ODESSA, TX (KWES) - As Texas moves through the warmer months of the year, the pesky little bloodsuckers known as ticks become more active.
The critters look to attach themselves to any animal or even humans in their range.
Common places to pick up ticks are high untrimmed grass and wooded areas.
Ticks are more dangerous than just the bites and attachments they perform, the arachnid species is also known to carry numerous diseases, for a list of those from the CDC click here.
Veterinarian's like Dr. Sammie Redding from the Grandview Veterinarian Clinic in Odessa, often preach tick prevention as a key to keep pets healthy and happy.
The first step is generally the use of a tick prevention treatment such as an edible or a topical solution, these easy to apply medications can keep away ticks and other pests like fleas from your pets for up to 90 days.
"People look at the price of the preventatives and it does kind of deter them from it but if you look at the price of treatments that often adds up a lot more," said Dr. Redding
There are also other treatments such as collars, but Redding isn't as confident in there effectiveness.
For those who don't use preventative treatment, and even for those who do checking your pets for ticks should be a routine anytime the animal has been heavily exposed to nature such as wooded areas, or grassy fields.
When checking your animal, scan the animal's back and belly, but also to be sure less exposed areas on the animal such as in between the paws and under the arms.
Check the video below for reference.
If you do find any ticks on your pet, veterinarians recommend using tweezers to remove the pests, grabbing them as close to the attachment they've made to the victim as possible.
In the case of using preventative treatments it's also very important to check animal and weight specification, disregarding these can lead to serious illness.
