In exchange for the companionship that your pet lavishes on you and your family, you want to keep your feline friend and canine companion as healthy as possible. In addition to a healthy diet and regular veterinary checkups, keeping your pet’s environment as healthy as possible is an important step in keeping your pets healthy. Here are some things that you can do to help prevent diseases that can affect you and your pets from infiltrating your home.
Keep Cats Indoors By keeping your kitty safely ensconced within the confines of your home, you prevent your cat from contracting feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, which would then endanger other household cats.
Keep All Pets On Flea and Tick Preventatives
Fleas can result in tapeworm and in cat scratch disease, and ticks transmit such illnesses as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Keep all cats and dogs in your household on flea and tick preventatives to reduce the risks for these illnesses. Thoroughly vacuum your home on a regular basis to eliminate fleas that are inadvertently carried indoors on your shoes and clothing. Learn here how to remove a tick from a pet.
Clean Up Waste Immediately Toddlers have the greatest risk for contracting intestinal parasites and other diseases from the stool of infected household pets. These young tots crawl and play on the floor and put their hands and mouths where they should not. Take steps to promptly remove all fecal material as soon as your dog or cat eliminates.
Use Heartworm and Intestinal Preventative All Year Infected mosquitos transmit heartworms. Although it is a rare occurrence, you can contract heartworm disease if a mosquito bites your infected dog and then bites you. Roundworms and hookworms affect dogs, cats and humans, especially very young children. Keep your pets on a product that prevents all of these parasites throughout the year.
Scrub Messes Right Away Whenever your pet is sick or has an elimination accident in the home, be sure to clean up as soon as you see it. Many diseases are transmitted through contact with stool, urine and vomit of infected animals. Wear gloves when cleaning up the mess, and clean the soiled area with a bleach solution.
Prevent Them From Drinking Stagnant Water The stagnant water of ponds, birdbaths and rain puddles can harbor diseases that can affect you and your pets, including giardia and leptospirosis. Supervise your pets when they are outdoors, and discourage them from drinking from these sources. Offer plenty of cool, fresh drinking water, and encourage them to drink that instead.
Keep Vaccination Schedules Current
The vaccines that your pet receives prevent an array of potentially fatal diseases that are highly contagious between dogs or cats. Some of these diseases are contagious between pets and their owners. Follow your veterinarian’s recommended vaccination schedule to ensure optimal protection for your dogs and cats and your human family members.
Test All New Pets For most pet lovers, temptations often abound to welcome new furry additions to the family. Before allowing the newcomer to have run of the house and socialization with established pets, have it tested. Cats and dogs should both be tested for intestinal parasites, and cats should be tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus. A veterinary examination will also reveal the presence of fleas, ear mites, mange mites, upper respiratory infections and ringworm, all of which are contagious ailments that need to be treated and resolved before introducing the new animal into your household.
Wash Pet’s Belongings Regularly Laundering your bed sheets and washing the dinner dishes is par for the course when it comes to household cleanliness. Extend these practices to your pets’ belongings by washing food and water bowls, scrubbing litter boxes, steam cleaning carpeted kitty furniture, laundering bedding and soft toys and disinfecting hard toys on a regular basis.
By adopting these healthy practices, you will help to maintain a home that is a disease-free haven for your entire family.