Deworming and your sheep/goat herd

In this article, we will do some basic talk about general deworming strategies for small ruminant herds (goats and sheep).  We are seeing a lot of babies on the ground already this spring and strategic deworming can help get these kids to thrive and survive.  Not all farms require all strategies.  We can help you to find the right method for your flock and your situation with a visit to the farm and conversation.

Remember:  The number one cause of diarrhea in adult goats is parasites!

We see a lot of Haemonchus worm diarrhea, especially in recently weaned kids.  This worm lives in the gut and sheds eggs in the stool that are picked up again by mouth during grazing.  When sick, kids will not grow well and may become anemic or develop bottle jaw and will eventually die if uncontrolled.

Kids and lambs that are confined to a small pen are more likely to pick up the worm eggs, vs. large pen or pasture where they are less crowded.  Dry lots make a difference, too.  When conditions are dry, the eggs tend to stay trapped in the fecal pellets and are less likely to be eaten by the goat kids. However, when the environment is wet (on rainy days or in flooded areas), the eggs are released and goats pick them up easily as they eat.

Strategies for preventing Haemonchus worms:

1.  Feed lambs or kids indoors or in dry pens.
2.  Deworm dams before kidding and repeat monthly through kidding season.
3.  Do not overcrowd lambs in pasture (dilution effect).
4.  Check normal appearing stool for worms regularly (at least twice a year) at your veterinarian’s office and deworm as necessary.  Your veterinarian can quantify the number of eggs and advise you on strategic deworming.
5. Check all diarrhea for parasites at your veterinarian’s office as soon as possible.
6. Deworm before sending out into pasture in the spring.
7. Deworm before moving to dry lot in the winter.
8. Rotate pastures, ideally leaving a pasture vacant for 3-6 months before moving goats onto it.
9. Use one product for a year, and then switch products the next year to help prevent resistance to dewormer.
10. New flock additions should be kept in a dry lot for 3 weeks and dewormed at least twice with two different dewormers during this period before allowing contact with the rest of the flock.

Coccidia is another parasite that we see cause diarrhea and death in young kids or sheep.  Older animals will shed these but do not act or look sick, but babies will pick up the parasite and get diarrhea, get weak and stop eating, typically at 1-4 months of age.  This parasite is another one that can be picked up easily on a fresh stool sample under the microscope and can be treated if caught early enough.

Please give us a call, we can help you strategize a system for parasite control on your farm!

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Heartworms: What’s the Deal?

West Central Veterinary Services

By:  Dr. Hilary Slaven

I saw two mosquitoes in my house last night as I was vegging out in front of the TV.

For the record, it is the middle of March in central Indiana.  What the heck.

“Yikes!”, I said.  And (naturally) I thought, “It’s heartworm transmission time.”

(Yes, I am a veterinarian.)

All of us vets have seen and treated dogs that have had heartworm disease, watched animals suffer and folks have to spend a lot of money to treat it and I think that I can speak for all of us when we say:

We hate it.

Here’s how it works.

As soon as the days start to warm, the mosquitoes start feeding and laying eggs.  We know that female mosquitoes can over winter in homes, sheds, holes in trees, etc.  (See Purdue University’s Mosquito Information Page).

These mosquitoes take blood meals from mammals, including coyotes…

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What are ear mites and how do I fix it?

Most folks have heard of ear mites and many have treated pets with itchy, red ears for this common parasite.  In our critters, they can be like fleas — easy to pass around and difficult to get rid of.  Here’s the skinny on what an ear mite is and what the heck we have to do to get rid of them.

Ear mites are tiny parasites that up close (under the microscope) resembles a tick:

Ear mite under the microscope.

These guys live inside the pet’s ear canal and eat ear wax for nutrition.  There are males and females, who mate and lay eggs.  Eggs hatch into larvae that grow up inside the ear canal and change into adults over three weeks’ time.  The adults mate and the cycle continues.  Adults live up to 2 months inside the ear.

Ear mites can be extremely irritating to the pet; they can fill the ear canal with debris and cause ear infections.  Some cats will claw the outside of their ear with their back legs and give themselves wounds because the ears are so annoyed.

Meanwhile, the cat or dog is socializing with other pets inside the house or other critters outside and the mites pass easily between them.  This means that all of the critters need to be treated to get rid of the problem.

This is what we see with our otoscope. Little white dots that are crawling around the ear canal, wreaking havoc and just generally annoying everybody.

There are a few different treatments available.  There are medications that are applied to the back of the cat and are absorbed by the skin that kill mites for 30 days.  These work well if the ear is properly cleaned out prior to application (Revolution, Advantage Multi).  Other treatments are applied directly to the inside of the ear; a couple of products require an ear cleaning and one application (Milbemite, Acarexx).  Others require an ear cleaning and application of the product every day for a few weeks (Tresaderm).

For critters that go outdoors, a topical Revolution or Advantage Multi can be the preferred method for treatment because if applied every 30 days it will both treat and prevent ear mite issues.

