Nowadays, more and more people are raising pets around them, such as cats, dogs, rabbits... In fact, all warm-blooded mammals cannot escape the trouble of parasites (including us humans, of course). However, everyone does not know much about parasites. There are so many, but I don’t know what kind of parasites they are. Xiaodai sorted them out, let’s take a look together! (External Parasites)

What are external parasites?

Parasites refer to parasites that live outside the epidermis or skin layer of animals. They survive by sucking nutrients from the host. Common external parasites in small pets include fleas, lice, ticks, scabies mites, demodex, ear mites, etc.

Why should we remove external parasites?

1. It will reduce the pet's resistance - ectoparasites survive by stealing nutrients from the host. Infected pets will be in a state of nutritional deficiencies for a long time, the body's resistance will decrease, and they will easily get sick.

2. It can spread a variety of diseases - what is even more frightening is that there are a variety of germs and pathogens in the parasites, and they are spread back and forth among multiple hosts. After the pet is bitten, it may cause serious complications and infectious diseases, endangering the pet. life.

3. It will cause serious skin diseases and disturb rest - long-term bites of a large number of external parasites will damage the health of epidermal cells. In addition, parasite secretions and excretions will irritate the skin, which will cause parasitic skin diseases and make the infection more difficult. The little pet was itching unbearably and in pain all the time, making it difficult to rest.

4. It will threaten the health of the owner - certain types of parasites can be infected by humans and animals. If they are not eliminated and allowed to develop, they will directly threaten human health.

What zoonotic parasites should we focus on preventing?

Fleas

Infectious index: ★★★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★★★

Symptoms

Pets scratch frequently, and small black particles often appear or fall off their bodies. You can put these small black particles on a paper towel and drip water to see if they dissolve into blood red. If they change color, they are probably the excrement of fleas after sucking blood. When a flea bites, it injects toxic saliva into the host's body, causing skin inflammation, causing itching, scratching, biting, and hair loss in pets. People are highly susceptible to infection, and bites can also cause inflamed, itchy red bumps, which can lead to allergic dermatitis in severe cases.

Moreover, the reproduction ability of fleas is amazing. If fleas are found on pets,One flea means hundreds of flea eggs and larvae are present in the home environment. Therefore, once discovered, while deworming, the surrounding environment must be thoroughly and vigorously cleaned.

Lice

Infectious index: ★★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★★★

Symptoms

Blood-sucking parasites can cause hair loss in pets, itching and restlessness, and small bleeding spots, small nodules, and even suppuration on the skin.

Lice are divided into hair lice and blood-sucking lice. Hair-sucking lice feed on hair and epidermal debris. Blood-sucking lice, as the name suggests, suck blood. The same thing is that they can cause damage and infection to the host's epidermis, causing intense itching. In severe cases, large areas of hair loss may occur. Redness and swelling. Lice can be transmitted to humans through direct contact and multiply on the outside of the human body, causing itchiness all over the body.

Tick

Infectious index: ★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★★

Symptoms

Tick ​​bites and blood sucking can cause local skin congestion, edema, acute inflammatory reaction, and can also cause secondary infection. A blood-sucking tick is about the size of a soybean and is visible to the naked eye.

Ticks are extremely dangerous. It mainly sucks blood, and its greatest danger is that it can spread a variety of pathogenic bacteria and pathogens. The amount of blood it sucks is huge. Some hard ticks can suck blood for several days without moving at all. If the pet is seriously infected, it will suffer from malnutrition and anemia.

When the female worm reproduces, she will break away from the host and lay eggs in the surrounding environment. She can lay thousands of eggs at a time. After hatching, the larvae will wait for opportunities to find passing hosts. Therefore, if a pet is infected with ticks, the owner will inevitably be bitten. Humans being bitten by ticks may develop highly dangerous emergencies such as tick disease and serious chronic complications such as Lyme disease.

Ticks like to lurk in outdoor weeds or on trees. Compared with pets that don’t like to go out, pets that often go out to play are more likely to be infected with ticks, especially pets that like to play on the grass. Summer is the time when parasites are most abundant. It is recommended to take pets to play in the grass as little as possible to avoid infection.

