Protecting Your Pets

Protecting Your Pets. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Fleas and ticks. Two words that send pet owners scurrying to the cupboard. Whether your pet is at home in the suburbs or at home on the range these blood thirty parasites can inflict discomfort and disease on your families pets. With warm weather emerging it's time to protect your pets from fleas and ticks. Veterinarian Karen Johnson says like with any other kind of pesticide it is important to read the label. JOHNSON: Flea products have gotten a lot safer as new flea products are developed but the most important thing is that people really read labels, know the products they're using apply them safely and apply them properly. Some people try to take short cuts and split products up. One of the things we really want to stress is having a good relationship with your veterinarian who can really partner with you and advocate for the safest, most effective products. The EPA recently announced plans for new labeling of flea and tick products through education and monitoring for spot on control products. There are proper ways to administer these products. JOHNSON: Some of the products for dogs that have tick protection in them can be very, very toxic to cats and so that's probably personally as a veterinarian my biggest fear for people just buying things over the counter and not reading things or not working with their veterinarian. If they're used properly and that's the big "if". You either need to partner with a veterinarian, which is preferable, or you need to make sure you read the instructions from beginning to the end. Most products are designed specifically for either dogs or cats, not both and are dosed for the particular weight of the animal. JOHNSON: Most veterinarians will tell you the only way a flea collar works is if you slap a flea with them. Those and sprays and powders probably have the biggest exposure risk to people and they're also not very effective so if you put powder on your pet and you're putting it on your lap you're exposing yourself to that too which is not so safe. Johnson says that the most effective and safest of the over-the-counter products are the small capsules or tubes applied to the pet's skin. JOHNSON: The spot on's where you apply the product to the back of the neck, it's actually supposed to go on the skin not on the hair. Those are fairly safe especially for people you want to wait until they're dry. I put mine on my dog at night before we go to bed, he doesn't sleep in my bed with me, by the morning it's dry then I'm not worried about the cats being around them. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.