3 Ways to Protect Pets From Harmful Parasites

There are different sorts of internal and external parasites that can affect the health of your pet. Some of them include: fleas, ticks, Giardia, heartworms, hookworms, whipworms, roundworms, tapeworms and Coccidia. It is easier to prevent these parasites than to treat after infection. One other thing that needs to be kept in mind is that there are certain parasites that can be transmitted from pets to people. Hence, a year round prevention is the best way to deal with these parasites on pets.

It is not that difficult to keep your pets parasite-free. In fact, if you are giving your furry pal monthly heartworm prevention treatment along flea and tick treatment, then you are already protecting them against multiple parasites. Apart from this, you can protect your pets from harmful parasites by following the different ways given below:

Take recommendation from your veterinarian

Take the help of your veterinarian and inquire from them about the parasites that can cause problem for your pets in your area. There are certain parasites which pose more threat to pets than others depending on where you live and your pet's lifestyle. He/she is the best person to tell you which parasites are the real threat and how they can be transmitted to your pet. He/she will also suggest you appropriate preventative treatments for your pets.

Look out for the signs of parasites

Pets are all prone to parasites, but it is very difficult to say if your pet has them. External parasites like fleas and ticks can be seen if you know where to look for them. Pets having fleas scratch a lot, chew at the skin, have visible red bumps and hair loss.

While internal parasites like heartworms, hookworms, whipworms, tapeworms, roundworms, Giardia or Coccidia is tougher to detect in pets. This is due to the fact that it requires more than detecting illness or behavioural changes in pets. Adult intestinal parasites are not visible in stool, while immature and adult heartworms can be found in blood. Intestinal parasites can cause vomiting, obstruction, poor general appearance, weight loss, and diarrhoea. Kittens and puppies with internal parasites have a pot-boiled appearance.

Ask your veterinarian to conduct routine faecal examinations

Faecal examination needs to be conducted on an yearly basis or for some pets every 3 to 6 months. Your veterinarian would ask you to bring a fresh sample of pet stool for parasite screening. By scrutinising it microscopically, he/she would determine whether the pet has internal parasites or not. And if there are internal parasites then which ones. Then he would give necessary treatment for eliminating the parasites. He would also give preventative treatments that control these internal parasites along with fleas and ticks and heartworms.

Credit: Taya Burnett