How Worms Can Risk the Health of Your Pet and Your Family

How worms can risk the health of your pet

Where they come from and what to do

Even outwardly healthy looking animals can have worms, and they can cause suffering, illness and sometimes even death. Some of the diseases they carry can also be transmitted to humans, so it’s really important to worm regularly regardless of whether you think your pet has worms or not. 

What kind of worms can infect my cat or dog?

Roundworms and tapeworms are the most common threats. They can also have hookworms and whipworms, and these are more common in dogs than cats.

Lungworm is becoming a greater problem – although happily it only infects a small percentage of animals at the moment – and this is only transferred to your pet through ingesting a slug or snail. Lungworm tends to be a localised problem, so it’s worth talking to your vet to find out if this is a problem near you. 

How worms can risk the health of your pet

What kind of worms can infect my cat or dog?

  • You may see worms in faeces or vomit, or around your pet’s bottom.
  • Your pet might have lost weight recently
  • Their fur might have changed and become dry and coarse
  • They might have an increased appetite and have diarrhoea
  • They may appear weak
  • In severe cases, infected puppies and kittens can have a distended abdomen (also sometimes known as a pot belly)
The Castle Club | Pet Healthcare Plan from Castle Vets Dorchester and Weymouth

The Castle Club makes it simple for you to look after your pet.

Get access to year-round worm, flea and tick treatments, and many further benefits designed to keep your pet healthy and happy all year.

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How does my pet catch worms?

Your pet is exposed to worms in a number of ways and it’s almost impossible to prevent exposure.

Fleas can carry tapeworm eggs, so it’s essential that a continuous flea protection programme runs alongside a worming programme. 

Your pet may well come in to contact with other infected animals – wild animals or domesticated – who use the same outdoor areas as your pet. They might also inadvertently eat the larvae or eggs of worms in faeces or contaminated grass, and can also get them from eating raw meat. If you have a dog who enjoys the occasional carcass in a hedge or a juicy slug, or a cat who hunts, kills and eats, then they will probably be exposed to the worms these wild animals undoubtedly host.

Female roundworms can produce 200,000 eggs in just one day. These eggs are protected by a hard shell, and this means they can survive in soil for years.

Can I catch worms from my pet?!

Yes, unfortunately you can and the diseases they transmit can be very dangerous to humans, particularly from the roundworm. The eggs can hatch in the human intestine, then the immature worms can travel to various tissues in the body including eyes and brain. Serious infections can result in damage to these organs and can cause blindness.

Basic cleanliness measures such as washing hands before meals, leaving shoes at the door, and avoiding the faeces of animals whilst out (and bagging and binning those of your own!) should all help keep you safe.

How can I stop my pet getting worms?

A thorough and continuous worming programme from an early age is the best way to ensure your pet and your family are safe from worms.  It is also a good idea to make sure your pet’s water, food bowls and bedding are regularly cleaned and disinfected, using a disinfectant suitable for use around animals. 

My dog/cat is pregnant. Should I continue to worm them?

Pregnant cats and dogs who have worms pass them on to their puppies and kittens whilst they are still in the womb as the microscopic larvae migrate through the mothers tissues in to the womb. 

Roundworm larvae can also given to the puppy or kitten from the mother’s milk. They then travel to the intestine where they can grow up to five inches long, so worms can be a really serious issue for a tiny animal.  

Most wormers are only effective on adult worms existing in the intestinal tract, and wouldn’t kill off larvae lurking in other tissues ready to migrate to the womb during pregnancy. If you are planning on breeding from your animal it’s essential to make sure they are continuously wormed before pregnancy occurs.

How worms can risk the health of your pet

Always speak to your vet before administering any drugs such as wormers to pregnant animals so they can recommend a suitable product use during this time

The Castle Club | Pet Healthcare Plan from Castle Vets Dorchester and Weymouth

The Castle Club makes it simple for you to look after your pet.

Get access to year-round worm, flea and tick treatments, and many further benefits designed to keep your pet healthy and happy all year.

MORE INFO

Ticks: Disease Transmission, Symptoms and Removal Techniques

Ticks are external parasites, and globally they rival only mosquitos as carriers of disease. 

Their natural habitat is thick grass – fields, meadows, farmland and woods are all favourite locations. If you or your pet visit areas such as this, be extra vigilant.

Parasites live by feeding off a host, and as they move from one to another they quickly and easily pick up and spread diseases. Some of these diseases are not only dangerous to your pet, but also to the rest of your family (see below) so it’s really important to give your pet continuous year-round protection against ticks.  We offer a monthly treatment for fleas and ticks and you can save money on this if you’re a member of our VIP Club.

What do ticks look like and can I spot them whilst out?

Ticks change shape as they feed, starting off the size and shape of a small seed but growing to the size of a baked bean once they’ve fed from their host. They vary in colour as well as shape and size, but are often a dull brown or grey.

