Hair loss on a cat or dog is common, and it’s one of the main reasons pet owners take their speechless friends to vets. If your furry friend leaves too much fur behind, it might indicate alopecia or other underlying medical problems. Most of the time, it’s an allergic reaction to fleas, which can be easily remedied by removing fleas from your pets’ environment and through topical flea treatments.
Look further from the unaesthetic look of your clothes or the fur that gets inside your drinks. If your pet’s shedding worries you, check if it is healthy and see what dietary changes might fix its problem. Don’t forget that you can, too, develop illnesses that affect your health from excessive pet dander.
What to Do About Excessive Shedding?
There are a few reasons why your pet losses so much fur:
- Imbalanced, poor diets based on food that meets the minimum quality requirements
- Using human shampoo or the wrong shampoo on them and not rinsing them properly
- The stress they feel at home, the stress from changes or bad human behavior.
Besides these common issues, skin parasites, mange mites, ticks, and fleas can be fatal or make your pet scratch, shed excessively, or have anemia. Tumors, hormonal imbalances, and other underlying diseases can also cause your pet’s excessive shedding, especially if this happens in various parts of their body or they show skin discoloration.
Fungal infections, Cushing’s disease, and more are health problems that both outdoor and indoor pets can develop, and they can only be treated if medically detected. If you worry about the costs of medically-prescribed treatments, affordable pet insurance can help you cover the medical expenses. You can find cheap pet insurance that only costs a few bucks and covers the costs of surgeries, diagnostics, tests, vaccines, and emergency care – generally, what keeps your pet healthy.
Over-the-counter products that kill parasites in your pet can sometimes make your pet sick. Therefore, it’s best to talk to a veterinarian, ensure your pet’s outdoor environment doesn’t pose health risks like toxic chemicals or mites, and pet-proof your garden if they live outside.
How Does Fur Affect Your Health?
You might love your pet so much that you’re not bothered by the mess and noise it makes. Yet, it would be best if you didn’t omit that it can’t talk and signal where it’s hurt, so it shows uncommon behaviors. Besides their well-being, you must also consider your family’s health. Here are some of the most common sources of illnesses you can develop from your furry friend:
- Parasites. These take many forms, ranging from tapeworms to fleas and scabies. Many travel on pet hair and can get into your nose, leading to rashes, pain, itching, and accompanying parasites.
- Allergies. It’s what’s trapped in your dog’s and cat’s fur, such as saliva, pee, dead skin cells, and sweat, and can set off an allergic reaction in them. Their fur also traps pollen, mold, and other outdoor allergens that can make your eyes water.
- Bacteria. They are everywhere; you even have bacteria in your body. But not all bacteria are created equally, and some are particularly dangerous to your health. E-coli and salmonella are some diseases you can develop from ingesting pet fur with bacteria.
