Veterinarian Kimberly Berry of the Butler Veterinary Associates in Center Township gets licked by her dog on April 4. Berry says people need to understand that any time the temperature is more than 30 degrees your pet could be picking up fleas and ticks.

Butler County is filled with a variety of people doing interesting things.

This weekly feature offers snapshots of some of them and their interests by asking them five questions. The latest installment appears below.

———

Here, Dr. Kimberly Berry of Butler Veterinary Associates in Center Township talks about how we can protect our pets from parasites year-round.

QUESTION: When is flea and tick season?ANSWER: One of the biggest mistakes people make is to assume we actually have a flea and tick season. Any time that it's over 30 degrees, you could be picking up fleas and ticks. ... They can be out year-round, so we strongly recommend year-round flea and tick control.

QUESTION: Are there any common misconceptions about these pests?ANSWER: You don't have to go into the woods to pick it up. Any warm-blooded mammal can carry them. The bunnies in your yard or the deer you're watching or the raccoons that are getting into your garbage can — they could all be carrying ticks and bringing them into your yard. You're not always going out where the pests are, the pests are coming to you.

QUESTION: What are some risks associated with these parasites?ANSWER: With fleas, if you get enough of them, they can make a pet anemic. It's more common in puppies and kittens but we do see adult animals, especially cats. With ticks, the big thing we see around here is Lyme disease (in dogs only.) You cannot get Lyme disease directly from the dog, but if the dog brings in a tick and the tick gets on you, you can get it indirectly.

QUESTION: In addition to topical flea and tick medication, what else do you suggest?ANSWER: We do strongly recommend a Lyme disease vaccine for your dog, but the cool thing is that you're actually vaccinating the tick. The Lyme spiro is actually a higher form of bacteria that lives in the salivary gland of the tick. The way it works is when the tick ingests the blood, it actually vaccinates the tick and stops transmission.

QUESTION: How else can we protect our pets?ANSWER: A lot of people don't think about roundworms, hookworms, whipworms ... but intestinal parasites can also be a problem. We hear, “My indoor cat can't get worms,” but you can inadvertently track feces or eggs into your house and infect your indoor pet with fleas and ticks plus intestinal parasites. We do strongly recommend year-round prevention of intestinal parasites because roundworms and hookworms can be zoonotic, which means they can infect people.