In addition, there are mite parasites, which are difficult to see with the naked eye. Unlike the above parasites that live outside the body by sucking blood, they live inside the skin of the host. They can also cause great harm to pets. Troubling, but not a big threat to humans.

Mustard mite

Infectious index: ★★★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★★

Symptoms

Causes severe itching in pets. It usually occurs first on the head, face, elbows, ears, and chest, and then spreads throughout the body. The skin of the parasitic area becomes red with rash-like nodules, and the skin is thickened and yellowed with scabs.

　"Skin excavator - scabies mites"

Scabies mites are parasitic in the skin. They burrow into the host's epidermis and dig tunnels, lay eggs in the tunnels, and hatch into larvae. When the larvae grow up, they burrow out of the body and continue to burrow and evolve into nymphs. The nymphs dig shallow tunnels in the skin. , metamorphose into adults, and then continue to reproduce. It can be said that they spend their whole lives making holes. The epidermis of pets infected with scabies mites is naturally riddled with holes.

There are many types of scabies mites. Dogs are infected by canine scabies mites, which cause severe hair loss due to severe itching and friction. Cats are infected by dorsal anal mites, and severe infection often causes death. Scabies mites are highly contagious and can temporarily attack humans, causing itchy skin and papular dermatitis. Rabbits can also be infected with mites, which is a highly contagious infectious disease characterized by severe itching, weight loss, and death. It is divided into two categories: scrapie mites and scabies. However, most sick rabbits will achieve good results with early treatment. .

Demodex

Infectious index: ★★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★

Symptoms

In the early stage, there are small red protrusions around the hair follicles. In the later stage, bacterial infection will produce small abscesses, leading to hair loss, sebum overflow, and silvery white sticky dandruff falling off with a foul odor.

Demodex mites live in hair follicles and sebaceous glands and are often infected due to contact between sick dogs and healthy dogs. Normal dogs often have a small amount of Demodex mites on their skin, but they do not develop the disease. When dogs are malnourished, have weakened immunity, or are in a state of stress, it may lead to massive reproduction and disease. Demodex mites are mainly found in dogs, but can also occasionally cause disease in cats. Demodex mites in dogs are generally not contagious to humans.

Ear mites

Infectious index: ★★★★★

Reproductive ability: ★★★

Symptoms

Pets often scratch their ears, and the ear canals are dirty, with dark brown or reddish brown secretions.

Ear mites often live in the ear canal and are contagious. They mostly affect young children. Cats are more likely to be infected than dogs. Rabbits are also infected. If not treated in time, ear mites can damage the inner auditory canal. Rare cases may also occur on the head, neck, and tail. Ear mites are highly contagious among pets, and if one pet in your home is infected with ear mites, all will require treatment. Very few people are mercifulIn this case, the skin will become red due to ear mites. Overall, ear mites have very little impact on people.

After seeing so many bugs, my scalp is really numb! Many parents can’t help but want to ask? How can we prevent it? What should we do if we are infected with so many parasites?! Don’t worry! Xiaodai will answer them one by one.

What should I do if I am infected with parasites?

If the owner finds bugs on his pet, don’t worry or panic! Take out the deworming medicine and follow the instructions.

Special reminder: When deworming or vaccinating your pet, you must ensure that the pet is healthy, has no diseases (digestive system, etc.), and is in a good mental state and appetite before using it. Sick pets are strictly prohibited!

If you don’t go out, you don’t need to deworm?

"I never let my furry child go out, and the house is clean, so there shouldn't be any need for deworming, right?"

This view is very incorrect! No matter how clean your home is, you cannot prevent parasites from invading from the outside. For example, flea eggs are highly resistant to antibiotics and can be stored in dust, ground cracks and bedding, and can be contaminated by people and carried home. Ticks usually lurk in the grass and will cling to human clothing once someone passes by. At home; places where dust mites are likely to breed, such as beds, carpets, etc., are also easily overlooked. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to good hygiene, you should also regularly apply medication for prevention.

How to prevent it in daily life??

As long as you ensure that your pets have a clean living environment and good living habits, owners should not be lazy, deworm them regularly (it is recommended to deworm them internally and externally once a month), and raise your pets scientifically!