Whilst in their natural environment and are waiting for their next host to walk by (they often climb to the top of a blade of grass and wait for any passing animal or human) they’re so tiny that they’re unlikely to be spotted and avoided.

What diseases do ticks carry and can they cause other problems?

Problems range from itchiness and local infection to disease that can have lifelong consequences for your pet – and for your family if a tick decides to make you its host.

Ticks produce mucous that they use on the feeding site to help them stay on, and this can be really irritating for your pet. If they then scratch themselves in response to this and to get the tick off they can make themselves bleed, get an infection in the broken skin, and possibly scratch the tick off but leave part of it inside them that can then become infected. There have also been cases of anaemia in badly infested pets, and reports of some female ticks releasing a toxin that can result in paralysis. Thankfully there are so far very rare in this country. 

One of the biggest and most serious threats is Lyme disease which is caused by very resilient bacteria. The symptoms of this are arthritis, painful swollen joints and lameness.  In humans, the symptoms are often a rash, joint pain, fever, and headaches. As these are all common to many different diseases, diagnosis can sometimes take a while or be missed completely.  If this disease is left untreated, it can lead to an extremely serious debilitating chronic illness with permanent complications.

Are ticks a seasonal problem?

Ticks are often more active in spring and autumn when it’s warm and damp, but they can be found all year round. With a 75% increase in pets coming into the UK, we are now seeing the emergence of foreign ticks such as the kennel tick on recently travelled dogs, so it’s now even more important to protect your pet all year round.

I’ve found a tick! What should I do?

Regular grooming and vigilance should help you identify any unwelcome visitors. Always brush your pet against the hair growth as well as with to help you identify any embedded ticks, and carefully check awkward areas such as their ears, face and paw pads.

If you spot one, don’t panic, and don’t pull it straight off as embedded mouth parts can be left behind and cause further problems.  It’s also important not to do anything that makes the tick feel stress, as they can often regurgitate their meal back into the host along with any diseases they’re carrying. Traditional ways to remove them include burning them with a match or flame, pulling hard on them or covering them in Vaseline to suffocate them and all of these would cause stress to them that could further harm your pet.

How to safely remove a tick

Always have a ‘tick removal kit’ ready at home so you don’t have to spend time getting everything together if you do identify a tick. This kit should include a tick removal tool (available relatively cheaply from your vet or online, although you could use tweezers), gloves, a jar with a lid, rubbing alcohol and some antiseptic wipes.

  1. Put on your gloves. As ticks spread disease through the bloodstream they could infect you through any broken skin.
  2. Hold your pet and make sure they are calm. They’re going to have to remain still for a minute or so to allow you to remove the parasite. Get someone to hold the pet for you if you can.
  3. Place your removal tool or tweezers around the part of the tick closest to your pet’s body, being careful not to pinch your pet’s skin.
  4. Using a steady pressure, gently pull the tick out. Try not to move suddenly, pull too hard or twist too much as you don’t want the tick to regurgitate whatever is inside it back in to your pet, or for any of it to be left behind.
  5. Put the tick in the jar and examine it to check it’s still in once piece and nothing has been left inside your pet.
  6. Add some rubbing alcohol (vodka would do but it seems a waste!) to kill the tick. Keep it in the jar somewhere for a few days until you’re sure your pet is well. If you pet starts to display any symptoms such as a reluctance to move, fever, extreme tiredness, loss of appetite and swollen lymph nodes then bring both your pet and the tick to us straight away so we can check them over and be sure of the parasite that infected them.
  7. Disinfect the bite site with disinfecting wipes or some fresh rubbing alcohol. Keep an eye on the site and contact us if it becomes red or inflamed.

Can I stop my pet getting ticks, and if not isn’t it enough to just regularly check my pet?

When they first attach they are usually only the size of a sesame seed and are often hiding between toes and under ears. They can be almost impossible to spot until they’ve been on there for long enough to grow bigger, become irritating to your pet, and have potentially transmitted diseases.

There is no tick repellent, but treatment works in the same way as flea protection. The substance will penetrate the fatty, subcutaneous layer just under the pet’s skin and give the tick a dose of the anti-parasitic drug as soon as they first feed.  As ticks pass on disease within the first 24 hours of attaching to a host, it’s important to kill them off as soon as possible. The only reliable way of doing this is through a continuous protection programme.

The Castle Club | Pet Healthcare Plan from Castle Vets Dorchester and Weymouth

We’ve specifically developed The Castle Club to make it simple for you to look after your pet. Get access to year-round flea, worm and tick treatments, and many further benefits designed to keep your pet healthy and happy all year.

