Blog
The Dangers Of Mosquitoes To Your Pets And Your Family
7/18/13
You do a lot to take care of your pets; you buy the best food, take the time to groom them and get them their daily exercise. But what you might not be doing could possibly cause many problems for your family pet. Both dogs and cats require protection from a disease called heartworm and if you’re not proactively protecting your pets against this disease, then you could be doing your pet a disservice.
Heartworms are parasitic worms that live inside organs, blood vessels and arteries within their host. Their hosts can be dogs, cats, wolves and other mammals and when a mammal has heartworms, the disease can be fatal if not properly treated. But heartworms don’t operate on their own; they are transmitted to our pets by mosquitoes through their bite. If our pets are bitten by a mosquito infected with heartworm disease, this disease can pass from the mosquito to the animal and then begin to develop. The mosquito is what allows heartworms to grow; without mosquitoes, the heartworm larvae cannot mature into adult heartworms.
Mosquitoes can be dangerous for people as well. Some scientists believe that mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal on earth, because diseases transmitted by these buzzing insects cause more deaths than deaths caused by any other animal throughout the world. Diseases that humans can contract from mosquitoes include West Nile virus, yellow fever, dengue fever and several forms of Encephalitis, just to name a few. All of these diseases can be very dangerous and can even be life-threatening.
Mosquito prevention for both people and pets is very important for preventing the diseases that mosquitoes are capable of spreading. For your pets, you’ll want to look into heartworm prevention treatments that they can ingest. Your veterinarian will have more information, but heartworm prevention tablets or chews are available for your pet to protect them from developing heartworm disease. You should also consider flea and tick preventative treatments to keep your pets safe from fleas that will make them itchy and miserable and ticks that have the ability to spread Lyme disease. For yourself, you’ll want to find ways to prevent getting mosquito bites. Ways you can do this include:
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Wearing insect repellent with DEET or Picaridin can help repel mosquitoes as well as other insects that are looking to get a bite out of you.
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Tucking your pants into your socks and wearing long sleeves can also help you avoid picking up mosquito bites while outdoors.
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Staying indoors during peak mosquito activity times, which include dawn and dusk.
You may also want to consider reducing mosquito breeding zones on your property to limit the number of mosquitoes that are born around your home. Mosquitoes must lay their eggs in standing water, so eliminating areas of standing water around your property can reduce the number of mosquitoes that both you and your pets encounter.
Another option for mosquito control is to contact a local pest control professional to see what kind of service options they offer for mosquito control. Many companies offer mosquito remediation services that can be used throughout the summer season to reduce mosquito populations and therefore reduce the possibility of you or your pets contracting one of the many dangerous diseases transmitted by these pests. You can also see about contracting their services for a one-time treatment, especially if you have a big family party or occasion planned for your backyard.
For more information on mosquito remediation services in Maryland and Virginia, contact the professionals at American Pest. Their Residential Mosquito Mitigation services will identify potential breeding zones on your property and then their professionals will discuss treatment options with you to determine what kind of control treatment will work best for your situation.