Everything You Need to Know About Parasite Prevention in Tucson

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Everything You Need to Know About Parasite Prevention in Tucson

In addition to vaccinations, proper nutrition, and exercise, an essential component of every pet’s wellness and preventative veterinary care is parasite prevention.

Why Is Parasite Prevention So Important for Pets?

There are several different types of parasites that can harm your pet’s health – and even put the health of your human family members at risk. So, it’s important to protect your pet’s from pests like fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, ear mites, and intestinal parasites like hookworms, whipworms, and roundworms.
Parasite prevention is especially vital to your pet’s ongoing health and wellness. Intestinal parasites can cause stomach upset and affect your pet’s ability to absorb nutrition. Pests like mosquitoes carry heartworms that can significantly damage your pet’s health and even be fatal. Other parasites like fleas and ticks carry a variety of dangerous, zoonotic diseases that can affect both your pet’s health and your own.

How to Protect Your Pets From Parasites

The best way to protect your pets from most parasites is with preventative medications. Our veterinarian can provide you with recommendations based on your pet’s exposure risk, species, and size. Preventative medications come in a variety of forms. For example, flea and tick preventatives can be found in oral tablets, topical ointments, and even on medicated collars. Heartworm preventatives are available in oral tablets and in the form of injections that protect your pet from the inside for months at a time.
In addition to protecting your pets with preventatives, it’s also important to keep their environment cleaned up and as undesirable to parasites as possible. Make sure your yard is free from debris, standing water, and feces from wild animals and other pets. This will limit the number of parasites in your pet’s immediate vicinity, reducing the risk of exposure.

Parasite Prevention and Screening With Our Mobile Veterinary Clinic in Tucson

Whether your pet’s heartworm prevention has lapsed or your pet needs a clean fecal test before entering a boarding facility, our mobile veterinary clinic in Tucson is here to help. We’re fully equipped to screen cats and dogs for signs of heartworms to ensure the safe administration of a heartworm preventative. Additionally, we can provide fecal testing for intestinal parasites and deworming treatments if necessary.
To learn more about protecting your pets from fleas, ticks, heartworms, ear mites, and intestinal parasites, we welcome you to schedule a wellness and preventative care appointment with our mobile veterinary clinic. Our veterinarians can help you determine the safest and most effective parasite preventatives for your pet based on your pet’s species, size, and the other pets and children living in your household.
To schedule an appointment for your dog or cat, contact Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care today.

Protect Your Pet During Heartworm Awareness Month in April

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Protect Your Pet During Heartworm Awareness Month in April

Although mosquitos are active all year long in Tucson, April marks the beginning of mosquito season in many U.S. climates, making it the perfect time to raise awareness about a dangerous pet parasite during Heartworm Awareness Month.

What Are Heartworms?

Heartworm is a kind of parasite that can affect a range of mammals, including dogs and cats. Heartworm larvae are transferred to pets through the sting of an infected mosquito. Once heartworm larvae are introduced into a pet’s bloodstream, they travel throughout the pet’s body. Once the larvae reach the pet’s heart and lungs, they take up residence. Heartworms can grow to be up to a foot long, and pets can often be infected with more than a hundred at a time.
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What Is Heartworm Disease?

Heartworm disease refers to the symptoms caused in cats and dogs by heartworms. As the parasites accumulate in a pet’s heart and lungs, they often cause heart failure and severe lung disease, in addition to damaging other organs throughout the body.
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Heartworm Disease in Dogs vs. Cats

Dogs are natural hosts of heartworms, meaning the parasites can live out a complete lifecycle in their systems, maturing and reproducing in a dog’s body. As a result, heartworm disease is usually much more severe in dogs than it is in cats. For dogs, heartworm is usually fatal if left untreated.
While the effects of heartworms in dogs, felines can still get heartworm disease. Cats are an atypical host for heartworm. As a result, most larvae don’t reach full maturity in a cat’s body. Although not as severe, heartworm disease in cats can cause respiratory problems like coughing and trouble breathing.

Treatment and Prevention

No heartworm treatment exists for cats, and the treatment for dogs is lengthy and often unsuccessful. As a result, heartworm prevention with tablets or injections is always recommended.

Protect Your Pet From Heartworm – Schedule an Appointment With Our Tucson Vet

April is Heartworm Awareness Month, but it’s always mosquito season in Tucson which means pets are always at risk of getting heartworms. That’s why our veterinarians at Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care recommend keeping pets on a year-round heartworm preventative.
If you have yet to protect your pets from heartworm disease, we recommend scheduling an appointment right away. Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care in Tucson will bring heartworm protection to your doorstep. We’ll first perform a quick blood test to screen your pet for signs of heartworm. Once the lab test results come back clear, we’ll help you determine the best heartworm preventative for your pet.
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Everything You Should Know for Spay/Neuter Awareness Month

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Everything You Should Know for Spay/Neuter Awareness Month

February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month, and our veterinarians at Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care like to take this opportunity to educate pet owners and the community about the importance of spaying and neutering pets.