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The Itchy Issue of Fleas: A Risk for Your Pet and Your Family

The Itchy Issue of Fleas: A Risk for Your Pet and Your Family

Fleas – putting your family at risk all year round

Fleas are often considered to be a seasonal nuisance that are annoying for your pet, and annoying for you when you get nipped by one at home.  But they’re a more serious problem than this, are a year-long threat, and can cause serious distress to your pet and spread disease.  

Our centrally heated homes are the perfect year-round breeding ground for fleas who are attracted to the warm environment, so they aren’t just a spring and summer issue. Eggs can lay dormant in pet beds, carpets, rugs and upholstery for months before finding a host. In fact much of the life cycle of the flea takes place in the animal’s environment, not on the animal itself. Protecting your pet and your family requires this life-cycle to be broken by year round protection, and ideally by using a treatment that renders the eggs unable to hatch, so any that do transfer to the environment don’t start the cycle all over again.

Disease

Heavy infestations may lead to iron deficiency, anaemia and death, particularly in young animals. Other diseases caused by fleas include pruritis (itching), moist dermatitis and flea allergic dermatitis. Fleas also transmit tapeworms, feline infectious anaemia and bacteria that cause cat scratch fever and have also been implicated in chronic fatigue syndrome in humans.

Why ad-hoc treatments just don’t work

By the time you notice fleas on your pet, they have already bitten their host and injected their saliva in to their blood stream and started laying eggs. In the same way, ticks transmit disease within the first 24 hours of being attached to a host, so once they are discovered and removed it’s too late to stop this transmission.  The chances are that they will already have laid eggs before treatment, and these are sitting in a warm and cosy environment just waiting to hatch and infest your pet all over again. Even if you use a treatment that remains active for a month, it’s possible that some eggs and/or fleas will be lurking for longer than this period and will get to work once the treatment has worn off.

So, reactive and one-off treatments are both insufficient in preventing the spread of disease AND do nothing to prevent the initial attack or to break the life cycle. We recommend monthly treatments with an integrated product which not only kills any fleas that attack your pet, but also stops the development of eggs and therefore breaks the life-cycle. This approach will stop any initial infestation and protect your home, your pet and your family throughout the year. 

The Castle Club | Pet Healthcare Plan from Castle Vets Dorchester and Weymouth
We’ve specifically developed The Castle Club to make it simple for you to look after your pet. Get access to annual flea and worming treatments and much more, all design to ensure your pet stays healthy.
MORE INFO

Just discovered your pet has fleas?

1. Treat your pet

You will need to treat them with a product that kills the fleas and preferably one that contains a growth regulator to prevent eggs from hatching. Call us and we can let you know which products these are.

treat your pet - the itchy issue of fleas
2. Treat your environment

The house (and car) will need to be treated with an insecticide spray. A spray containing S-methoprene such as RIP (available at the practice) is the most effective mild insecticide for this and will kill live fleas and stop eggs hatching. If your infestation is or becomes more severe, you will need to contact your local pest control agency which will have insecticides not generally available to the general public and will be able to come out and treat your house.

treat your environment - the itchy issue of fleas
3. Vacuum soft furnishings, bedding and carpets thoroughly

This really helps remove any fleas, eggs or lavae that might be lurking or have been transferred around the house by feet or general movement.

Vacuum soft furnishings, bedding and carpets thoroughly - the itchy issue of fleas
2. Treat your environment

The house (and car) will need to be treated with an insecticide spray. A spray containing S-methoprene such as RIP (available at the practice) is the most effective mild insecticide for this and will kill live fleas and stop eggs hatching. If your infestation is or becomes more severe, you will need to contact your local pest control agency which will have insecticides not generally available to the general public and will be able to come out and treat your house. 

treat your environment - the itchy issue of fleas
4. Wash anything such as pet beds, rugs, blankets and cushions

Fleas and eggs are unlikely to survive a once round in the washing machine and it is another good way to make sure none have escaped treatment. (It’s still  important to treat first to kill as many as possible this way as movement and transfer is likely to make any unwelcome visitors spread around your home).

Wash anything such as pet beds, rugs, blankets and cushions - the itchy issue of fleas

Managing treatments

Monthly application of product involves some organisation – remembering the date to treat, when they were last treated and making sure you have to product to hand. To make this simpler (and cheaper!) for you, membership of the Castle Care Club ensures you have the product every month without fail. From the day you join you know when each month to treat, and can do so without having to order your treatment and wait for it to arrive which is time consuming, liable to fail if only through the weight of our busy lives, and can be costly. It also ensures that you and your family are protected year round.

The Castle Club | Pet Healthcare Plan from Castle Vets Dorchester and Weymouth
We’ve specifically developed The Castle Club to make it simple for you to look after your pet. Get access to annual flea and worming treatments and much more, all design to ensure your pet stays healthy.
MORE INFO

Parasite Prevention: 5 top tips to help you decide what is best for your pet

Parasite Prevention for Cats and Dogs - Castle Vets Dorchester

Things have moved on since the days when we’d liberally coat our pet in powder at the beginning of the summer and sit back to congratulate ourselves on dealing with fleas.