 

That Wound Will Never Heal…Think Again! A Story In Pictures of Wound Healing.

Dr. Jennifer Hochstedler

That wound will never heal…. Think again!

A few months ago a young dog was brought to our clinic in Greencastle.  She had been found with a severe wound to her left rear leg.  The trauma that caused the wound remains unknown.  Luckily, a foster home was quickly attained for her and dedicated wound therapy prevailed.  The pictures you are about to see may be graphic for some viewers.

There are many factors that influence how well a wound can heal.  Some of these include:

• Age of the animal
• Preexisting disease, such as liver disease or diabetes
• Debris that gets imbedded in the wound, such as plant material, teeth, gravel, etc.
• How quickly wound therapy is initiated after the trauma initially occurred
• Ability to keep wound clean and cared for

 

Day 1- Initial day of hospital admission

This is our little dog’s wound after we started to clip the hair and clean it with a chlorhexidine scrub.

The yellowish film is exudate or fluid that is seeping from the wound.  It contains white blood cells that have tried to come in a “clean up” the wound.

The pink tissue is called granulation tissue.  We suspect that the wound had been there approximately 7-10 days.  The skin edges had already curled inward trying to reattach to the new underlying tissue.  The wound was bandaged with chlorhexidine scrub.  We then used a cream called Derma-clens (Zoetis) and bandaged the leg.  Derma-Clens is wonderful for wounds that need necrotic (or non-living) tissue removed so that more appropriate healing can occur.  It is used frequently for cat bite abscesses.

 

Day 4

Huge progress!

The derma-clens did a great job of cleaning up the non-living tissue and debris.  At this point, it was important to keep the wound clean, dry and covered.  We used sugar on the wound moving forward as it encourages continual granulation tissue production to fill in the wound.

Day 9

Look at how much it is closing in!  We continued to clean off any exudate and/or debris with chlorhexidine (antimicrobial) scrub and then kept bandaged with a sugar wrap.  Tulip had to wear an e-collar when she was not under direct supervision, as she liked to remove the bandage on her own!

Day 16

The skin eventually healed over completely and her owner continues to see the scar contract and shrink down.

Tulip has fully recovered and has no trouble playing like any other pup!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why you should consider year-round flea control.

 

Did you know that your veterinarian is an expert on flea pest control?  We know all about the life cycle of the flea and we have access to prescription flea medications, and we fight them every day for clients!

This fall has been no exception.  We have seen gobs of fleas here in the clinic recently, both on indoor and outdoor pets.  It always surprises me how many indoor only cats get a flea allergy rash and how many tiny indoor dogs have fleas during a routine vaccine visit.  Sometimes we even see fleas on pets that have used flea collars and topical flea control in the past.

So how does this happen?

For one thing, flea populations outside right now are through the roof.  Think about it: all spring, summer and fall these fleas have been breeding and breeding and breeding…and now there are oodles of fleas out there just waiting to pounce on our pets when they go outside to play and do their business.

Then the fleas come inside the house.  Did you know that fleas do their breeding and lay eggs on your pet?  Then as your pet runs through your home, eggs fall off all over the house (like salt coming off a salt shaker).  Within 2 weeks those eggs will hatch and flea larvae emerge, and within a month they spin a cocoon and turn into pupae.

These pupae live inside of the cocoon, protected by it, for weeks, months, or even years.  The cocoon is sticky and will bind deep into carpeting and cannot be easily removed by light vacuuming.

The pupae will emerge over time as an adult flea.  The adult flea seeks out your pet within a few hours of hatching; it needs to take a meal to survive and that meal is your pet’s blood.  The adults spend most of their time on the pet itself, feeding and breeding and laying eggs.

The crazy thing:  The adults that you see on your pet only account for 5% of the total fleas in your home.  

This means that when you find a flea on your pet, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Because the flea eggs and larvae and pupae in the home take time to grow and develop and hatch, it is beneficial to keep your pet on year-round flea control.  This stops the cycle in its tracks.  Here’s the thing: once an egg hatches and an adult emerges, the adult will be killed as soon as it reaches the pet.  No breeding.  No eggs.

Flea bombing the house can be really helpful in killing adults and eggs and larvae.  However, we know that very few products kill the pupal stage of the flea.  So you have to wait until the pupae hatch into adults to be able to kill them effectively, which may take weeks to months to even years!  But if your pet is on a good flea prevention product, any pupae that hatch at anytime will be killed as soon as they reach your furry friend.

The bottom line:  A flea infestation in the home is best fought by using a quality flea control product continuously, all year long, along with a home flea treatment.

Give us a call to help rid your home, your pet, and your life of fleas!!

My Dog’s Breath STINKS!!

Don’t you just love watching Wheel of Fortune with your furry buddy?  Letting him crawl up on your lap for a cuddle, then he looks up into your face with those sweet eyes that just melt you, and then opens his mouth and blasts you with the foulest odor on God’s green earth.

