Fleas & Ticks

             Fleas and ticks are ectoparasites that feed of the blood of dogs, cats, other animals and even humans. Apart from being a nuisance that irritates the animal, they can also cause severe health problems.

             Fleas are wingless insects, dark brown in colour, and narrowed body of 1-6mm in length. Their hind legs are long and strong and allow the flea to jump great distances, 200 times its body length. A flea’s average life span is 6 weeks but they can live up to 2 years. Only the adults are parasitic and, as mentioned above, they are not host specific.

             Animals usually contract fleas from their surroundings and not from other animals. The fleas that are seen on the animal are the adults which are about 1% of the flea population in the animal’s surrounding.

             The female flea starts producing eggs (40-50 per day) 24-48 hours after she’s had a blood meal. The eggs are laid between the animal’s fur and drop to the ground. After 1-10 days, depending on the environment’s temperature and humidity, the eggs hatch. The larvae that have hatched feed of the excrements of the adult fleas and barrow into the ground, carpets, etc. At this stage the larvae are sensitive to detergents, desiccation, etc. After some time, when the conditions are right, temperature and humidity wise, the larvae pupate in cocoons.  Inside their cocoon, the larvae are protected and are very resistant to detergents, desiccation, etc. The larvae reach adulthood in 6-7 days and then wait in their pupae until they sense an animal in their surrounding and jump on it. Adult fleas can survive cold and hunger.

             Fleas’ veterinary importance:

1. Fleas cause itchiness and blood loss. Flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) is one of the most common allergies in dogs and may lead to the formation of hotspots (pyotraumatic dermatitis.)
2. Fleas are vectors of several diseases – Cat Scratch Disease is a disease caused by a bacteria that can be found in flea excrement and infect the cat’s nails; Feline heamobartonelosis, a bacteria that attaches to the cell wall of red blood cells and thus cause their destruction and therefore anemia. (Fleas are also the vectors for The Plague)
3. Fleas are vectors of intestinal worms (tape worms.) When a flea gets infected with tape worms it becomes slower and can then be swallowed by an animal while it grooms. This is also true for children that pet animals and then put their hands in their mouth. The swallowed flea is digested and the worms are released into the intestinal tract. When a dog has worms we will often see it rubbing his behind on the floor. When a cat has worms, we will often see worm segments, which look like cucumber or sesame seeds, where it lies.

             Ticks are arachnids and, unlike fleas, they are temporary ectoparasites. This means that they stay on the animal for several days only. Ticks are also not host specific. The female tick is larger than the male, approximately 1cm compared to 2-3mm. Ticks can often be found on high grass, waiting for an animal to pass close enough for them to latch on to.

             After mating and being fertilized, the female feeds on blood for 14 days, drops to the ground, lays her eggs in a safe place and dies.

              Ticks’ veterinary importance:

1. In cases of severe infestations, ticks can cause anemia.
2. Ticks can cause skin lesions due to piercing of the skin for blood meals and due to inappropriate removal of them by owners or by the animal’s scratching.
3. Lyme disease. A tick borne disease that infects humans. This disease is very rare in Israel.
4. Tick Fever – a disease caused by the bacteria Ehrlichia canis and can be fatal. Tick fever have several phases:

• The acute phase starts 1-3 weeks post infection and lasts 2-4 weeks. During this phase the bacteria multiplies in the blood cells and spreads throughout the body. The infected cells attach to the inner side of blood vessels, cause inflammation there (vasculitis) and therefore use of platelets. The clinical signs characteristic of this phase are fever, enlargement of lymph nodes, enlargement of the spleen and a decrease in platelets number that leads to hemorrhages, hematomas, etc.  Sometimes anorexia, depression, lethargy, oedema of the extremities and scrotum, coughing and difficulty breathing can be seen.
• The subacute phase lasts several months to years. Some dogs get rid of the bacteria during this phase, others become chronic.
• The chronic phase, during which the bone marrow is affected. The clinical signs in this phase depend on the affected organs and include enlargement of the spleen, kidney damage, pneumonia, eye infections, meningitis (leading to discoordination, depression, paralysis and hyperesthesia), weight loss, hemorrhages, hematomas.

             Many products against fleas and ticks can be found in the market. Most recommended are spot-on products which are ampoules used monthly. Some act only against fleas, some against fleas, ticks and other parasites. Fleas and ticks are most common in the summer time but it is highly recommended to also treat against them in the colder seasons because the cold in Israel is not enough to kill them.

Spays & Castrations

             The topic of spays and castration is a sensitive one and some people object to it for different reasons, especially when street cats are concerned but also when pets are concerned.

             A queen’s pregnancy is about 2 months long and after which she will give birth to 4 kittens in average, which means about 8 kittens per year. These kittens will reach puberty in their first year of life, therefore their propagation is quite rapid and in a relatively short period of time, that same queen will have a family tree containing thousands of offspring living on the streets. Unfortunately, most of this queen’s offspring will not be vaccinated and will not have proper veterinary care and will, therefore, contract diseases, get hit by cars, starve, suffer from the cold, freeze and might even, God forbid, fall victims to animal abuse. It is very clear, then, that spaying and castration of street cats is the only humane way to prevent this grave scenario. Although it is quite clear, it is still important to emphasize that the street cats’ propagation is so vast and rapid that despite the spaying/castration that the municipalities perform, there is no risk that the street cats will disappear.