Advances in our understanding of pet care and the parasites that can make their (and our family) life a misery mean that we can now identify more of these pests, discover what’s working and – more importantly, what isn’t working – in our local area, and give our friends even better care.

But what’s the best way to do this? You could chuck everything available at them just to make sure, or you could spend hours researching scientific advances and new emerging threats and medicines designed to tackle them, then ask your vet to prescribe the best treatment for each that you’re able to identify. But we think both of these are – quite literally – overkill.

We’ve put together the 5 things we think are most important when thinking about parasite protection.

To make it even easier, we’ve got a short quiz online that can help you decide what’s right for your pet once you’ve read the key points below. And if you’re local and would like the reassurance that your pet isn’t being over-treated by products that might not be suitable, we’ve designed a preventive healthcare plan that is tailor-made for your pet and your family life. The Castle Care Club gives you total reassurance that your pet will remain safe from parasites most likely to bother them, all year round.

1:
Fleas aren’t just a summer problem

Centrally heated homes and soft furnishings that provide perfect hide-outs for fleas and eggs mean that they can attack at any time of the year, not just in the summer months. Fleas can live for 100 days and lay dormant without a host in carpets, bedding and furniture just waiting for a time to attack. They can bite us as well as cause infection and discomfort in our pets. They can also pass on tapeworm to dogs and cats, so really need to be controlled by prevention rather than treatment.

2: Lungworm is becoming a bigger issue for both dogs and cats

Parasite prevention - Lung Worm in Cats and Dogs

This is a worm that causes problems by living in the airways and has become a much more common problem recently. Lungworm is carried by slugs and snails, so cats and dogs are at risk from infection by eating or playing with these directly, or by eating rodents or birds that have eaten them. The larvae arrives in their gut then burrow through the walls to arrive in their airways. The worms can be up to 9mm long and can cause serious damage to lung tissue. The symptoms of infestation aren’t very specific, so it’s important to make sure your pet is protected against infection. Indoor cats are less likely to become infected but it’s still possible, so we always include this in their protection.

3:
Pets can now travel with pet passports, and be exposed to parasites we don’t always see in this country

We think it’s great that pets can now travel abroad and we can help you obtain a Pet Passport to make this possible. We always advise that you take extra precautions to make sure they aren’t attacked by parasites not commonly found in this country, and the treatments required by the passport alone aren’t enough to cover this.

Many countries have issues with sandflies who can transmit a disease called Leishmaniasis. This can result in skin ulcers, but also nasty systemic diseases. As we know, mosquitos can carry many diseases, but heartworm is the most likely one to impact on the health of our dogs. We can’t tell if a mosquito is a carrier, and one bite from an infected one can give your dog heartworm disease which is difficult to treat.

Both of these are easy to prevent, so it’s just common sense that your dog (or cat if they’re travelling) is protected against them before you leave.

IMPORTANT – Pet Travel after Brexit! 
The regulations governing pet travel are subject to change if we leave the EU. If you are considering travelling with your pet, we advise that you plan this well in advance. We’re happy to advise you on the pet travel certification required at the time of travel, and updates on this are posted here www.gov.uk/guidance/pet-travel-to-europe-after-brexit

4:
Ticks can be an issue for explorers

Exploring undergrowth and walks through farmland and rural areas are all part of the fun for many of our pets. If your pet explores then they are likely to encounter ticks. These tiny parasites wait on in the undergrowth just waiting for a host to wander by, and will then attach themselves by burying their head into their skin to enjoy a blood meal.

It’s often tricky to find them until they become the size of a large lentil, and by this time your pet might have started scratching to get them off. This can cause skin damage, but if they remove them and the head stays inside then nasty infections can develop. Ticks are also carriers of diseases including Lyme disease which is a nasty bacterial disease that can cause chronic conditions in pets, and be passed to humans.

There are several products designed to prevent ticks from feasting on your pet, and with all parasites this simple protection is much better than dealing with long-term problems associated with attack.

5:
Your cat’s preferences count!

We know that cats are fickle creatures who live by their own rules and barely tolerate ours.

Their views and preferences count, so if you don’t think they’re going to enjoy being given a spot-on treatment for parasites once a month but you want them to be fully protected, then talk to us about the best products for you.

We can provide you with treatments that only need to be used four times a year and are therefore more likely to go on then once a month options. And if even this is too much, we can talk to you about alternatives.

To take our quick online quiz to find out which parasite prevention treatments are best suited to your individual pet, click here

If you’d like to discuss parasite control or preventative healthcare with us,  call us on:

Dorchester (Poundbury) 01305 267083
Weymouth 01305 813303