If it's intestinal parasites, there's going to be a medication that we give orally that will kill that roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, or tapeworm. Most of those have to be repeated in two to three weeks to break the life cycle so that we don't just get it again from the same source. There is a heartworm preventative. Heartworm preventive is a medication you take once a month to prevent them from getting heartworms when they get bitten by a mosquito. There is a treatment for heartworm disease. It's a serious medication that we have to use. The dogs feel terrible. It's a whole long protocol that takes several months to do. So you just want to prevent it. You don't want to go down the road of having to treat for heartworm disease, but it is available if you need to.

They're never going to go away on their own. Fleas are just going to bite you and your dog. They're going to replicate. They're going to lay eggs. They're going to lay eggs on the dogs and in the environment. They're going to continue to replicate in your home. Ticks may die off and eventually fall off in the environment, but then they're ready to get on another person. Do not rely on the weather or anything else to get rid of them. You're going to need to get some help.

Absolutely. I'm glad you asked. The most important thing we do is, especially when dogs are puppies—at eight, 10, 12 weeks of age—we get them on a preventative to avoid getting roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, tape rooms, giardia, coccidia, fleas, and ticks. We can prevent all of those things by making sure that they're negative to start with and then putting them on medications to prevent them from getting those diseases.

If your dog has fleas, they can carry them in the house, and the fleas might bite you as well. Once a tick comes in on a dog, it can crawl on people as well. There have been perhaps a few instances of people getting heartworms from mosquitoes—from a dog that has it biting a person. Those are the most common things I think you would see.

It depends on which parasite you're talking about. Suppose it's fleas, for sure. Any of the animals, including people, can get fleas on them. Ticks can spread from cats to dogs to people. Heartworms are generally transmitted from dog to dog, and it's always through a mosquito. So one dog can't give another dog heartworms unless, of course, it went through a mosquito first. Ringworm can be transmitted from one to the next. Mites (like ear mites) can go from one pet to the next. So it's vital that we figure this out right away, so we don't spread it throughout the family.