This infographic illustrates the dangers of flies to you, your pets, and your home.

We’re in the last stretches of May and spring will be over before we know it. Already, we’ve experienced April showers and a round of storms, and we’re bound to hear a few more thunderclaps heading into summer. What’s more, in a few weeks, the air will be rattled with an all-too-familiar sound we look forward to every year. Fireworks! Lots and lots of fireworks! However, while we can easily tolerate the claps of Mother Nature and while we certainly enjoy the spectacle of Independence Day celebrations, for our furry friends, summer can be a time of great stress and anxiety.

A pet play date with fleas and ticks is never a good idea. Warm weather will bring out fleas and ticks, all anxious to make new friends with your dogs and cats. Your pet’s outdoor adventures will help start parasite fun and games, but even indoor-only pets can get fleas and ticks. A few, determined parasite playmates may already exist in your home or a flea or tick will hitch a ride on another pet or human to gain access. However it happens, keep fleas and ticks away from your pets with several steps.

Yep, it’s fly season again. You can bet they will be out in force as warm weather shows up. Flies get a bad rap and they should. They hang out at horrible places (garbage piles, refuse sites, and sewers) and feed on rotting, spoiled, and decaying matter. They also think poop is a great meal. Researchers suspect flies transmit at least 65 diseases to humans including anthrax, e coli, dysentery, and a lot more deadly illnesses. Pets don’t escape a fly’s wrath either. Biting flies will try to inflict infection and disease on dogs and cats whenever they can sink their choppers on their prey.

As we pointed out in our recent article about pets and holiday foods, sometimes it’s best to avoid sharing scraps from the table with our animal friends, no matter how much they beg for it. To put it simply: many holidays foods are toxic, even life-threatening, to pets when consumed. That’s why, as an alternative, we are sharing our picks for the most delicious—and healthy—treats designed specifically for pets, all of which you can order right here at Lambert Vet Supply.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are times of great joy, celebration, family get-togethers, and food. Lots and lots of food. And on occasion, no matter how many people you invite over for that big dinner, you somehow end up with a huge pile of leftovers. Meantime, your dog has been begging by the tableside all weekend long, hungering for those sweet-smelling morsels. Now that everyone’s gone home, what could it hurt to share the scraps with him? Well…it can hurt quite a bit, in fact.