Pets (Spokane: living, moving to, friendly)

[AmandaL]

Is is necessary to give pets meds for heartworm, fleas and ticks down in Washington? We dont give pet meds in Alaska. Thanks!

[WendyK]

I have never given any of those to my dogs and my vets have never encouraged using any of them. I think you only need to worry about fleas and ticks if you're living way out in the wilderness where the dog might roam more.

[PS90]

Fleas can only survive in a fairly narrow window of climate that includes the correct temperature and especially the correct humidity. There are some rare "pockets" in Eastern WA that fleas seem to thrive, but then a mile or two down the road, you will never see a flea. Basically, unless you are moving to Western WA, I would only treat for fleas if you happen to see fleas or flea dirt on your pets.

There have been multiple heartworm studies performed by the USDA and by researchers at WSU, in which coyotes were harvested and checked for the presence of heartworm. The logic is that if coyotes do or do not have heartworm, then that is probably a good indicator of whether or not heartworm is endemic in our area. No heartworm-infected coyotes have ever been found in WA.

Ticks are probably the most common pest in our area, but even they tend to be found in fairly isolated little areas, just more areas than fleas. Ticks are by far most likely to be found in the spring and early summer months. Cold and heat are both unfriendly to ticks. I would treat dogs and maybe cats for ticks from about March to June around the Spokane area. If not treated with a spot-on, then the ticks have to removed manually if you find them on your pet.

[AmandaL]

Thank you for the replies!

[Bossco]

We moved in from Alaska also. Depends on where you are. When we first moved down we lived out in the snow belt just an hour out of town and didn't run into any fleas, ticks, or heart-worm.

Now we live just 10 minutes from downtown Spokane and picked up a stray dog infested with fleas. Ticks are also a HUGE factor at our place in spring (we live on the outskirts of town though in a country setting). Once the heat rises mid summer, the ticks aren't an issue anymore. The vet continues to assure us heart-worm is not an issue.

Welcome to Washington! Don't you just love the weather here?