Worm facts and why it is important to worm your pets

Roundworm or Toxocara canis

is seen in young dogs and cats and looks like spaghetti. Your pet can get it by eating an infected animal such as a rat or it passes from the infected mother to its young. Infested dogs may have a rough coat, bloated belly, vomiting, diarrhoea and colic. Roundworms can be more of a problem in humans than originally thought. Toxocara is the most prevalent worm in the UK. It can be a public health risk as the larval form is able to penetrate human skin and migrate to various organs in our body including the eye. It may cause granulomas in the human eye. Neurologic toxocariasis is where the larvae migrate to the brain and cause seizures or learning difficulties in children. Soil surverys have shown that 10-20% of gardens contain Toxocara eggs and nearly 25% of school playgrounds. The eggs are sticky and carried by shoes or clothes and about 7% of dogs and cats in the UK can be shedding eggs. NHS direct warns that London parks are so widely contaminated with Toxocara eggs, that soil samples taken from nearly anywhere within those grounds are positive!

Hookworm or Ancylostoma caninum

attaches to a dog's intestine leaving bleeding wounds and can cause diarrhoea and anaemia (a very pale puppy).

Whipworm or Trichuris vulpis

is one of the most difficult parasites to eradicate and these more commonly affect older dogs. They develop symptoms such as colitis (jelly-like diarrhoea) and decreased appetite.

Heartworm or Dirofilaria immitis

is thankfully NOT seen in the UK, but dogs travelling to places like Europe or Canada which fall under the pets passport scheme, require treatment for it.

Tapeworm - Taenia spp or Dipylidium spp

are the second most common worm in the UK. Your pet can be infected by eating a live flea or by eating an infected small animal such as a rat. It rarely causes problems in pets but is seen most frequently by owners. Your pet may have what appear to be 'rice grains' around their bottom. Good flea treatment is important to prevent this parasite.

Other preventative measures involve removing any faeces that your pet has produced in a public place and obviously from your garden as soon as it is produced. Prevent your pet from eating small rodents and earthworms that can carry roundworm. Control fleas to prevent tapeworm and deworm any female pets before breeding and again after whelping to prevent infection of newborn pets. To prevent human infestation of roundworms, ensure that you and your children practice good hygiene before eating.

Speak to us about our worming protocol. We are able to dispense broad spectrum wormers over the counter which means that we do not need to see your pet to dispense these.

Fascinating Flea Facts

Fleas are so well adapted that flea fossils found dating back 135 million years ago are exactly the same as the modern day flea.
When flea larvae change into pupae, they are very resistant to insecticides and can survive in this form for years. Hatching into adult fleas is triggered by the presence of a breathing animal or human as they are attracted to the Carbon Dioxide that we exhale as well as light, shadows and vibrations. It is for this reason that people can be so badly bitten by fleas if they enter a property that has not been inhabited for years and used to house many pets.
Pfizer the large veterinary drug company did a study that showed that 49% of pets presented at vets for any reason had 1 live flea on them or more. Fleas are found on 34% of pets all year round. So your pet is not alone if it is troubled by fleas as you read this!
One single female flea can result in 75000 flea eggs and 8000 adult fleas in just eight weeks.
Flea eggs are found close to flea dirt so that the emerging larvae has something to feed on straight away. Flea dirt is made up of dried blood and the tiny black specks you may notice on your pet or where your pet has been sitting will turn red if you place a drop of water on them.
Bartonella or 'cat scratch fever' is a bacteria that can be transmitted either by being carried under a cats' claws or it can be transmitted by fleas to humans. Be very careful if you squash fleas between your fingers as if that flea is a carrier, the bacteria Bartonella can be transmitted to you if there are any cuts on your fingers. Better to just roll the flea between your fingers to break its powerful backlegs and then drop it down a plughole.
Fleas have such enormously powerful backlegs for jumping that if we had legs in the same proportion as a fleas' legs, we would be able to jump over a house!
If puppies or kittens are exposed to fleas very early on in life, they are more likely to become sufferers of flea allergic dermatitis later on in their lives. For this reason, it is vital to treat kittens, puppies and their mothers as early on as possible. Individual flea allergic pets have different thresholds above which they show clinical signs. The threshold could be hundreds of biting fleas causing intense biting and scratching in your pet or just one flea which you may never see. Pets are allergic to the saliva of the flea.
A flea allergy could kill your pet. It could lead to so much biting and scratching if they are badly allergic which causes a secondary skin infection with what we call a deep pyoderma where the normal skin bacteria multiplies and causes a deep infection. This can lead to the bacteria entering the bloodstream and poisoning it.
Fleas are carriers of the Tapeworm eggs so if you have fleas on your pet, it is vital to worm them with a broad spectrum wormer we recommend.
Fleas are extremely well adapted parasites but thankfully the large veterinary drug firms have produced highly effective products in the last 8 years to tackle them. We can advise you on the best treatment to sort out fleas on your pet as well as in your home.