getting free meals and the problem is that until and unless you have a back up plan they can reside on your pet’s body for generations until they are evicted. Both of them itch your pet and lead to multiple health problems.
But there is a vast difference between both of them. This write-up briefs you about the difference between the two so that you come to know what your pets are up against and what can be done to eradicate them from your pet’s body.
Fleas
Fleas do not have any wings, but they have the amazing ability to jump like any NBA player. They are approximately 1/6 to 1/8 inches long and live for nearly 100 days. One peculiar thing about them is they like to settle in and stay on a single pet. That means once it jumps on your pet, it will stay there till death, thereby feeding on your pet’s blood. They start reproducing babies while finishing eating.
In about couple of weeks’ time they lay roughly 20 to 40 eggs per day. These eggs are always on the pet so wherever the pet goes these eggs are always there on him. Remember, if your pet sheds hair, it may contain flea eggs that can land anywhere. They favour heat to cold temperature so that they get a chance to stay indoors in toasty warm weather. But they do not come alone. Most probably they bring gifts along in the form of bartonellosis and tapeworm.
Ticks
These parasites are close cousins of spiders and are reckoned to be an arachid due to its eight legs. They are bigger than fleas with a length of 1/4 to 1/8 inches. The peculiar thing about these parasites is that they move from one animal to another without being choosy in selecting the host. But they are selective when it comes to selecting a home and move from one host to another to sponge off. They can be found on snakes, lizards and even human beings. They live between three weeks to three years. But they cannot be there on a single animal for a very long time. During their different life cycles from larvae, nymph and adults, they go from one host to another.
One strange thing about tick eggs is that once the female tick has fed the pet’s blood it falls off from the host and lay thousands of eggs at once. After this, they leave behind a new generation of ticks to suck blood from the host’s body. Ticks like colder weather and so winter is their most preferred season. Some of the prominent diseases that ticks carry include: Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
So, now that you are aware about the difference between fleas and ticks why not get flea & tick preventive treatments like Frontline Plus, Nexgard Chewables, Revolution, Advantage, and Capstar and keep your furry pal happy and free from the irritation caused by these pesky parasites. Remember, it is better to be safe than to be safe. So, always take preventive measures before it is too late.
