How to Protect Your Grapevine, Texas Home from Pet-Related Pests
Living in Grapevine, Texas, can be a wonderful experience. From its beautiful wineries to the quaint downtown area to its residents’ vibrant music and culture, Grapevine is a welcoming place for all. But along with the great weather and friendly neighbors comes the potential for pests!
We all know that pests can cause harm to humans and can damage their property as well. But unfortunately, pests like fleas and ticks can also cause harm to pets.
Bed bugs, fleas, and ticks are parasitic insects that cause severe problems to humans and pets. While bed bugs can be seen on mattresses and furniture, fleas and ticks infest furry pets like cats and dogs.
Today, we will talk about why these pests harm our furry friends and how we can protect our homes from them. Additionally, we will feature other pests that can harm your pets.
Fleas
Fleas are the most common pests that affect pets in Grapevine, Texas. Fleas feed on the blood of their host (usually cats and dogs). As a result, they cause serious health issues such as allergies, anemia, and skin irritations. Fleas can also transmit tapeworms to your pet if they ingest an infected flea.
Not only dogs and cats are susceptible to fleas, but rabbits and birds are as well. Fleas do not have wings; thus, they cannot fly. However, they can jump from one animal to another. In addition, they can jump straight without stopping for 300 yards. Fleas are usually found where the temperature is warm and humid. They live near trees, leaves, grass, and shrubs. They can stay for as long as they want and live for up to 18 months. They attack pets because they suck their blood for food, and you will often find them on your pets’ ears, neck, back, and belly.
Symptoms
Like drywall signs of termites, you will not directly see fleas on your pets unless you look into their body and scour through their food. However, you may check their behaviors to indicate if they have fleas on their body. Below are the signs and symptoms of fleas on your furry friends.
Droppings that seem like grains of sand in the coat
Allergic dermatitis
Excessive scratching, licking, chewing, and biting of the skin.
Hair loss
Scabs or hot spots
Pale gums
Treatment
Fleas are not life-threatening, but they can be when left untreated and annoying for our pets. Luckily, we have ways to treat fleas on our pets and make their life stress-free and peaceful.
Oral medication: Have your pets checked up by a veterinarian to have the best medicine to treat their fleas. Usually, vets will prescribe chewable tablets or topical spot-on solutions to remove fleas.
Sprays and Shampoos: They are over-the-counter consumer products like anti-flea sprays and shampoos that you can buy to get rid of fleas. You can easily buy this because it usually does not require a vet’s prescription. Once you have the shampoo, bathe your pets and spray them with the anti-flea spray for extra protection.
Home remedy: You can also go natural and find an ingredient at your house to remove fleas. This ingredient is apple cider vinegar. This house ingredient has a smell that repels fleas.
Comb fur: Comb your pets’ fur using a flea comb, a grooming tool used to get the fleas on your pets’ fur and kill them using hot water with soap. Do not just leave them, as they can jump back in.
Cleanse pet belongings: Clean your pets’ beds, clothes, bowls, and toys that they usually use. Fleas may infest and live on their belongings. So for the fleas not to come back after you clean your pet, clean their belongings as well. However, do not use insecticides to cleanse your pets’ things because this can irritate them. What you can do is vacuum them instead.
Ticks
Ticks are like fleas that suck on pets’ blood as well. However, they are more harmful than fleas because they can transmit bacteria and diseases to your pets. Diseases like rocky mountain spotted fever, canine hepatozoonosis, paralysis, piroplasmosis, and Lyme can be transmitted by fleas to your pets. Luckily, they cannot jump as well and fly like fleas. Pets can only get them when they come in direct contact with them through grass and shrubs. They can live for up to one year.
Symptoms
Ticks also can give off symptoms, and their symptoms are sometimes similar to fleas. Below are the signs and symptoms of ticks.
Excessive licking and chewing of the skin
Shaking head and ears
Lethargic
Wobbling or limping
Loss of appetite
Vomiting
Coughing
Difficulty breathing
Red or glass-looking eyes
Warm ears or nose
Panting
Shivering
Runny nose
Treatment
Luckily, these harmful pests can be removed by following a few steps. After you check the signs of ticks on your pets, follow the steps below.
Prepare everything you need: tweezers, gloves, isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, and a jar with rubbing alcohol.
Get tweezers, wear gloves, and grasp the ticks. Make sure that you grasp as close to the skin as possible to avoid leaving the mouth part of the tick. Additionally, do not twist or jerk the tick as it may vomit an infectious fluid to your pets. Instead, pull straight upwards using the tweezers with even pressure.
Place the ticks inside the jar with rubbing alcohol. Do not squash or crush the tick because it may contain infectious fluids.
Clean the tick bite using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Dilute that alcohol or hydrogen peroxide in water and use this solution to disinfect the tick flea. Use a cotton or towel to apply the solution.
Disinfect the tweezers. Use alcohol to cleanse the tweezers or run them over a flame.
Clean hands. Take off the gloves and throw them away properly. Then, wash your hands with soap to disinfect your hands.
Monitor the tick bite to see if inflammation or infection will occur. If so, take the pet to the vet and have the collected tick examined as well.
Other Pests That Can Harm Your Pest
Mosquitos – blood-sucking insects that can transmit diseases like heartworm to pets
Bugs – do not bite or sting pets but can be eaten if your pet is curious enough, resulting in problems to the digestive tract.
Caterpillars – can sting and transmit venom, resulting in coughing, gagging, and excessive salivation.
Spiders – their venom can cause neurovascular damage.
Bees – can sting pets, resulting in an allergic reaction, mouth pain, and swelling.
Cockroaches – can transmit bacteria when they are also eating your pets’ food. If pets eat them, they can be hard to digest because they contain a fiber called chitin.
Prevention
Pests like fleas and ticks can be treated to avoid life-threatening consequences. Nonetheless, it would still be better to prevent them from attacking your furry friend. Below are the ways you can prevent fleas and ticks from not only infesting your home but also attacking your pets.
Remove organic waste like tree clipping and leaves.
Use a flea and tick collar for your pet to repel fleas and ticks.
Use flea and tick insecticides.
Mow your lawn regularly to remove tall weeds.
Avoid leaving pet food exposed for too long.
Keep garbage covered.
The above points are preventive measures to ensure that fleas and ticks will not harm you or your pets. Additionally, have your pets regularly checked by a vet to identify possible fleas and ticks infestation. Moreover, call a local pest control, to ensure maximum protection from all kinds of pests like fleas and ticks.
