Dr. karen emerson: good morning sunrisers!

I'm dr. karen emerson, and i have with me today, my daughter haley, and this is actually our dog ollie.

He is a shih tzu bichon mix.

He's called a shih tzon.

And we're actually going to talk about flea and tick prevention because this summer has just been detrimental so far with dogs coming in covered in fleas and covered in ticks.

Dr. karen emerson: and the main thing i want to touch on is ticks because ticks not only can cause disease in your dog, but they can cause disease in your family.

We have a lot of ticks here.

We have deer ticks, brown ticks, black legged ticks, and those all cover a big range of diseases.

One you'll be very familiar with is lyme.

There's one called ehrlichia, there's one called anaplasma, and all of these diseases can infect your dog.

Dr. karen emerson: so, it's so important when you go out to pick out a flea and tick preventative, you want to ask your veterinarian and look and see what all ticks that flea and tick preventative does cover, and make sure you know the amount of time it's going to last because a tick normally stays latched onto your animal for up to two to four days.

The female tick stays latched on, and she can actually engorge up to a whole mil of blood at a time.

And while she's sitting there drinking blood, her saliva is actually putting these diseases inside of your pet.

Dr. karen emerson: and what i really worry about, especially if you have children and your dog sleeps in the bed with them, is that the tick could get off your dog, and then go get on your child.

And also infect your child with this disease, or you, or your family with this disease.

So, it's so important that if you have a dog, or cat you have them on a monthly preventative.

If you're kind of unsure, or you don't realize which one's safe, which one's not safe we have so many different ones to fit your lifestyle, and to fit your budget.

So, give us a call today, make that appointment because fleas and ticks are very, very dangerous.

And i promise, your pets will thank you.

Have a good rest of your week.

Announcer: wcbi animal health with dr. emerson was brought to you by emerson animal hospital in west point.