FLEAS AND TICKS

Fleas are a very common problem. They’re all around and jump onto your pet

from infested environments such as homes, gardens and parks – but not usually from other infested pets as is often thought. Once a flea has found a suitable host it will tend to stay there.

• If you have a cat or dog, the chances are they’ll experience a flea infesta
  tion at some time in their life.
• A 2005 survey shows that nearly 1 in 10 dogs and over 1 in 5 cats may be suffering from fleas at any one time.
• A female flea can lay up to 50 eggs in 1 day or up to 1,000 in a month.

To check your pet for fleas you can either:

• Part the fur gently around the neck and the base of the tail- you may be able to find adult fleas crawling through your pet's fur.
• OR.
• Comb through your pet's coat and collect any debris onto a wet piece of white paper or cotton wool.
• If the specks that fall onto the wet surface dissolve to give red/brown swirls or patches, then your pet has fleas.

Wherever you live in the UK, your pet can pick up ticks – from your garden, urban parks or rural areas.

• Ticks are a member of the spider family.
• Ticks are blood-sucking parasites that pierce your pet’s skin with their mouthparts and cement themselves into position to prevent easy removal.
• Due to the method of attachment and their blood-feeding process, ticks can cause several different problems for your pet – including potentially life-threatening diseases.
  

The trouble with ticks

Ticks are uncomfortable and annoying for your pet which leads to your cat or dog trying to rub or scratch the tick off. But these are minor irritations compared to the other problems ticks can cause:

• Ticks often cause skin reactions because of the way they attach to your pet
• If a live tick is removed there’s a risk of leaving their mouthparts in place – the embedded mouthparts act as a foreign body and can cause a granuloma (benign lump) or an abscess
• Ticks are second only to mosquitoes in their ability to transmit diseases to humans and animals.

Tick-borne diseases

UK

• Lyme disease – affects humans as well as dogs and rarely cats. In dogs it may cause fever, lethargy, arthritis and occasionally skin disease.
• Anaplasmosis – rarely diagnosed in the UK but symptoms include fever, reluctance to move and general malaise.

Europe

• Ehrlichiosis – a disease that’s seen in the Mediterranean, signs range from mild fever with loss of appetite to severe illness with anaemia and blood clotting.
• Babesiosis – seen throughout Europe but dogs travelling from the UK are more susceptible to severe illness. Affected dogs are pale and weak, have a high temperature and pass red urine. In severe cases the dog may collapse and die.
• Hepatozoonosis – often seen in conjunction with other tick-borne diseases, although many dogs infected show no signs of disease. Signs may include depression, fever, weight loss, lethargy and general malaise or more severe symptoms.

 It’s important to check your pet regularly for ticks, particularly if they are travelling abroad, or have recently come back into the UK.

Carefully check every part of your pet and pay special attention to the areas around your pet's head, ears, legs and paws.

Your pet could have had a tick attached without you noticing, especially if it’s long-haired, so watch out for any of the warning signs which could indicate a tick-borne disease.

 

Due to changes in the climiate, we now see fleas all year round- the once known 'flea season' is now an ongoing battle all year round to ensure that our pet's don't become infested with fleas.

This ensures your home as well as your pet is a flea free zone.

The practice is now advising clients to use a flea treatment called ADVOCATE.  Advocate not only treats pets suffering from flea infestations but also helps prevent fleas. Advocate can also help treat flea larvae, whip worm, Hookworm, Roundworm, Angiostrongylus (Lung worm), Heartworm, Mites including mange and lice. Advocate is a spot on solution that is put on the back of  your pets neck. One of the benefits of using Advocate is knowing that you are protecting your pet against lung worm. Lung worm is becoming an increasing problem across much of the UK. Lung worm can be caught from Slugs, snails, frogs and the slim trail they leave behind. Your pet can catch lungworm by directly eating these creatures or by indirectly eating grass or playing with toys that the snails etc have slid across.  Lung worm if not treated can be fatal.  Advocate is not licensed to prevent ticks so if you have a particular tick problem with your pet then ask in practice and we can recommend other treatements. 

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ALREADY HAVE AN INFESTATION OF FLEAS?

If you find your pet has already got fleas then following these steps can help you overcome the problem:

• Treat ALL pets in your household with Advocate. And keep re-applying it regularly. ALL pets must be treated as all pets can carry fleas. Only treating the problem pet won't solve the problem!
• Vaccum any pet bedding/ areas where your pets roam regularly to help get rid of pupae, larvae and eggs in the environment.
• Use an environmental spray on the home to get rid of eggs and larvae in the environment. Apply it regularly in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines (most sprays last up to 12 months but read the guidelines to ensure you apply it at the correct intervals!)
• REMBEMBER! Serious infestations can take months to resolve. It may take several applications of Advocate and weeks of environmental treatment to completely eliminate the problem.
• Therefore prevention is better than cure! By treating with advocate regularly you can prevent fleas from entering your home!

IF YOU NEED MORE ADVICE OR INFORMATION ON FLEAS, TICKS AND THE USE OF ADVOCATE AND SIMULAR PRODUCTS THEN JUST ASK IN PRACTICE.