When it comes to acquiring the responsibility of having a dog as a pet, one of the main precautions to take is the deworming or application of hygienic measures so that you do not suffer this problem. As a general rule, the dog should be inspected frequently for flea bites or any other indication that it may be infested with a parasite. This practice should be carried out periodically, depending on measures taken to prevent infestations, such as collars or baths with pest control products.
The parasites of the dog are divided into those that act inside the animal (pulmonary worms, cardiac worms, rounds, in the form of hooks or whips) and those that use the skin of the animal to live (splinters, ticks, old-fashioned scabies, sarcoptic scabies …). Knowing the external parasites that can affect your puppy is very important to quickly detect its appearance. In milder cases, they cause discomfort and itching, but if the situation gets worse, the life and health of your best friend may be severely affected.
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This classification includes all external parasites that are as harmful to animals as repellent and hated by humans. Generally, they live between fur and skin, as the natural habitat of parasites spreads throughout the surface of the animal, where they adhere and feed on blood.
The consequences of dogs from these insects can become dangerous, causing serious illness and even death. Hence the enormous importance of constant surveillance, constant care, preventive hygiene and regular visits to a veterinarian.
Here are the most common external parasites that can attack your dog
Did you find a black animal in the dog? Fleas are small dark brown parasites that inhabit the fur of dogs and other animals. They are so small and fast that it is difficult to detect them, but it is easy to detect their stool.
This wingless insect is highly contagious, capable of transmitting diseases to humans. His saliva produces allergies to the dog’s skin, as well as causing diseases such as leishmaniasis, heartworm disease, bartonelosis, dipilidiosis, allergic jaw dermatitis, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis, borreliosis or Lyme disease and babesiosis.
A dog flea can nest in any warm and humid area of the house, jumping towards the dog by the way. It infects you in less than a month, being enough to lay eggs in your hair. A single female can lay a thousand eggs in a single day. These allow the larvae to survive more than 10 months, waiting for a dog to pass over them and begin their life cycle.
To eliminate fleas, this life cycle must be interrupted, i.e. killing them before they lay their eggs.
The dog’s caregiver may notice that the animal is infected when it develops allergic dermatitis, a reaction to saliva released by the bite of the flea that causes an intense itching, compulsive itching, hair loss and even thickening of the skin, causing a great discomfort in the animal. If the puppy is a puppy, he or she may suffer anemia due to excessive blood loss.
The tick also feeds on dog-sucking blood. If not discarded quickly, it can reach considerable sizes. Its location is centered behind the ears, under the mouth, on the neck or on the legs. However, if the infection lasts a while, it can spread throughout the body.
Ticks are large, easy-to-see parasites. They can be easily noticed when touching the dog. This insect has more or less serious diseases that can be transmitted to humans, such as fever, Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis (as in the case of fleas) and rocky mountain purple fever. It tends to attack and become more virulent during the warmer months.
If you detect the presence of ticks in your dog, you should never take them out, you should use specific equipment to remove them and go immediately to the veterinarian.
Their natural color is brown, but they turn red when they feed on the animal’s blood and swelling. Bed bugs move easily to other bodies hosting different animals. They are not very serious because they do not spread the disease, although they are usually very irritating when they bite. These canine parasites reproduce easily and it is very difficult to eliminate a pest when it spreads throughout the house.
Lice are external parasites that are very difficult to locate in dogs unless a thorough inspection is carried out. They are easily transmitted to human hair, being popular for causing intense itching. Its appearance is that of a flattened, grayish body. In addition to the usual itching discomfort, they can cause skin dermatitis.
The mites invisible to the naked eye cause skin diseases in dogs of different types, being quite serious if it is the mite Demodex Canis that causes canine demodecia. Although it usually occurs in young dogs, it can occur in adults if they have another disease that causes immunosuppression. It is easy to find in unhygienic animals, short-haired breeds or prone to seborhic disorders. The infection is transmitted directly from mother to dog in the first few days of life.
Old-fashioned mites are long and microscopic. They are part of the microfauna of the dog’s skin and are not very contagious. The disease occurs when the concentration of these mites increases, although the causes are not known for certain. These parasites in dogs can occur in two varieties: localized and disseminated.
Localized old-fashioned scabies is a benign problem that is usually resolved spontaneously in most cases. Symptoms include localized hair loss, flaking and brown spots.
In turn, the widespread old-fashioned scabies is a serious disease that can result in the death of the dog. It initially occurs with localized hair loss but, over time, secondary complications occur. The most common complication is a bacterial skin infection or pyodermite, which includes itching, swollen lymph nodes, suppuration and odor.
Sarcoptes scabiei, another microscopic mite, is able to create a very contagious and irritating disease. Although they live on the skin, they can dig tunnels into deeper layers of the skin to lay their eggs. It is advisable to detect it in the early stages of contagion, otherwise it may take longer to heal.
Sarcotic scabies can be transmitted through direct contact with other individuals already infected or indirectly, sharing a bed with infected dogs, for example, and these external parasites of the dog can also infect humans.
These mites cause skin irritation, hair loss and skin loss. Left untreated, the disease can cause other organic disorders and the dog may die.
The ear mites are identical to the mites of sarcoptic scabies, but they are a little larger. They are infected by direct contact with other infected animals or by surfaces where these parasites are found. They usually settle in the ear canal and adjacent areas and cause severe irritation and itching in dogs.
To alleviate discomfort, the dog is constantly scratched and can even get injured by rubbing its head against walls and other rough surfaces. The dog infected with these mites also shakes its head very often. It is also common to see a dark fluid coming out of the ear canal. When the infection is very severe, the dog can spin.
Like any medical treatment, the treatment of the dog’s external parasites should be performed and/or recommended by the veterinarian.
Remember the importance of preventing all these problems from developing with the use of medicines, pipettes or antiparasitic collars, always following the dog deworming plan. Other appropriate forms of prevention are bathing and hygiene of the dog’s ears.
Adopting animals like dogs is something that can bring a lot of joy to people. To ensure that the animal is healthy, a visit to the veterinarian is always beneficial and essential. This professional will check the necessary measures if the animal has parasites or other infestations.
This article is for informational purposes only, in Animal Expert.com.br we cannot prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.
If you would like to read articles similar to The Dog’s External Pests, we recommend that you visit our Parasitic Diseases section.