In
Part 1 of this series, we discussed environmental
allergies and how they can affect your pet.
Other than environmental allergies though, we can have many parasites
and other infections that can affect pets and cause them to be very itchy.
Many parasites are preventable and steps can
be taken to ensure that your dog or cat doesn’t get and bring them into your
house since they can infect you too!
Some
parasites can only be treated after we have diagnosed your pet, which is why an
early examination is so important if you suspect a problem.
When you hear ‘skin parasites,’ most people immediately
think of fleas and ticks.
These two
types of parasites are the most common and recognizable on our pets. While playing with and
petting our dogs, many of us have brushed up against a bump on the skin.
After spreading the fur apart to see what is
there, you notice a gross, swollen, brown bug sucking blood from your little
darling!
After you finish doing the
‘icky-icky’ dance, you need to deal with this unwelcomed traveler.
Removing a tick is a delicate matter, as you
do not want to traumatize the tick while it is still attached.
There are many different suggestions out
there for removing a tick such as using a burnt matchstick, picking it off with
your fingers, or any number of other bad ideas.
Let me repeat, these are BAD ideas!
Not only do ticks feed on blood from your dog or cat, they can transmit
various infections to your pet while they are feeding.
In Arizona, the most common infection is
called Ehrlichiosis, or Tick Fever.
Tick
Fever is a bacterial infection that will cause a decrease in the platelets
circulating in your dog’s blood.
Sometimes this decrease will be so severe that your dog can
spontaneously bleed from the skin, eyes, ears, or even have internal
bleeding.
This can be a life threatening
condition that requires hospitalization, antibiotic therapy, and blood
transfusions if the infection is severe.
Usually a tick needs to be attached between 8-36 hours before this
infection is transmitted to your dog, but if a tick is removed incorrectly or
traumatized during removal, it will ‘spit’ blood back into your dog and cause
the infection to transmit earlier.
If
you find a tick on your pet, the best way to
remove it is to grasp the head with
tweezers as close to the skin as possible and pull straight back, ensuring
there is no piece of the head or mouth left in the skin.
If you are concerned about ticks and
Ehrlichiosis in your pet, be sure to contact us.
The good news is that we test for this
disease annually when we test for Heartworm Disease.
Additional diseases that can be transmitted
by ticks include Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Babesiosis, Bartonellosis,
and others.
The good news is that,
instead of worrying about and testing for all these diseases when your dog is
sick, we have many ways of actually preventing an infestation of ticks beforehand.
A simple pill or topical medication will help
to prevent the ticks from causing itching and from having the chance to infect
your dog or cat with these diseases.
Along with ticks, fleas are a nasty cause of itching and
disease transmission in your pet.
These
tiny black bugs can be seen crawling all over your itchy pet.
They are usually easiest to see on the
abdomen where the fur is the thinnest.
The bite of a flea can easily set off a very severe form of itching in
dogs called Flea Allergy Dermatitis.
In
fact, a single fleabite can cause such an allergic reaction that a dog will
scratch and itch to the point of fur loss and bleeding!
This reaction is classically found over a
dog’s rump, around the base of the tail, and up the back.
Not only can the flea cause severe itching,
it can transmit diseases like the tick can.
When a dog or cat scratches and bites its skin, it can sometimes swallow
a flea.
This is the most common way for
a pet to be infected with tapeworms.
Yes,
that nasty worm we have all heard about, growing to multiple feet long, living
in our intestines and off the food we eat, is most commonly transmitted by
fleas (but sometimes other insects too).
Fleas can also transmit other severe diseases to our pets such as Cat
Scratch Fever, Hemobartonellosis, and the Plague.
Again, you heard right.
The Plague is still alive and well,
especially in the mountains of Arizona.
So, if you are planning on a summer trip to the cooler regions of the
state this summer, flea and tick preventatives should be on your packing list.
The staff at
Kaibab Animal Hospital can help
you pick which products are best for your pet.
Now that the gross, visible-to-the-naked-eye parasites have
been discussed, what other infections can cause itching in your pet?
Another common cause of itching, especially
in young or older dogs and cats, is demodectic mange.
Demodex is a microscopic parasite, or mite,
that is actually a normal resident of the skin of the dog or cat (We also have
a species of demodex that lives on our skin).
In a healthy pet, the immune system is able to keep this parasite in
check and keep it from overgrowing but sometimes they get out of control.
What we will typically see with this
infection is an itchy, hairless, slightly flakey looking lesion on the
skin.
A simple test can be done in the
hospital to determine if the parasite is present and in what quantities.
If it is seen, there are medications that can
be prescribed to help reduce the number of mites present and allow the immune system
to gain control over them again.
Another type of mange that we see is sarcoptic mange. Unlike demodex, this parasite is NOT a normal
inhabitant of the skin and typically causes very severe itching, hair loss,
thickened skin, and an overall miserable pet.
The name scabies comes from the fact that itching is so severe that
there are usually many scabs present from scratching to the point of
bleeding. This is another parasite that
people can be infected with, so prompt diagnosis and treatment is important;
not just for your pet but for you as well.
While this is a serious disease of the skin, the pet tends to quickly
respond when treatment is started.
Ringworm is also a common reason for itching in your pets,
especially in cats. Though this
infection has ‘worm’ in its name, it is not actually a worm or parasite but is
a fungus. It has been suggested that
almost all cats carry this fungus on their fur.
This may be why we see more infections in cats than in dogs. However, like demodex, it should be kept in
check by the immune system. When the
fungus gains a hold in the skin though, we will typically see an itchy,
hairless, and reddened lesion. This
condition can be a little more difficult to diagnose, as the test requires
growing the fungus in the lab. Ringworm
is a very slow growing fungus, so it can take up to three weeks get a
diagnosis. While waiting for the test
results, we will sometimes start therapy with oral pills, topical medication,
or a combination of the two.
These are the most common causes of parasitic
and infectious itching of the skin in Arizona.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of conditions though. If you are concerned about any of these
issues or if you want to get your pet started on a flea and tick preventative
to help keep those nasty parasites away, be sure to schedule an appointment at
Kaibab Animal Hospital today
