The biggest thing that you can do is to have all animals in your home on effective flea prevention, making sure they're on that year-round, even during the winter. Fleas like to come inside and have their way, so make sure that every single pet in the home is on effective flea prevention.

It's definitely a possibility, especially with tapeworms. Even if they don't go outside at all, things like mice can get into your house and have tapeworm eggs in the fleas that they carry. You can even bring in fleas on your pant legs which will expose them.

Many times it's from either ingesting fleas that have the tapeworm eggs, or from being in a litter box that has otherwise been contaminated by a cat. Kittens are especially a lot more prone to having those intestinal worms that they can spread around.

Most of them can. Having a cat on an effective flea prevention, will work against the tapeworm burden that they can have. Unfortunately, if your cat's a hunter, you can't really 100% prevent them from ingesting fleas from rodents and related things that they may come into contact with. As far as other types of preventions such as flea, tick and heartworm preventions go, we do have some intestinal parasite control as well.

It is a good possibility. Many male dogs are out looking for a girlfriend. If they smell another dog in heat, and they can smell that from very long distances, they will go after that dog. That's one reason why it's a great idea to neuter if you're not planning on breeding your dog. It can help avoid any unnecessary accidents like being hit by a car or getting lost.

Not typically, unless it's for the better. These guys can have some behavioral changes when they have testosterone or estrogen running through them. In general, females are not as affected as males. Sometimes, by removing that testosterone, your male dog could become a little better and less territorial if he has been aggressive in the past. But unfortunately, a spay or neuter is never a guarantee to change a behavior, whether it is positive or negative.

It is a possibility. Their metabolism can be affected once we remove those hormones. You'd have to work with your vet and look at your animal to see if you need to adjust their diet or their exercise level if they do start to gain a little weight.

We recommended it. As you can imagine, they have major abdominal surgery for those spays. A lot of things got moved around and a lot of tissues have been affected, so they can be really sore. Having that pain medication will help them heal and keep them comfortable during that process. The same thing goes for neutering. Even though it may not be as invasive as a spay, they can benefit from those pain medications not only for their level of comfort, but also to help decrease inflammation and post-op complications.

It can vary, but generally you're looking at anywhere from around five to seven days of them having to be rested and calm.