Ah, spring.... The sun is shining, birds are singing, bees are buzzing, fleas are hopping, and the ticks are lurking! While we're all excited to be spending more time outside, some of the less-than-friendly critters out there are just drooling at the thought of your poor furry pet's visit to their neck of the woods. Fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes aren't just irritating biters, either ---they all can carry and transmit some pretty serious diseases as well! And as if diseases like Heartworm, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Erlichiosis, Babesiosis, Hemobartonellosis (who comes up with these names?) weren't enough, many dogs and cats have severe allergic reactions to flea bites, leading to horrible rashes and skin infections. But that's nothing compared to the fate that befalls hapless dogs in northern Australia bitten by the appropriately named "paralysis tick...." If the tick isn't found and removed promptly, whole body paralysis and suffocation will slowly ensue! Now, that's what I call a bad bug bite!

So what's a poor mammal to do?

Stay tuned, and I'll give you a few tips....

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This post was generously contributed by Dr. Stanley of House Call Of The Wild.

Tags: flea, tick, Mosquitoe