Welcome to our Blythwood Vets pet advice column, where we hope to give you lots of useful information on how to keep your pet happy and healthy.This month we are talking about the parasites that impact on the health of our pets. Fleas, ticks and worms can affect dogs and cats but can be prevented by regular use of antiparasitic products. Not all products on the market are effective at killing/preventing parasites. We recommend prescription only products, this means they have been proven to be effective and had thorough safety checks.
Fleas living on the pet are only part of the problem, unfortunately the rest are in the house. This means it’s easier to prevent an infestation than to get rid of one. As well as causing skin irritation, fleas transmit worms and other diseases. Cat and dog fleas do not like to live on people but can cause nasty bites.
Ticks tend to live in long grass and woodland, they jump onto pets for a meal and then drop off when full. Ticks can be uncomfortable and can transmit diseases to animals and humans including Lyme disease. Exotic ticks carry other serious infections, although uncommon in the UK they’re significant for travelling pets.
We discussed lungworm in our last article. Dogs are infected by ingesting snail/slug 'slime', it can cause serious illness and be fatal. Other intestinal worms are transmitted by hunting, scavenging or from animal faeces. As well as causing issues for your pet they can affect children, the elderly and people with compromised immune function. This is why picking up dog waste and routine worming of pets is so important.
Blythwood Vets offer a Pet Health Club which allows you to stay up to date with your pets parasite protection, vaccination and other routine care with a convenient and affordable monthly payment.
It also offers further discounts on products and services. Details are available online at www.blythwood.com or by contacting our reception team.
