BLOG # 2 SUMMER TIME PEST PROBLEMS: Help Your Pets – Help Your Home!

A-One Exterminators

9312693_sEverybody is outdoors more in the summertime, especially your pets, who are generally outdoors more than you are anyway. Every responsible pet owner knows that there are a number of excellent flea and tick medications available, but there are some surveys that show that only 35 per cent of people actually take advantage of these preventative treatments, which means the majority of people don’t protect their pets! At A-One Exterminators, our answer to this is: Are you crazy? Do your four-legged friend – and yourself – a favor! For humans, ticks carry serious illnesses such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and fleas carry bacterial diseases and can cause typhus and allergic reactions, not to mention a rash of itchy bites. Both of these pests hide in and hitch a ride home on your pets after a 45-minute game of Frisbee in the park! The key to keeping your pets, your home and yourself free of ticks and fleas is prevention, prevention, prevention. Treat your dog with a flea and tick repellant that lasts for at least a month; and then remember to re-apply it every month. In the summer, bathe your pets even more frequently than you do in the winter, wash their bedding more often, and step up your vacuuming schedule to several times a week, or after an outing with pets. When you get home, brush through your pet’s coat, checking for fleas and ticks as you go. If you find a tick, get tweezers and gently grasp it at the head, where it’s attached to your pet, and gently pull steadily until it pops loose, then drown it in alcohol, and wash your hands and your dog. Also, you can keep your lawn grass cut low, particularly around the fence lines and around sheds, trees, shrubs, or other objects on your lawn. Finally, ask A-One Exterminators about our lawn tick treatments. Our methods focus on edges of your lawn where it meets with any natural areas, and is particularly helpful if you live in a rural area. An A-One Exterminator Tick Treatment will prevent ticks from establishing themselves in your back yard!