Pesky pests back in season
By Graham Culliford

The onset of summer always brings with it the invasion of our homes and our animals by critters that cause us grief. For our dogs and cats, the most common are ticks and fleas; fleas generally turn up more than ticks. Not only do their bites irritate animals and their owners, the pests infest bedding and become perpetual inhabitants of pets’ coats—a prime cause for them to lose coat condition.

Fleas have a significant detrimental effect on the health of our cats and dogs; they also are the vector for the most common cat and dog tapeworms.

The life cycle starts like this: an infected animal passes eggs in its feces. Usually, the tapeworm sheds an egg sac containing multiple eggs, which are released into the environment as the egg sac dries. The eggs are then consumed by a flea, where they hatch into an intermediate stage of the worm. The flea commutes from an infected animal to an uninfected one. The new dog or cat, irritated by the flea’s bites, hunts it out and consumes it. In the gut of the new host, the worm in its intermediate stage develops into an adult tapeworm. The newly infected animal is the point of commencement for a new cycle of infection; it in turn sheds an egg sac to infect a new group of animals.

The principal symptom of flea tapeworm infestation is the appearance of egg sacs in feces. Egg sacs look like grains of rice. To control tapeworms it is essential to break the flea life cycle.

That’s why many owners use flea collars. Flea collars impart a chemical into the fatty layer below the pet’s skin which destroy fleas that bite the animal. Backline treatments of a compound applied directly to the skin work the same way. A third alternative is a medicated bath, which contains a substance toxic to fleas but harmless to the animal. The medication in the wash provides a residual layer of the flea toxin on the skin of the washed animal which is effective for up to a month.

The SPA offers a medicated bath treatment for pet owners who do not have the facilities or the inclination to bathe their own animals. It is a service in particular demand as summer advances, since it provides protection against mosquitoes and ticks as well.

At the present time, the service is available only for dogs. Simply bring your animal to the SPA shelter at Los Pinos 7 (across from the bus station); ask the receptionist, Lucia, for a medicated bath for your animal, and she will arrange it. No appointment is necessary. You will generally need to leave your animal in the care of the clinic for an hour or so. This is to allow for the wash to dry on the coat to establish a preventive coating of the wash’s active ingredient to deter fleas.

The cost for this service is 120 pesos. To maintain seasonal immunity against fleas and ticks it is recommended that it be repeated monthly.

For more information on medicated baths, call the SPA at 152-6124.