Aside from the obvious “yuck factor” of fleas and ticks on our precious pets, there are many medical reasons to try to keep them free of these external parasites.  Fleas are the intermediate host for tapeworms, so if we keep the fleas off our dogs and cats, they will not get tapeworms.  That, along with the fact that our monthly heart worm preventives also prevent roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms, means we can keep our pets virtually worm free their entire lives.  Many of our house pets are actually allergic to the saliva of fleas (yes, fleas have saliva!), and just a few bites on these cats or dogs will result in a severe inflammatory response, complete with hairloss, itching, bleeding, and secondary bacterial infections.  Keeping fleas off these particular pets is imperative to ensure a good quality of life for them.

Ticks, aside from being gross little creatures, carry a variety of potentially life-threatening diseases including Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis, all of which are becoming more prevalent in our area.

The market is flooded with an enormous variety of flea and tick control products, and we strive to carry the safest and most effective of the selection available.  We cannot carry every one, but we always have a variety of topical spot-on type products, oral products, and the most effective flea and tick collar to have ever been invented.  Our entire staff does continuing education about these products, so our doctors, technicians, and receptionists are all happy to discuss the pros and cons of all the products we carry.