Your Dog Still Needs Tick & Flea Protection During the Winter Months

During the winter months you may think that you can give your pet a break from their tick and flea medication for various reasons. This is not a good idea because dogs are at risk for ticks and fleas year-round, ticks and fleas are not only a nuisance, but can transmit diseases.

Fleas are parasites that bite, transmit disease, and cause your pet to itch, making them very miserable. Fleas suck blood, and when ignored can cause lethargy, weakness, and even death if not caught and treated in time. Common conditions and infections from fleas include flea allergic dermatitis and tapeworms.

To insure flea infestation doesn’t begin or become a vicious cycle in your home, all pets, including indoor-only need to be on a year-round preventative. Once fleas enter your home, they can quickly take hold (each adult female flea can lay anywhere from 20–50 eggs each day) causing an infestation that can be very difficult to completely eliminate.

Fleas can find their way into your home during the cooler and colder months, they can survive in warmer areas like barns, animal dens, or under your home (hitching a ride on the backs of mice and rodents that run into homes for a visit of warmth or snack is very common). Many tick species can survive and even be active and thrive throughout winter too. Many areas of the America are not cold enough to truly kill these parasites and stop their activity. With increasingly warmer winters there will never be a good time to skip your pets flea & tick protection, because all ticks and fleas can carry diseases that could harm your pets quality of life and general health, its just best to keep them protected all year long.

In mild climates, fleas are a year-round nuisance for dogs and cats; it never gets cold enough for them to go dormant. After most major wet weather events, such as hurricanes, fleas are very common.

Additionally, when planning travel during winter months with your pet, you could be traveling to a region where ticks and fleas remain active all year-round. And you may live in an area that is affected by crazy weather patterns, like Dallas (or are traveling to one), it’s very important to keep your pet on flea medication to keep them protected from the diseases that all fleas carry.

Specific Ticks

The blacklegged ticks in the south, western blacklegged ticks along the west coast, and brown dog ticks in the southern half of the United States, can live and even remain active all winter.

Gulf Coast Ticks, which can transmit tick paralysis, can be active in temperatures as low as 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that in many parts of America it’s not cold enough to stop tick activity and this tick’s range is expanding beyond the Gulf Coast states.

Ticks can be found anywhere in the United States – and at any time of the year. Like fleas, ticks suck your pet’s blood, and when left unchecked can also cause related health problems. Ticks transmit several debilitating diseases such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, tick paralysis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes can transmit many diseases, and just a single bite from an infected mosquito can put your pet at risk for developing heartworm disease. While dogs that spend lots of time outside (when mosquitoes are feeding) may have a higher risk, even dogs that rarely go outside are at risk for heartworm disease. Cases of heartworm disease have been diagnosed in all 50 states.

There are treatments for dogs with heartworm disease and they have potential medical complications, high costs, and logistical problems. Even after treatment for heartworm disease, your dog can be left with irreversible damage to their heart and lungs.