Preventing Fleas and Other Nasties

Worming and “de-flea-ing” your dog are the commonest forms of dog care measures which you probably undertake yourself for your dog. Fleas infest almost every dog at some time. Sometimes a lot of the time. Dogs that socialize with other dogs outside your home tend to become infested more often than dogs that remain at home without any direct contact with other dogs.Fleas can carry disease and other parasites, including tapeworm.  And fleas are extremely irritating for your dog. They often cause intense itching, which in turn can cause your dog to damage his/her skin by vigorous scratching.Some dogs are allergic to flea bites. If this is the case with your dog, then even after the fleas have been doused with flea poison and killed, the cycle of itch, scratch, itch, scratch, can remain for quite some time, due to the inflammation from the allergy to the flea bites.My Rottweiler has been terribly affected two or three times now by this self-perpetuating cycle caused by her allergy to flea bites. Most of the skin damage has been caused by Kara incessantly scratching and injuring herself.  When this has happened, it's been necessary to treat the flea bites as well as get rid of the fleas.Now I make sure I keep fleas away with natural flea prevention measures, so as to avoid the fleas in the first place wherever possible.A dog with an infestation of fleas is neither not a happy dog. And s/he's not a healthy dog, either.So at the first sign of a flea, it's important to treat your dog for this very common problem. And those pesky fleas don't always readily show themselves. So if your dog is scratching more than usual, the first thing to do is an extremely thorough search through your dog's coat.  (Note that fleas can often be very difficult to see - it's essential that you do look very thoroughly).If you can see even one flea, treat your dog immediately. Some people treat routinely just because it's flea season, and still others actually treat throughout the year. And of course, it goes without saying that if you have more than one animal, you must treat them all at the same time.If you're using one of the chemical flea treatments, you might be reluctant to treat your dog for fleas all year (I certainly would be).  But if you use a natural flea prevention and natural flea treatment regime, you don't need to worry about any adverse consequences the chemicals may have.

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