Fleas & Worms
As summer approaches, common problems that affect your pet unfortunately come with it. These are Fleas, Harvest Mites, Ticks & Worms.

 
Fleas depend on your pets for survival and feed off their blood causing irritation and upset. Occasionally new fleas jump onto your pet from other pets or the surrounding environment when they go outside. More commonly however, new flea infestation occurs when the adult fleas lay thousands of eggs into the household environment. These develop through immature stages to produce a new generation of adult fleas ready to jump on your pet or bite a passing human! One single flea brought home by your pet is able to lay up to 50 eggs a day, or 1500 eggs in the fleas lilfetime.

You can effectively treat fleas on your pet by preventing multiplication in your home and protecting your pet from flea infestation.

Westmorland Vets recommend the regular application of Frontline Combo for both cats and dogs, however we have a range of other flea products available such as Stronghold & Advocate.

For more information on how Frontline Combo works, click on the link above.

Harvest Mites are active from late July to mid September, and cause untold misery for cats, dogs and humans. They will crawl onto any warm-blooded animal, bite and feed. Once full, they fall off and complete their life cycle. Harvest mites (Neotrombicula autumnalis) often go by different names such as chiggers, berry bugs and harvest bugs. They are invertibrates that are closely related to ticks and spiders. Like ticks they have several stages to their life cycle, passing from egg, to larvae, through nymph before becoming the adult. It is only the larval form that bites us.

 They are bright orange, just visible to the naked eye and are often found as cluster in the animals paws, although they can attach themselves to any part of the body. Some dogs, but particularly cats suffer from the itching. They often groom so hard as to damage their skin and lose weight from the scratching and grooming. Treatment is difficult, one of the few effective products is Frontline Spray, however it does need repeating as it does not last very long. In extreme cases the animal is given steroid injections to stop them scratching.

Ticks belong to the spider family and most in the UK are “hard ticks” which mean they have a hard outer shell protecting their body. They are only temporary parasites but rely on their host for a blood meal, which is essential to their survival and development. Their unique sensory organ on their front legs help them locate a passing host. They then climb on and move over the animals skin to a site where the hair coat is thin, such as the face, ears or abdomen. Once the tick has located a suitable site, they attach and secrete a cement-like substance anchoring themselves to your pet's skin. 

Infection, abcessation or allergic reactions may develop at the site of attachment on your pet. If a tick is removed incorrectly, and mouthparts remain embedded in the skin, it can lead to a nasty lump or infection where the tick has been attached.

Ticks are second only to mosquitoes throughout the world in transmitting infectious diseases to humans and animals. Heavy tick infestations can lead to serious blood loss, especially in puppies and kittens. In extreme cases,death can occur. Most of the diseases are very rare in the UK, but due to their potential seriousness, they are very important when they occur. Do not forget to mention to the vet if your pet falls ill,that they have recently been exposed to ticks.

Treatment intervals :

Dogs: Every 8 weeks

If you require any further information regarding Frontline Combo, please ask a member of staff and they would be happy to help.

Worms
It may not always be easy to tell when your pet has worms. In severe cases the symptoms are easier to spot. But in a case of mild infestation, you may simply not know, and this is one case where ignorance is far from bliss!

 It is a common problem, with 6 out of 10 pets in the UK having worms at any one time. The majority of worms carried by dogs and cats pose no threat to human health. However there are some which can be potentially transmitted to people. Toddlers may stroke and cuddle their dogs, they may play in infected sandpits and you will never persuade small children to wash their hands before  putting their hands in their mouth!

 
There are two types of intestinal worms in the country, roundworms and tapeworms. Roundworms resemble strands of spaghetti, up to 10 cm long. Tapeworms look like strings of rather flattened rice grains, and can grow up to 60 cm in length. Both types of worms can be easily picked up from a hunting cats prey, mice for example often carry the infective larval stages. Once eggs or larvae are picked up on your pets coat or paws, they can be ingested during grooming, infecting your pet and contaminating your home. Tapeworms can be aquired by swallowing infected fleas while grooming, these are called the Flea Tapeworm.

 Worming programmes vary with age and animal. The following are guidelines only and in cases of doubt or for pregnant animals, please speak to a vet or nurse.

 
Westmorland Vets recommend that you use Drontal Cat and Drontal Plus Tablets. These are the first combination wormer developed specifically for dogs and cats. They control all the intestinal worms which commonly infect UK pets, with a single, simple dose.

 We recommend you use Drontal worming tablets for animals over 6 months old. For animals under 12 weeks old we recommend Panacur sachets. This kills all roundworms and some tapeworms. 

Drontal is a combined wormer, that kills Roundworm, Tapeworm and Lungworm in one single dose according to weight.

They are to be repeated every 3 months to give maximum protection to the growing animal.

 Dosage:

 Drontal Cat – 1 tablet per 4kg bodyweight