Your summer pet care guide

I had almost forgotten how nice it was on the Northern Beaches when the sun is out. Walking along Manly promenade with my 18month old son recently, it took over an hour to reach North Steyne and back with all the dogs, and their owners, we stopped to say hello to. But as the days get longer, the sun warms up and people and their dogs venture out and about, many of the problems we haven’t seen or thought about through winter become issues once again. 

Ticks

While most ticks are not life threatening, the Paralysis Tick (Ixodes Holocyclus) is. These nasties are most active in Spring and early Summer. Make sure you are up to date with some sort of tick preventative, check your pet daily and most importantly if you see any weakness, wobbliness in the back legs, reduction in appetite, vomiting, difficulty breathing or change in bark or meow get your pet to your local vet asap. There is currently a shortage of Tick anti-serum (TAS), so it’s even more important to make sure you are up to date with your tick prevention to help maintain the stock of TAS we do have. 

Skin

Everyone who has owned a dog can appreciate how much the sound of dog licking and chewing at itself can drive you mad. I have one client whose dog suffers from allergic skin disease who describes how he hides behind the couch when he wants to chew his feet because he knows how much it annoys her. Things like hot spots, allergic skin disease, flea allergy dermatitis can all present in similar ways, the skin becomes moist, red and inflamed where the dog has been licking and chewing. The more the dog chews the itchier the skin becomes, and we go round in a vicious cycle. It continues to amaze me how quickly a benign little spot can progress to a massive red, raw and infected spot which the dog cannot leave alone. 

Regardless of the initiating cause, initial treatment centres on 2 main areas – treatment of secondary bacterial infections and management of the itch. Once we have the initial infection under control there are many things we can do to try and minimise the recurrence. Make sure underlying causes such as parasites, diet and conformational (structural) issues are addressed. In recent years there have been several new drugs developed which allow us to manage the itch and stop the cycle of recurrent secondary bacterial infections.

Puppies

There is nothing better than a puppy consult to brighten my day, and Summer means I get to do more puppy consultations than the rest of the year. The whole aim of the puppy consult is to get the puppy to relax and enjoy the experience, which usually involves a large number of treats and lots of cuddles, while checking there are no underlying health issues and discussing what we need to do to keep the puppy happy and healthy. It is an opportunity for the owner to ask questions and discuss any issue or concerns they may have.  

Christmas Food Guide

No December issue of the Tawny Frogmouth is complete without mentioning the Christmas foods which are toxic or can cause harm to your dog, so to ensure a safe festive season for all, please ensure you don’t feed your furry, four-legged friends any chocolate, sultanas, raisins and grapes (Christmas cake/pudding), Macadamia nuts and the cooked ham or Turkey bones, and enjoy a very Merry Christmas.