As the gloom of winter fades and spring takes over with blooming flowers, bright sun, and thunderstorms, it’s important your pet is ready for the season. These tips can help keep your pet safe this spring and give you peace of mind as they run around outside.
April Showers Bring May Flowers and Lots of Toxic Plants
Flowers and plants are in full bloom everywhere during springtime, but many are dangerous to your pet’s health! Lilies are extremely beautiful, but for cats, small ingestions of pollen or a bite of a leaf can cause kidney failure! Lily of the valley, a favorite wedding flower, can slow down your pet’s heartbeat or even stop it altogether. Keeping tulips in your home garden can cause your furry friend to show signs of toxicity including diarrhea and vomiting. Flowers like azaleas and Japanese Pieris can also be toxic for cats and dogs as well as lots of other plants. Taking a look at the fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides that can help keep your lawn looking it’s best may also be dangerous to your pet. Before you decide to bring any flower, plant or lawn care items into your home or yard, be sure to research and make sure they wouldn’t be toxic to any or your beloved pets.
Ticks, Fleas and Heartworms Oh My
With your pets spending more time outside in the sun after being cooped up all winter, it’s crucial to invest in adequate flea and tick prevention for your animals. With the eggs hatching with the warm weather, flea infestations rise in the spring. Using your pet’s flea medicine continually can help prevent them from bringing fleas into the home.
Next month is Lyme Disease Prevention month, and ticks are a primary carrier of Lyme Disease in pets and humans. This means tick prevention is vital to the whole family, especially with ticks being able to have up to three hosts before dying. Ensuring your dog has their Lyme Disease prevention shot and avoiding areas of tall grass, marshes and wooded areas with your animals can also help prevent the spread of Lyme Disease.
Heartworms can be fatal to cats and dogs as well as many other household pets and wild animals. This disease is transmitted through the simple bite of a mosquito, allowing the disease to transfer between animals. For both cats and dogs, this is preventable with heartworm prevention medicines that you can continually give your pets to keep them healthy.
Allergies Affect Everyone
As everything comes back to life in spring, flowers, grass, and trees can cause allergies in pets just like they can in people. If you see that your animal is excessively licking, scratching or experiencing hair loss, they may have allergies and should be taken to your vet as soon as possible.
The Boom of Thunder
Spring is all about storms, helping the flowers bloom bright and getting everything ready for summer. The crash of thunder leading into a big storm can scare pets, especially dogs, as many don’t appreciate loud noises like thunder and fireworks. Some may even get so stressed that they escape the home, cause severe damage or also endanger themselves. Giving your pet a safe room or looking into pressure shirts, blankets or even veterinarian prescribed medication can help them through the storm.
The season change awakens all kinds of different dangers for pet parents to look out for, and something as beautiful as a colorful flower to brighten up your home can even cost you your pet’s life. Ensure you consider these tips as you take spring head on!