Barnstable County, MA Tickology Project - 2018, 20 Sep 2018

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: Tickology: Pet Protection

Description

Part 7 of the Tickology video project.

A

Hi I'm larry dapsis, I'm the entomologist with cape cod cooperative.

A

Extension and in this segment we're gonna, discuss the ins and outs of pet.

A

Protection, I am with dr. katherine brown, from our state department of public.

A

Health and she is our state public health veterinarian, so katie good- to see.

A

You again and welcome it's really nice to be here: larry thanks, so much yeah and.

A

And, as you know, as part of our overall protection program, you know we have a.

A

Three-Part plan protect yourself, protect your yard and protect your pets and and.

A

I've talked with hundreds of pet owners and for me one of the observations I.

A

Been making for several years now is a lot of people care more about protecting.

A

Their pets than themselves, so, let's run through from the top you.

A

Know the type of things that our pets can get yeah absolutely so, as you know,.

B

In massachusetts, the the tick that we worry most about is the black legged or.

B

Deer, tick and that can carry lyme disease but bz osis, anaplasmosis and.

B

Then two other diseases that we don't really worry about for pets, borrelia.

B

Miyamotoi an opossum virus, but so for lyme disease is the one. Obviously that.

B

Is most common in massachusetts and people, and it's also the one that's most.

B

Common in our domestic animals, our pets, and so for that we know that dogs.

B

Definitely get lyme disease. It's relatively common to see that cats have.

B

Been shown to be the in the laboratory, we can infect them but kind of in real.

B

Life, they don't tend to get lyme disease and that may partly be because they're.

B

So good at grooming, yeah they're, like little possums, I mean they're rambo of.

A

The tick world, exactly because people in general, I never hear about cats and lyme.

A

Disease in pooches I hear about it all the time.

B

Absolutely- and we can't forget about horses, they get it a lot and actually.

B

Goats, do too so there's some informational literature that showed.

B

That cows can even get lyme disease, but again, I think the ones we really the.

B

Animals, we really worry about our dogs, horses and goats here in massachusetts,.

B

Very good and then just briefly, we can talk about.

B

Boobies osis and anaplasmosis, so those cats and dogs can actually get both of.

B

Those and then horses are pretty susceptible to the anaplasmosis. There is.

B

A bbz osis in horses, but it's caused by a different organism that we don't seem.

B

To have here in massachusetts, so so as a pet owner responsible pet owner.

A

What what's the first approach is it you know talking to your veterinarian.

A

Perhaps yeah you know as a veterinarian. I think that really is my my.

B

Recommendation, you know, I think there are a lot of options for protecting our.

B

Animals, but it depends on what kind of animal you have and then you know, sort.

B

Of what type of exposure they have to the outdoors? So maybe first what we.

B

Could do is talk about dogs and the lyme disease vaccine, okay. So what would be.

A

The options that, if I wanted to protect my pooch adequately, what do we do? Yeah.

B

So I mean, I think, if we want to do protecting them adequately, what we talk.

B

About is lyme disease, vaccinations, which is you know very effective. It does need.

B

To be booster, dreg you'll early, so it's not just a one and done type of vaccine.

B

But that can certainly help protect your dog against against the disease and then.

B

The other thing, because there's really no single thing that you can do so the.

B

Other thing that's helpful is to talk about chuck with your pet about and talk.

B

With your pet talk with your vet about using a you know, a tick, repellent type.

B

Product for your dog, I've had a number of people tell me that they get oral.

A

Drugs from their from their veterinarian, what's the scoop on the on the oral.

A

Drugs, so can let's talk let's, let's talk about the fact that there's like the.

B

Spectrum of products that are available and the oral products are definitely one.

B

And those are those tend to be products that you have to get through your.

B

Veterinarian they have some benefits in that they generally also tend to protect.

B

Pets against lake intestinal parasites, okay and sometimes heartworm, and so.

B

There are benefits to those oral products, but they're not the only thing.

B

That's available sure we've got a a number, an array of over-the-counter. We.

B

Do and it seems that today, right now, the the mainstream products are. These.

A

Monthly topicals, like like k9 advantix, to absolutely.

B

So there's there so when you're talking about sort of topicals, there's actually.

B

Three groups, so you could start with like we have shampoos, sprays and dips.

A

That you can use on your animal and you do that.

B

Most of them lasts about a month, but but you're right, the more popular ones are.

B

What we call sort of the spot-on treatments- and it's where you it to take.

B

The product and administer it directly to the skin on the back of the neck of.

B

The animal the way those products work is that they actually get absorbed into.

B

The skin and then are distributed throughout the subcutaneous tissue that.

B

Occurs right underneath their skin and then get re excreted out through the.

B

Sweat and oil glands yeah, I think for most people that putting it on one spot.

A

And it magically is distributed yeah, but that that explains it quite quite nicely.

A

Exactly and so and those are you know, they're very popular because you only.

B

Have to do it once a month, they provide very good protection and, in fact, there's.

B

Now one particular brand of collar, which actually has the same mechanism, and you.

A

Have that as an example here, but again they all work using that same mechanism.

B

Although they have slightly different active ingredients, now surest, oh, you can.

A

Put that on cats and dogs, but something like canine vanek's. You have to really.

A

Pay attention to the type of product and the active ingredient just because k9.

A

Advantix contains permits right yeah. I really appreciate you bringing that up.

B

So a lot of these products are available just over-the-counter and it's totally.

B

Appropriate to purchase them that way, but I really really strongly recommend.

B

That people talk to their veterinarian first and get advice about. What's most.

B

Appropriate for their particular situation, as you mentioned, the.

B

Pyrethroids, any of them are actually relatively toxic to cats, and so you need.

B

To be careful when you're using those products, you want to make sure you're only using them on dogs, and then you also need to think about the type of.

B

Contact that your cat and dog have and whether would pose a risk to your cat, sure and and the next level of protection is the.

A

Fashion industry has gone into this there's a number of companies that have.

A

Products that are impregnated with permethrin this is insect shield. It's a neck gaiter for dogs.

A

There's bandanas there's t-shirts and there's there's like hunting vests.

A

Yeah so there there's just a whole host of things that are out there available.

A

To help protect our well, you and I have talked about sort of permethrin treated.

B

Clothing and people for a long time and about how effective that is so it only.

B

Makes sense that that's something that we consider for use on our dogs so again.

B

This is a permanent product and they're not appropriate for use on cats, but they.

B

Can be very effective in dogs, I just want to mention one more thing and again.

B

It gets back to sort of stressing this the importance of talking to.

B

Veterinarians, because you know all of these products use different chemicals.

B

And any chemical, natural or otherwise has a potential for some side effects.

B

They're rare, but they do happen, and there are certain situations where you.

B

Need to really be more concerned, I mean more careful than others, and you know we.

B

Particularly want into people who have very young animals, very old animals or.

B

Sick animals or our animals that are pregnant or lactating. You know nursing.

B

Young, we want to make sure that, particularly in those situations that.

B

You talk to your veterinarian before you use any product, and and if you do.

A

Purchase product, the important thing for everybody is that read that label it.

A

Contains a lot of important information and these products eat. You know epa.

A

Registered the label is to law, so there you have it, there's a there's: a wealth.

A

Of information available on how to protect your ear, lovable pets so with.

A

That state ick, safe.