Preventing diseases occurring to our pets leads to an increase in the quality of life for our beloved animals, and this increases their happiness, and thus increases our own happiness too.
Preventive medicine is focused on improving the animal’s welfare and monitoring its health, so we can prevent the onset of any disease. And this is especially important if your pet will have contact with children, as some of these diseases can affect humans and may be transmitted by our pets. These are called zoonoses.
Historically from the beginning, medicine was focused on the diagnosis of a disease and its subsequent cure. Thus a wide range of curative medicines has developed. But today medicine focuses more upon the importance of observation and healthcare, eliminating the risks and taking measures to prevent any loss of health, coupled with diagnosis of any disease in its early stages, where its resolution is easier.
Preventive medicine is based on five pillars:
• Providing welfare. Environmental conditions will affect health. A clean, warm and comfortable place is very important to maintain our pets’ good health.
• Regular de-worming. Both external and internal parasites will decrease the immune system, making our pets more defenseless when facing other disease agents. Parasites can transmit some very serious infections.
• Vaccinate annually against rabies and other infectious diseases such as Distemper, Parvovirosis, Hepatitis, Feline Leukemia, etc.
• Provide adequate nutrition, appropriate to the age and health of the animal. Our cats and dogs will have their life expectancy increased by improving their diet. The type of food they are given is very important to preserve their health.
• Early investigation. Should you spot anything unusual with your pet, be sure to take your pet to a vet for an early analysis and diagnostic tests for the presence of endemic diseases like canine Leishmaniasis, Tick-borne Diseases or Feline Leukemia. The treatment will be considerably more effective if detected in the early stages.
Ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of its host, belonging to the Arachnida class and subclass Acari (mites). There are two recognized families of ticks, Ixodidae Fam which also are called hard ticks mostly affecting mammals, including humans and Fam Argasidae which are called soft ticks and primarily affect birds.
The male is smaller than the female and it is the female the ona that may increase in size by feeding on the blood of its host. Ticks are often found in groups of two, four or more together in a small area of the animal’s body. The most common places where you find ticks on dogs and cats are around the eyes, at the base of the ears, between the toes, in the folds of skin in the abdomen or around the anus. These mites require a blood meal to survive during all phases of their life, this means that in young stages must join a host quickly to draw blood and thus move to the next phase of their life cycle until they reach adulthood. The adult female tick fed once its belly is full and then it releases to fall and lay eggs in the grass. They can lay up to 3000 eggs. After hatching, juvenile ticks climb amount to the highlands of herbs where wait after a possible host to which is invaded by direct contact, do not jump to it.
Ticks cause direct harm to their hosts and are the mode of transmission of pathogens that cause severe disease in people and animals.
Direct damage
The tick bite causes tissue destruction and local inflammatory reaction due to its mouthparts, resulting in the formation of nodules on the skin that may be pruritic and painful. They can also lead to toxicosis produced by the direct release of toxins with tick saliva that may cause paralysis and even death of the animal. They can also cause severe anemia from blood loss. Likewise, saliva has immunosuppressive substances that favor the spread of infection.
Tick-borne diseases
Ticks are major vectors of diseases in domestic and wild animals, many of which are zoonoses affecting humans and are quite serious. Infections most often transmitted to pets are Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis and new diseases are emerging especially affecting the dog and cat as Bartonellosis, Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis that is most important in the human being.
Control of tick populations
It is best to use a preventive acaricide which can be applied in bathrooms, sprays or treatments “spot on” and necklaces. Among the most effective products found Amitraz, permethrin, Pyriprole, Flumethrin and Fipronil in products whose trade names are Certifect, Exspot, Prac-tic, Seresto or Frontline. All of them very effective but remembering to apply once a month or lose the protective efficacy and renew the collars with the frequency indicated by your veterinarian
Also useful to spray the legs and lower abdomen our dog repellent spray (fipronil, permethrin) before taking a stroll through an area with grass or in the country, to prevent any ticks climb. It is also convenient to explore the animal after one of these trips to eliminate the garraptas Hayn had access to before they are installed in our animal.
At present vaccines are developed and used ticks in cattle and can be interesting in the future
The pine processionary most common in Spain is the Thaumatopea pytocampa. It is a moth that lives in the summer. Each butterfly lays about 300 eggs in the branches of the pine- trees. When caterpillars are born make a silk nest where keep warm for the cold weather. These are the typical cottony white bags on the tops of the pines. Usually between February and April, with temperatures above 15 º C, caterpillars migrate in procession led by a female. The destination is an ideal place to burrow and form pupae, which will end next summer as butterflies.
Why catterpillars are a danger to our dog?
The caterpillars have specialized hairs shaped dart that release a toxin called taumatopenia. This toxin is a protein that produces and hyperacute inflammatory reactions similar to those produced in allergic reactions, giving rise to toxic-irritative dermatitis.
Poisoning can occur through direct contact with the caterpillars and their secretion or by contact with stinging hairs that can be carried by wind or fallen nests, as stinging hairs and larval exudates can stay inside, including nests from previous years. That is why the fallen nests can be a source of infection if handled by the dogs, and then the wind can move these hairs and put them in contact with skin and mucous membrane.
The classic symptoms in oral contact: the animal shows nervousness, rapid swallowing acts, touching their mouth with their feet, hypersalivation, in minutes develops an inflammation of the mouth and tongue to intense inability to close the mouth, If the caterpillar has been eaten the animal will have vomits or edema of the larynx. The injury locally tends to evolve into necrosis, with the possibility of tissue loss. The other locations caused by less common contacts (as eyes or nose) cause symptoms traceable to blepharitis, keratitis and rhinitis.
What to do if my dog comes in contact with the processionary?
If you see your dog touches one of these caterpillars, or it shows the symptoms that you think has done it, be very clear that you are in an emergency vet so you have to act fast, as this will depend on the success of treatment .
Wash the tongue or the affected area with hot water as the heat deactivates the toxin. Other alternatives are vinegar or soap. Never rub the injured part, as this will break the hair damaged after releasing the toxin.
Turn immediately to assess the state vet where the dog and decide any necessary therapy.
The most frequent sequel necrosis and loss of part of the language that has been in contact with the poison. Fortunately, if you lose the piece is not very big, the dog gets used quickly and can eat and drink normally.
