How To Prevent Parasites In Your Pet – Simple Solutions
I’m going to be hitting on another topic we get a lot of questions about. Preventing parasites in my pet. I’m Dr. Sean McPeck I’m the CEO and owner of Tier 1 Veterinary Medical Center I’m going to hit both internal and external parasites.
In Alaska, we’re kind of spoiled. I used to work as a veterinarian down in Georgia for a while. When I was stationed there, I was working as a vet tech in Texas while I was doing my undergrad, and the amount of parasites that I saw there would baffle you Compared to what we have up here.
Now, we are not completely free of parasites at all especially if your dog or cat is outside a lot. If they’re hunters, they’re getting into feces left by the wildlife. We have a pretty substantial amount of roundworms. We see that quite a bit, and that’s usually when you have your your dog or cat getting into wildlife.
We get tapeworm. Those are the cats that are the mousers rodents are notorious for carrying tapeworms, but also once in a while we’ll see little pockets of fleas here and there. Definitely in the summertime is where we we see it. And I don’t know if it’s attributed to the tourist population with the RVs coming up, bringing up their pets, but that’s usually when we see fleas.
And so, in the summertime when people are asking me, I definitely recommend doing some type of a flea prevention, we’ll see lice year round. All of these are very easy to prevent, but it requires you to do it monthly.
External parasites again, people like, well, my cats and only an indoor cat. Okay, well then maybe you don’t need to worry about it that much. But sometimes in those colder temperatures, things move outside inside. And so we have seen, you know, indoor only pets getting lice and different external parasites. So there’s no right answer.
But again, very similar to vaccines, it’s that small investment to help prevent serious issues. There’s topicals that you can give both for deworming and for preventing mosquitoes, ticks, lice, fleas, etc. There’s oral tablets which will also do the same, but those also help to knock out some of the internal parasites too.
There’s so many different brands out there, I’m not going to even try to mention one. Talk to your veterinarian and see what they what they recommend.
A 2010 Graduate of Colorado State College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Sean McPeck developed his leadership as a Sniper Team Leader and Veterinarian with the US Army Special Operations, 75th Ranger Regiment.
Dr. McPeck has multiple combat deployments, totaling almost 2 years in combat theaters of operation.
He is the recipient of the Combat Action Badge, and is Ranger, Sniper, and Airborne qualified. While serving as an officer in Special Operations, Dr. McPeck was repeatedly recognized for his Honor, Integrity, Courage and Selfless Service in the name of the United States. He was recognized with not one, but two, Meritorious Service Medals.
Under his leadership, Dr. McPeck worked with Working Dog handlers, and canine units, to detain and seize enemy combatants. The canines that Dr. McPeck worked with are credited with savings thousands of United States soldiers deployed in combat areas.
Dr. McPeck authored The RCAP, Ranger Canine Athletic Program, which was the 1st comprehensive Military canine conditioning program.
His specific training and certification classes for Dog handlers to be proficient in Canine Tactical- Combat Casualty Care, and knowledge of current medical equipment and procedures, which led to the successful life saving interventions by handlers in real world operations.
Dr. SaraRose McPeck graduated from Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. A Massachusetts native who attended Becker College for her undergrad, Dr. McPeck has lived and worked around the country and even the world. She served four years in the United States Army as a Veterinary Officer, during which she was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia, and completed a 12-month tour in Afghanistan.
Her time serving in the Army provided her the experience as the primary veterinarian for over 350 Military Working Dogs, in which she provided all emergency, trauma, surgical, critical, and primary care. In addition to caring for animals, she trained, mentored, and led six Non-Commissioned Officers and twelve junior enlisted Soldiers, giving her not only impressive veterinary experience but also exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills.
As a Veterinary Corp Officer, she received a variety of awards, including a Bronze Star, a NATO Medal, a GWOT Medal, two Army Accommodation Medals, among many others. She gained experiences in which she exemplified impressive leadership skills and the ability to adapt to both clinical and combat support situations. Her years of experience serving our country and in veterinary medicine have equipped her with the knowledge and skills to provide exceptional care to our patients.