Have you been there?  It ruins the moment.  Makes you not want to cuddle with your pal.

All joking aside, as a pet doctor, this scenario makes me want to look in your furry friend’s mouth and figure out what exactly is happening in there to cause the odor.  There is a list of issues that could be, and a good oral exam will narrow it down quickly and help us to fix it.

Bad breath is a symptom of disease, which we know can quickly move from the mouth into other parts of the body, such as the heart, and cause systemic illness.  We want to know the cause so that we can stop disease before it gets out of control.

We like to help with bad breath.  It’s one of the most satisfying things that we do.

What are the most common things that we look for in your pet’s mouth?

1. Tartar buildup on the teeth.  This is the hard brown stuff that cements itself to the teeth.  We see a lot of it on molars in the back of the mouth.  Over time, it crawls up the tooth root and loosens the tooth to the point of loss.  It traps bacteria, which create the nasty odor that you smell during Wheel of Fortune dates with your dog.
2. Oral tumors.  We see both benign and malignant (cancer) tumors in the mouth, especially older dogs and cats.  These can involve the gums, the tongue, the cheek, the bone, or any other tissue in the oral cavity.  Sometimes these grow and become infected over time, which causes an odor and sometimes discomfort when eating.
3. Trauma and foreign objects.  Labrador retrievers with pieces of stick stuck in the back of the mouth.  A long piece of string wrapped around a cat’s tongue.  Pieces of fur and grass stuck in a cut along a gumline.  A chicken bone wedged between teeth.  We’ve seen lots of interesting predicaments that animals get themselves into, and surprised a lot of owners in the process.
4. Rash or infection along the back of the throat and cheek walls is not uncommon in cats especially, and can signal an allergic response to food.

Sometimes a thorough oral exam means sedation for your furry friend.  Often we get an idea of what we are getting into with our physical exam, and then sedate or use general anesthesia to go through the mouth carefully and resolve any problems that we find.  Sometimes that means cleaning the teeth, removing tartar and polishing clean teeth.  Removing loose and dead teeth.  Biopsy or removal of masses.  Finding that infection and treating it.

Typically there is follow-up at home after such a procedure, such as oral antibiotics and pain relievers and soft food for a few days.  Often we submit oral tumors for further testing (called histopathology) to identify the mass.

Long-term, many dogs need good dental treats, at-home teeth brushing, and yearly dental cleanings to help prevent tartar buildup and that nasty bad breath.

If you would like to come in for an exam to find out what we can do to help your furry friend’s breath, give us a call!

For more information:  

Periodontal (Tooth) Disease, American Veterinary Dental College:  avdc.org

How to Brush Your Dog’s Teeth, MSPCA Angell Hospital:  mspca.org

Dental Disease in Dogs and Cats, VCA Animal Hospital: vcahospitals.com

‘Dogs think that they are people; cats think that they are God.’ – Anonymous

“Dogs think that they are people; cats think that they are God.”  -Anonymous

Domestic cats have been associated with people since the time of the ancient Egyptians, and yet thousands of years later, we cat owners know that cats only choose to be domesticated when they wish to.  They will choose to interact with people when it benefits them and on their schedule.  They are survivors and will respond accordingly, to varying degrees, when their routine or lifestyle is altered.

Domestic cats vary widely in temperament and personality, from feral ‘alley’ cats that cannot be easily handled to indoor-only cats that demand constant attention.  The basic nature of a cat is to adapt to an environment only if he wants to.

So what is it that makes a cat a ‘lap kitty’ vs. a ‘shy cat’?  Why such a variety to the types of cat personalities?  Why do so many cats respond in different ways to different situations?

In a nutshell, cat behavior is affected by:  genetics (the DNA of mom and dad), kittenhood experience (feral outdoor vs. indoor socialized), sexual status (neutered vs. in tact), age and physical health.

Needless to say, there is a huge variety of personality styles between cats that are not pure-bred, due to the random nature of their breeding.  We do know, from published studies, that personality from the tomcat (father) is highly heritable (the genes are passed down) to kitten.  For example, if you have a friendly tomcat, odds are good that you will have a friendly kitten.

Socialization, or the amount of time that kittens are handled by humans and are exposed to other cats and dogs, can also impact the way that cats respond to humans and other animals as they get older.  For example, cats that ‘meet’ a lot of different humans as kittens tend to handle meeting new humans as an older cat with much more ease.

Neutered cats do not have the sexual drive that in tact male cats have, therefore are less likely to show behaviors such as roaming and aggression.  Older cats or chronically ill cats tend to have less tolerance for change in routine or new additions to the household.

Because of the nature of random breeding in the cat world, you never quite know what genetics and personality you are getting with your cat until you spend some time with them.  Cats are very routine-oriented, and as such it can take up to 6 months to truly know the nuances of your cat’s personality.  And often we don’t know the parents, so it can truly be a guessing game as to what kind of cat you have until you become that pet-parent.

Just don’t tell your kitty that you are in charge.  They know better.