Fleas and ticks are dangerous disease carriers and they can make you and your pet’s life miserable.  Fleas can transmit tapeworms, cause anemia and cause itchy allergic reactions, which can lead to scratching, hair loss and infection.  Ticks can carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, a serious condition characterized by lameness, swollen joints and fever.

Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera.  They are small wingless, external parasites, with mouth parts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood.

Ticks are small arachnids in the order of Parasitiformes.  They are external parasites living on the blood or mammals birds and sometimes reptiles and amphibians.

There are a variety of different types of flea and tick medications, including topical treatments, oral mediation and flea and tick collars.  The medications rely on chemicals that paralyzes and/or kills fleas or ticks at their various life stages.

Topical treatments tend to be the most popular form of flea and tick prevention and are used by applying the medication between your pet’s shoulder blades or at the base of their neck.  They are absorbed by the animal’s oil and sweat glands in the skin and help your pet repel fleas and ticks within 24 hours.  These medications are waterproof but need a full day to dry after being applied.

Pets treated with these medications can still pick up fleas and ticks.  The flea or tick must bite your pet to ingest the chemical that has spread throughout your pet’s skin glands.