             When it comes to house pets the case is a little different. Most owners that object to spaying and castration do that out of personification of their pets. In most cases, men claim that they do not want to castrate their dog because “he deserves to have some fun” and women claim that they will not spay their bitch because “she deserves to feel what it is like to be a mom.”

             Unlike us humans, dogs are not aware of the opposite sex in that sense, except for when they are in heat and produce pheromones that attract and arouse the males. A castrated dog that will never mate will never feel as if he was missing out.

             Just like male dogs, bitches do not dream of motherhood and even if they did, is it fair to let them experience that and then, after a few months, take their puppies away?

             It is very important to remember that besides the fact that spaying and castration prevent having unwanted puppies, they also have health benefits. Castrated dogs are easier to handle and are less aggressive. They tend to fight less with other dogs and are, therefore, at a lower risk of injury. Castration decreases the testosterone blood levels and, therefore, decreases the risk of prostate cancer. In additon, mature dogs often develop testicular cancer. This case, too, is obviously prevented by castration.

             Spayed bitches are at a lower risk of developing mammary cancer. Researches have shown that the chances of developing mammary cancer increases with increasing number of heats that the bitch has. The lowest chance is when the bitch is spayed before her first heat. In addition, mature bitches might develop pyometra (an infection of the uterus.) This case, too, is obviously prevented by spaying the bitch.

             We, here at Vets4Pets, recommend spaying/castrating around 6 months of age is both dogs and cats. If the bitch/queen is in heat it is strongly advised to wait until it is over because the uterus and its blood vessels are engorged and the risk of the operation is higher.

             During castration, the testes are removed and during a spay the uterus and the ovaries are removed. However, recovery from the operation is relatively quick and most patients go back to normal activity by one day after surgery. It is important to remember that despite their willingness to go back to their normal activity these animals should be rested several days after their operation.

Park Worm – Spirocerca Lupi

Park worm is a parasitic roundworm (nematode) that infects dogs. The name “park worm” was given to it because the first cases in Israel, diagnosed in the 80′s, were in dogs which common denominator was the National Park in Ramat Gan. This name is misleading and causes many dog owners to disregard this dangerous disease, mainly by saying they do not walk their dogs in parks. In fact, park worm can be found all over the country.

An infected dog’s stool contains the eggs of the worm. These are taken up by small dung beetles (some are smaller than 1cm) which are the worm’s intermediate host. A single dung beetle can contain up to 150 worms. When a dog, which is the worm’s final host, eats feaces or any other rotting organic material and swallows an infected beetle or eats an animal that has eaten a beetle, the beetle breaks up in its stomach, the worms are released and make their way through the stomach’s wall and along the walls of the arteries towards the aorta. From the aorta, as they mature, they continue migrating in the dog’s body towards the oesophagus, where they burrow, reach adulthood and start laying their eggs, which pass through the dog’s intestinal tract and are released in its feaces.

The body’s reaction to the worms’ presence in the oesophagus manifests as granulomas, a sort of “bumps” in the oesophagus’s inner wall. When these granulomas are large they cause coughing, difficulty swallowing, regurgitation, vomiting, etc. which are the disease’s characteristic clinical signs. However, the disease can also manifest in neurological disorders, due to worms migrating to the spine, drastic weight loss and even sudden death, due to rupture of an aortic aneurism leading to internal bleeding.

When dogs are brought to the clinic because of coughing, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, etc. they are x-rayed. If opacity is seen at the caudal end of the oesophagus, the dog will undergo endoscopy. The endoscopy procedure is done under general anaesthesia and during it an optic fiber is inserted into the oesophagus in order to look for granulomas containing the adult worms.

A “good” outcome of the endoscopy would be the discovery of such granulomas, then the dog will start a weekly treatment by injections for several months and at its end will undergo another endoscopy in order to make sure the oesophagus is clear of granulomas.

In worse cases, the outcome of the endoscopy would be to find that the granulomas have undergone cancerous transformation. In some cases, cancerous transformation can be suspected already by the x-ray, due to calcification at the caudal end of the oesophagus and presence of metastasis in the lungs.

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine against park worm; therefore the only way to prevent a dog from getting sick is by preventive (prophylactic) treatment by injections every two months. Our recommendation to treat against park worm every two months is based on the recommendation of the Veterinary Hospital in Beit Dagan. Also, it is very important to clean after your dog and collect his stool, not to allow dogs to run alone and even use a muzzle with dogs that eat everything they find, in order to prevent the spreading of the disease.

Dogs of certain breeds, such as Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, Collie, etc. are known to carry a mutation in the MDR-1 gene. This mutation makes the drug that is used to treat park worm toxic to these dogs. It is, therefore, very important to take blood from dogs of these breeds, and those that are crossed with them, for a genetic test. Dogs that are negative for the mutation can be treated every 2 months like any other dog.