Parasites are grouped into two general categories: Internal parasites (liver, lung and gut worms, for example hookworm etc) and External parasites (ticks, fleas, lice, mites and flies).
As you can see that's a lot of bugs to keep under control especially as most of them live out of sight causing damage and disease in places that we can't always easily pick it up.
At Keringa we DEWORM every pet that arrives for quarantine, boarding or petwings-in-transit stay for the common internal parasites. This blanket deworming of EVERY pet is because pets can have a light infestation of worms without showing any signs of distress or disease. Even if you go to your vet and have a test done (Faecal flotation) on faeces from your pet, you might not pick up an infection. Only when the worm burden gets large, do you see signs of loss of condition, development of a pot belly, bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and sometimes liver or lung damage.
Deworming is to control the worms inside your pet as well as prevent your pets from shedding worms/eggs during their stay with us.
Our kennels are washed out with a chlorine based chemical to kill any eggs or larvae that might be in the environment and the kennel staff do "poo patrol" at least four times a day to make sure the kennels stay clean.
Pets can re-infect themselves, by swallowing larvae or eggs during normal grooming, licking other animals or sniffing/digging in the environment. Puppies and kittens can get infected from the mother through the placenta while in the womb or through her milk during nursing.
So, as you can see it's just safer all round to deworm all your pets on a regular basis – every three months is the most common timetable. It would be a good idea to switch brands every once in a while, then the worms can't get used to the same chemical each time you deworm your pets. Don't worry if your pets have been dewormed recently and we do it again. The drugs we use have a big safety margin and some times under my direction a pet is dewormed every day for three days running to get rid of a really bad worm infection.
Of the External parasites the most easily seen are ticks. Fleas, lice and mites usually cause skin or ear irritation before they are seen as they are so small. Keringa's main control for ticks, fleas, lice and mites is a topically applied product applied on arrival and every four weeks of the pets' stay with us.
We ask that pets that are going to stay in a park are dewormed and frontlined by your vet (please bring a letter from your vet) three days before arrival.
In addition we clean the kennels daily; pets are physically checked by the kennel staff daily and are bathed by a professional groomer regularly too.
We don't want ticks as they carry diseases (Babesia or Billary and Erlichia most commonly), transmitted to the pets while having a blood meal and the bite itself can cause a wound and even an abscess.
Fleas are just as bad. They can cause itching and scratching in all animals, with the development of a full blown allergy if your pet is unlucky enough to be allergic to flea saliva. Fleas also transmit tapeworm to you pet if the flea is swallowed during grooming.
Flies carry all sorts of disease and damage the edges of some dog's ears with their nasty bites that may cause the ear margins to bleed.
Fly traps are used to keep the fly population down and rat traps for those rodents that think we're a hotel for them too.
Most of these parasites can use discomfort and/or severe disease in humans too – so keeping your pet parasite free keeps you safer too.
Sources: Dogs and Cats: A health guide, Johannes Odendal, Tafelberg 1990
Info sheets by Medicom UK Ltd 2002
Under the Microscope by Frontline/Merial Animal Health Ltd 2002
