Echinococcus multilocularis, a small tapeworm with a big name, is causing big concerns in Ontario, an area that was until recently considered free of this parasite. This tapeworm is normally found in the intestinal tract of wild canids (e.g. coyotes, foxes) and can also infect dogs. That itself isn’t a problem, since the intestinal
Parasites
PetsAndTicks.com: Our 400th tick of the year
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‘Tis the season for travelling (ticks, that is)
A post from guest blogger Dr. Katie Clow, reproduced from our sister site www.petsandticks.com.
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Canine and feline antiparasitics
Negotiating the world of antiparasitics for dogs and cats can be daunting. With the wide range of products, similarly named products with different ingredients and differently named products with the same ingredients, it’s hard to keep up.
The Ontario Animal Health Network as put together some useful tables that outline antiparasitic products available in Canada…
Freeze dried vs fresh vs frozen raw pet foods
I think I’ve covered this before (probably a few times), but the question keeps coming up so it can’t hurt to talk about it again:
“Is freeze-dried raw pet food any different than fresh or frozen raw diets, from a microbiological standpoint?”
We don’t have much pet food-specific research, but there’s little reason…
Will you test my tick?
If you’d asked me a few years ago, I wouldn’t have said that’s a question I’d expect to get (daily). However, we’re in a different world tick-wise now, so it’s a common and understandable question, particularly because of our tick tracking efforts.
- The answer is no/possibly/maybe later.
How’s that for a straight answer?
We are…
Barn > Deck > Garage > Attic: Cat migration and kitten care
I’m not sure I wrote about it at the time, but last spring we adopted Rumple (technically Rumpelstiltskin, pictured below… rough life) from the Guelph Humane Society as part of their Barn Cat Adoption program. He quickly migrated from the barn and set up shop as a garage and deck cat (which also lead…
Close encounters of the ‘tick’ kind…Your pet, pathogens & Lyme disease
Guest Blog by Dr. Michelle Evason DVM DipACVIM, and current PhD student researching Lyme disease in dogs
Recently, an interesting article on pet ownership and human tick risk was published (Jones et al, Zoonoses and Public Health 2017). The study looked at risk factors for “tick encounters” in people living in Lyme disease…
Echinococcus multilocularis: Alberta, Canada
Several news articles have been written lately about the recently-described cases of Echinococcus multilocularis infection in four people in Alberta. The cases of alveolar echinococcosis have occurred over the past 4 years, and raise significant concerns.
Echinococcus multilocularis is a small tapeworm but it causes big problems.
Why?
- It’s a potentially nasty parasitic disease
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Things not to do with raccoons
1) Pick up baby raccoons and take them away
Rarely does this end well. It’s illegal in many areas (including Ontario). Raccoons don’t do well long-term in households for various reasons (their curious and destructive nature being a big one). And, they are potential sources of a number of zoonotic diseases (rabies being a big
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