Parasite prevention for your pets
Protect your pet against fleas, worms and ticks
Why is parasite prevention important?
Parasite prevention protects your pets from:
Ticks - Parasites that feed on your pet’s blood and release toxins into their bloodstream. Some ticks can cause paralysis and can be fatal.
Fleas - Parasites that infest your pet’s coat and feed on their blood, causing skin irritation and sometimes an allergic reaction.
Worms - The main intestinal worm species you should be aware of are roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, and whipworms. They pose serious health risks.
Another very important reason to protect your pets from worms is to protect your family, as children, in particular, can become infected with certain dog and cat worms.
Below are some tips to consider regarding parasite prevention:
Promptly clean up pet faeces
Practice good hygiene, and always encourage children to wash their hands regularly (especially after playing in dirt or sandpits, playing with pets or before eating)
Prevent children from playing where the soil may be contaminated
Keep your pet's environment clean
Always dispose of dog faeces in public parks and playgrounds.
Prevention is better than a cure, so it is important to maintain routine parasite prevention for your pets, to reduce the incidence of infection and to reduce environmental contamination. Many products are available for the various infestations that occur in our pets. These are available as tablets, spot-on, or pastes. We stock several effective brands in our clinic, including Advocate, Milbemax and Nexgard.
Talk to one of our friendly team to discuss your options for parasite prevention.
Heartworm and intestinal worms
What is heartworm?
Heartworm, or Dirofilaria immitis, is a parasite that is spread by mosquitoes, so your pet does not even need to be in contact with other pets to become infected!
Heartworm has a complicated life cycle. Infected dogs have microfilaria, an immature form of heartworm, circulating in their bloodstream. Microfilariae are sucked up by mosquitoes when feeding on the blood of infected dogs. The immature parasite develops into a heartworm larva inside the mosquito, and then a single bite from a carrier mosquito can infect your pet (dog or cat). As the worms mature in the heart, they can cause a physical blockage and thickening of the heart and associated blood vessels. In the early stages of infection, there may be no visible signs. However, an infection may eventually lead to signs of heart failure (reluctance to exercise, lethargy, coughing) and even death. Heartworm is present throughout most of Australia(except Tasmania and arid areas).
Thankfully, heartworm is very easy to prevent and should form part of your pet's health care routine. We have very effective preventative treatment options available, including an annual injection for dogs, tablets, chews, and spot-on treatment. If your pet has not been on heartworm prevention, we strongly recommend a heartworm test before starting a prevention program, followed by a repeat test 6 months after commencing.
What are intestinal worms?
Worming is one of the first health care issues pet owners need to address, as pups and kittens are the most susceptible. As their name suggests, intestinal worms are parasites that live inside your pet’s intestines. These worms range in size from small to surprisingly large (up to 18cm in length). Regardless of their size, however, they all have negative and potentially deadly effects.
Most species of animal, as well as humans, can be infected with intestinal worms, including dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, fish, birds and reptiles. Common intestinal worms in Australian pets are Roundworm, Tapeworm, Whipworm, and Hookworm. If your pet has many worms, it may find it difficult to maintain body condition, and it can lose weight. In some cases, it can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and even anaemia (a low red blood cell level). Occasionally, heavy intestinal worm burdens can cause death.
Worms sometimes have complex lifecycles which involve a period of existence and development outside your pet. Understanding the life cycle of a specific worm is important so that strategies for treatment and prevention can be designed and implemented. For instance, some tapeworms need to pass through fleas to complete their lifecycle, so flea prevention is an important method of controlling tapeworms.