What Is Spay/Neuter Surgery?

Spay surgery and neuter surgery are two surgical procedures intended to sterilize cats and dogs. Spay surgery removes a female pet’s uterus and ovaries, and neuter surgery removes a male pet’s testicles.

4 Benefits of Spaying or Neutering Your Pets

1. Cancer Prevention

Removing a pet’s reproductive organs prevents testicular, ovarian, and uterine cancers. It also reduces the risks of cancers associated with reproductions, such as breast cancer.

2. Lower Disease Risk

Sterilized pets come into contact with fewer animals throughout their lives. As a result, they’re exposed to fewer contagious diseases.

3. Improved Behavior

Sterilizing animals reduces and eliminates a variety of undesirable and unsafe behaviors including:
  • Aggression
  • Territory marking or spraying
  • Wandering
  • Howling and yowling
These behaviors are unpleasant and can even be dangerous for your pet and people, and they can all arise as a result of an intact pet’s instinct to reproduce.

4. Fewer Unwanted Litters

According to the ASPCA, about 6.5 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters each year in the United States alone. Every year, about 1.5 million companion animals living in shelters are euthanized.
Spaying or neutering your pets prevents them from producing unwanted litters of puppies and kittens. This reduces the number of homeless pets that roam around and spread disease, wind up crowding animal shelters, strain community resources, and often end up being euthanized.
Additionally, preventing unwanted litters saves lives by increasing the number of shelter pets that are adopted every year.

Is Spay/Neuter Surgery Safe?

Among veterinary professionals, it’s well-known that the health benefits of spay or neuter surgery far outweigh any potential risks. Although every surgical procedure involves some degree of risk, spay and neuter surgeries are very safe. They’re performed all the time and considered to be routine surgeries.
Prior to all surgeries, our veterinarians thoroughly examine our patients to make sure they’re healthy enough to undergo the procedure at hand.
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On-Site Spay/Neuter Surgery in Tucson

If your puppy, kitten, or adult pet still needs to be spayed or neutered, we encourage you to schedule an appointment right away. With our mobile veterinary clinic, our skilled and experienced veterinarians are fully equipped to provide spay and neuter surgeries on-site at our surgical suite. To learn more or to schedule an appointment for your cat or dog, we welcome you to contact Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care today.

Heartworm & Other Native Pests

Heartworm & Other Native Pests

There’s a common misconception that heartworm is not a problem in the Southwest. Heartworm is transferred to dogs through mosquito bites. With our warm weather, mosquitos pose a threat to our pets during every season. Mosquitos carrying heartworm, however, aren’t the only dangerous regional pests. Learn how you can protect your pets from heartworm and other dangers found in Tucson.

Parasites, Pests, and Other Desert Pet Dangers

Heartworm

To protect pets from heartworm, we recommend regular heartworm screening and year-round treatment with a heartworm preventative.

Colorado River Toads

Monsoon season not only increases mosquito populations, but the heavy rain also brings out Colorado River Toads. Also called Sonoran Desert Toads, these animals might appear non-threatening, but they are actually dangerous, as they excrete a powerful neurotoxin.
Symptoms of poisoning include drooling, head shaking, pawing at the face, reddened mucous membranes, trouble breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, vocalization, dilated pupils, seizures, collapse, and death. If you suspect your dog has had contact with a Colorado River Toad, seek treatment immediately.

Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes are common in our area, and it’s not unusual for dogs who like to explore outside to encounter them. We recommend rattlesnake avoidance training for Tucson pups, but it’s also good to know what to look for and what to do in the event of a rattlesnake bite.
Symptoms are similar to those of toxic toad poisoning, but you will also see swelling, bruising, and puncture marks. Seek emergency care. Be careful when moving your pet. They will be in extreme pain and could bite when touched.

Valley Fever

An infection caused by a soil-dwelling fungus, valley fever can infect a large group of species, including humans and cats, but it’s common in dogs because they tend to sniff and dig in the dirt. Symptoms include coughing, lethargy, and limping.

Schedule an Appointment for Your Pet Today

When your pet needs care, Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Clinic will come to you. We’ll make sure your pet has the proper protection against heartworm and other parasites and provide you with additional advice on keeping pets safe in our desert environment.