I had a question the other day about roundworms in feral cats. Specifically, how do you deworm a group of cats that you don’t handle and may not be able to catch? There are a few possible approaches, from trapping and treating (oral or topical) to trying to get a dewormer into them via food.
The other Dirofilaria
Most of the time, when we talk about the parasite Dirofilaria in animals, we’re talking about Dirofilaria immitis – a.k.a. heartworm. However, it’s not the only member of this parasite family that is found in dogs and cats. Another one, Dirofilaria repens, is present in pets in many regions, and it can also spread to
What does a puppy have to do with herd health?
The new puppy, now named Merlin, is keeping things busy around here. (Note to self: avoid getting a new puppy during miserable weather. Standing in pouring, driving rain at 4 AM is not fun. Okay, enough whining.)
Yesterday, I wrote about the new puppy’s deworming plan. One thing I forgot to mention
New arrival…
Hide the kids’ toys, tune up the carpet cleaner, get ready for some sleep deprivation… there’s a new dog in the house. Last night, the yet-to-be-named ("he who shall not be named" having been rejected by Heather) little yellow critter arrived. Meg (the existing dog) seems relatively content, or at least
Identifying the “right” parasite control program
Here is another guest blog, this time from the "worm-guy" Dr. Martin Nielsen of the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky.
At the recent 9th International Conference on Equine Infectious Diseases (EIDC) in Lexington, Kentucky several sessions were focused on parasite control of horses. Drug resistant parasites are a world-wide problem
Echinococcus in Canada
If you ask people about tapeworms, they typically think about the "ick" factor of having a large worm in their gut, but they probably don’t get too concerned. However, some types of tapeworm infection can be serious health problems in humans and animals. One of the worst is infection by the tapeworm species Echinococcus multilocularis
Pet travel misinformation
Travel always carries a risk of infectious diseases. More people are paying attention to their health and going to travel clinics to find out about these risks and what preventive measures they can take. They still constitute only a minority of travelers, but it’s an improvement. There aren’t travel clinics for pets, so travelers thinking
Travel, pets and infectious disease risks
An important concept when dealing with infectious diseases is consideration of the risk that an animal has been, or will be, exposed to a particular microorganism. Some diseases vary greatly geographically, and something that’s very important in one region may be rare or non-existent in another. Good veterinarians are aware of disease trends in their
Kinkajou owners beware
Kinkajous are strange little mammals from the Procyonidae family – the same family to which raccoons belong. Kinkajous are native to Central and South America and are occasionally kept as pets, but they don’t make great pets because they are strictly nocturnal, can be cranky when woken during the day, and can sometimes be aggressive.
Reducing risks with raccoon latrines
An interesting paper in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (Page et al. 2011) describes an impressively large effort to study the effect of anthelmintic (dewormer) baiting on parasite contamination at raccoon latrines sites in Indiana.
Raccoon latrines can be highly contaminated with various parasites, because raccoons congregate at these sites and use