Flea and Tick Prevention in Toledo Ohio Is a Year Round Problem

A lot of people in Toledo stop flea and tick prevention in November or December. It is cold, the dog is not in tall grass, and it feels unnecessary. The problem is the biology does not care about the calendar.

Adult fleas survive down to about 33 degrees. Once they are in your house they keep reproducing regardless of the weather outside. A dog that picks up one pregnant flea in October can have a full infestation inside by January. By the time you see fleas on your pet the eggs and larvae in your carpet are already three steps ahead of you.

Ticks are a similar situation. The black-legged tick that carries Lyme disease starts moving again around 35 to 40 degrees. In northwest Ohio that happens on warm days throughout November and February in most years. If you took your dog to the Toledo Metroparks or along the Maumee River during any of those weird, warm winter weekends, tick exposure was possible.

Lyme disease is documented in Lucas County. It is not as common here as it is elsewhere, but it is still present, and the dogs we see who test positive are usually the ones whose owners thought they were not at risk.

What we recommend depends on your specific dog. A dog that stays in a fenced yard in Sylvania has a completely different exposure profile than a dog that hunts or runs trails near Maumee or Lambertville. We are not going to push prevention on you for risks that do not apply to your pet.

If your dog is overdue for their annual heartworm test, that visit is a good time to revisit what prevention makes sense. Call us at (419) 475-3456.