Ticks and Fleas...Yes it’s that time again!

With the arrival of the warmer weather, dogs and cats will start to venture outside more, rather than just lying beside a heater. During their romps in the park, walks through reserves or treks around their well-worn neighbourhood beat, they may pick up some seasonal blood-sucking nasties!

The first of these is the paralysis tick. Paralysis ticks are native critters that prefer to live on

bandicoots and possums. Because possums, bandicoots and the ticks have evolved together over thousands of years, these animals are immune to the toxins in the ticks’ saliva. However, your dog or cat is not so lucky.

Paralysis ticks are found in a narrow band up the east coast of Australia. Anywhere where there is enough vegetation for possums or bandicoots to live, paralysis ticks may be found. The ticks that attach to dogs or cats are small and spend some time sucking blood before they inject enough toxin to cause signs of illness. Signs include inappetence, regurgitation of food, a hoarse bark or meow and weakness in the hind legs, which progresses to paralysis. Animals die when their chest muscles become paralysed and they can no longer breath. Signs usually start 5-7 days after the attachment of the tick though may occur earlier.

The tick is about 0.5-1cm long by this time, and a pale grey colour.

Treatment for paralysis involves giving a large dose of antiserum to gobble up any stray toxin floating around and support care for the animal. This may mean attaching them to a ventilator if their breathing muscles are becoming paralysed. Treatment can be complicated by secondary infections and is always expensive. Many animals will die despite treatment.

So prevention is better than cure!!! Especially if you live near a bushy reserve or your animal walks in one, it is important to feel the animal all over each day to check for ticks.

There are a number of products you can use to reduce the risk to your dog or cat of getting tick paralysis. Frontline spray is a very good product that can be used on dogs or cats, it provides an all over barrier against paralysis ticks. It should be applied every 3 weeks when used as a tick preventative. Dogs may be rinsed weekly in an insecticidal rinse such as Permoxin or have a tick collar fitted as alternative ways to help reduce the risk of tick paralysis. In a high risk area, Proban tablets (an oral insecticide) can be given to dogs every second day to kill any ticks that attach to the dog.

If you find a tick, it needs to be removed without squeezing any more tick poison into the animal. This can be done by grasping it by the mouthparts with fine tweezers or a special tick hook (they can be purchased at GVH) and pulling it off the dog or cat. Alternatively, it may be killed first by spraying it with a fast knock down fly spray or Frontline spray and removed 1-2 hours later.

If you are concerned that your animal may be affected by a tick, or you have found a tick but are not sure whether it is significant, contact us as soon as possible!

The other horror parasite of summer is the flea. It pays to be vigilant against these vampires as they can breed quickly, and their eggs may survive in the environment for 6 months or more. A few fleas can turn into many very quickly. If a cat or dog has a lot of fleas, it may become anaemic through blood loss. The animal will usually chew, lick or scratch, causing damage to its skin and hair. An allergy to the flea saliva may develop over time, creating an itch far worse that that caused by a flea bite, leading to hair loss and skin inflammation along the back and around the tail base.

Dogs or cats can pick up fleas from other animals, and in warm, moist environments, and unless they live in total isolation they are susceptible to infection! There are plenty of great anti-flea products available on the market, including top spots, sprays, tablets and injections. The best products have residual activity (they work for a period of time, such as one month or a number of months) so pick one of these ones, in preference to old-fashioned flea shampoo or powder. Speak to one of our staff about the best flea prevention or treatment for your pet. Controlling fleas is an important part of the health care for your pet. If you get it right, your animal should be much happier and healthier.