As with humans, dogs and cats can be get stung and bitten by insects. Allergic reactions to bug bites are very common in pets and they depend on the bite location and the venom. While dogs are more prone to be bitten along their armpits and bellies during walking and running through grass, cats suffer swollen paws more because of batting at insects.
To treat a bite to your pet, make sure that the biting insect is removed, and use soapy water to clean the stung area. Removing the stinging or biting insect would eliminate the toxin source. In addition, itching and swelling can be treated with icing down the bite area. Later, you should keep an eye monitoring your pet for any progressive changes such as worsening swelling or hives, and if you find any of these, get a veterinary help immediately.
Almost all pets' parents face the problem of bug bites with their pets. Many kinds of bugs may encounter our beloved pets. As a pet parent responsibility, it is essential to recognize those bugs and treat them; this is the crucial key to prevent bug bites. As a first step to deal properly with this issue, it would be a good idea to know the common bugs that are most aggressive going after our pets.
According to experienced veterinarians, the proper prevention of insects is not only crucial to prevent bug bites, but it is also essential to prevent insect transmitted diseases. Insects transmit life threatening viruses, parasites, and bacteria. It is much recommended to focus on using the vet-prescribed medications that may be oral, topical, or collar-based. If a bug has stung or bitten your dog, do not hesitate to get a medical help by someone knows what should be done.
1. Fleas
What is thirstier to blood as a hungry flea? Fleas keep jumping onto the bodies of our pets, they can zoom across almost all parts of the skin surface. Their favorite locations are the neck, head, perineum, and tail base; these are the common locations where fleas congregate to irritate and bite the pets' skin. To relief their irritation, pets will lick, scratch, or chew themselves. Flea saliva is an allergen as a single flea bite can result in a dog or cat performing the allover-body-hitching dance. Skin lesions caused by flea bites can be swollen, oozing, or crusting, and sometimes accompanied by redness and hair loss.
2. Ticks
Ticks just latch onto animals' fur when brushing against their existence surfaces such as ground, leaves, branches, or grass. Those tiny creatures are slow movers but they just keep crawling across the surface of the pet's skin to find their suitable location to get a blood meal.
Ticks can be discovered on cats and dogs in almost all the body. They could be on head, face, ears, limbs, and flanks. Engorged ticks can be barely noticed while it is very hard to notice non-engorged ones, as their diameter is few millimeters. The tick bite can result in redness around it after the tick falls off or removal, its place can swell or crust.
3. Mites
Mites are microscopic critters with an ability to borrow through skin layers for living and feeding. Besides their inflammatory effect, these insects' chewing through pets' skin cause bacterial and yeast infections.
Lesions caused by mites' bites can appear any part of pets' bodies, but the most common parts are areas of minimal hair, such as the groin, armpits, and ear margins. Hair loss, redness, swelling, oozing, or crusting can accompany mange.
4. Mosquitoes
Likely, mosquito bites mostly do not have long term effect, but pets' response against their inflammatory effect can extend from minutes to hours. Body large surface areas such as flanks and back are more prone to bites of mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites a pet, they mostly sense it immediately while they penetrate their skin. A mosquito bite can be the most logical reason of pets' sudden attempts to lick, scratch, or chew certain parts of their bodies; it is mostly a spot where they felt one painful bite. Post to a mosquito bite, redness, swelling, and hives can appear.
5. Bees, Hornets & Wasps
Just like mosquitoes, wasps, hornets, and bees tend to sting any part of a pet body; preferring wide parts. Sudden onset itching, lameness, vocalization are signs of a significant pain caused by an insect sting. Post to those insects' stings, a significant inflammatory localized response occurred; possibilities include hives, redness, and swelling. Sensitive pets could have a pressure drop, diarrhea, collapse, vomiting, and stumbling.
6. Ants
Ants can crawl on pets when their bodies come in contact with the ground. Their bites also cause localized pain. Ants' bites do not typically have overall body effects. Common signs of ants' bites on cats and dogs are localized swelling, redness, itching, and lameness.
7. Flies
Just like ants and fleas, flies do not have typical whole-body effects. A fly bite can cause localized pain. There is no specific common location for fly bites to occur as they can just land anywhere of a pet's body. Most prone animals to fly bites are mobility-compromised, geriatric, and newborn animals. Fly bites can cause redness and itching.
Unluckily, flies may deposit their eggs on pets' skins, they would prefer open sore if found. Flies' eggs hatch within days into larvae that can burrow deeper through skin layers and cause swelling and bacterial infection.
8. Bed bugs
Usually, bed bugs do not live on pets, but they do so when they cannot find a human victim. Unluckily, bed bugs can hitch your pet's fur and get home with them. Bites of bed bugs can cause intense itching, pink spots on the skin, acute irritation, and even allergic dermatitis. Rashes, blisters, hives, and hair loss are also signs of bed bugs' bites.
Soothing lotions and creams, especially extracted from Aloe Vera, are recommended to treat bites sites on your pet. You can discuss your vet about the best treatment product for your pet.
Share this exclusive list with all pet owners you know to help them properly recognize and treat bug bites, those cute pets will appreciate it.
Via Petmd
