Summer health care for pets

Take care of yourself and your pets this summer. Pets are at risk from heat stroke, sunburn, fleas, and 'fly-strike'. Taking a few sensible precautions can save a lot of unnecessary ill health, and even lives!

Travel Sickness

Travel sickness is a common problem in dogs. This unpleasant problem can be reduced or prevented by making changes in how you travel and in some cases using medicines.
Travel sickness is a type of motion sickness, and signs include drooling and vomiting. Fear and stress can be a big part of the problem too.
It makes sense to make some changes to your travel plans if your pet is prone to this problem, including....

Make very short trips to begin, perhaps just sitting in the car. Then gradually increase the length of the trip, hopefully as your dog starts to become a better traveller!
Perhaps allow the pet to see out a window and allow lots of room to get up and move around.
Don't feed a big meal before travelling - nothing at all or a small amount may suit some dogs. If nothing else, there will be less to clear up!
Open a window or put on the air conditioning! It is more comfortable to be cool!
Take a break every 1-2 hours. It's good for all concerned.

In some cases it can help to use medication in addition to the above. There is a new product which seem to be giving encouraging results. Contact us if you think your pet may require a little help to travel in more comfort.

Heat stroke

Heat stroke can affect dogs on warm days, not just the hottest days. Excited dogs just don't know when to stop! Some dogs have particular problems staying cool (Boxers or other short nosed dogs, overweight animals, those with heart or respiratory disease). Rapid panting can lead to breathing difficulties due to airway obstruction, and also inneffective heat loss, which makes a hot dog even hotter. This is a very serious problem, and needs urgent attention to avoid mortality. Prevent it in the first place by excercising your dog in the morning or evening (or not at all?), providing shade, cool water and a fan or a breezy spot. Take it easy! It's summertime!
Dogs die in hot cars, and this is well publicised by the RSPCA. Just don't do it.

Sunburn

Sunburn is a particular problem in white cats, but other pets are at risk if they are sun worshippers. It can be painful at the time, but the more serious damage may take years to become apparent. We see cats with skin cancer on the end of the ears and nose. This slowly progressing problem needs radical surgery. So try a little factor 50 on your cat's ears & around the nose on sunny days, or better still, keep them indoors or in the shade.

Fleas

Fleas love the summertime! They are the commonest cause if skin irritation in dogs and cats, and make pets with other allergies even worse. Use a good flea prevention product, such as Advocate. Be aware, all 'spot-on' preparations are not the same (the most expensive product you can use is one that doesn't work!). Buy effective good quality products for the best protection.

Flystrike

Flystrike is one of the most unpleasant conditions that we see over the warmer months, usually affecting rabbits. Without too much detail, rabbits can have soiled or wet fur around their bottoms, which attracts flies. The flies lay eggs, which rapidly hatch into maggots and begin to eat your rabbits skin and body tissues, often leading to death. Check rabbits daily for this through spring summer and autumn, and better still use a product called Rearguard applied to the fur every two months. Contact us for more details.