Worms in Pets: Don’t get caught with the wrong eggs this Easter!

Hasn’t it been incredible to share this lockdown period with our favourite companions. You know we’re not referring to your significant other or children! Pet are great for your general moral and can be considered probiotics, encouraging the development of good bacterial colonies, boosting the family’s immune system as well as the reason for a surge in endorphin release following our interaction with them. Not to mention the un-conditional love that we receive from our special fur-babies.

It’s important that we don’t forget about the routine preventive health care measures that our pets need regularly, not only for the health of our pets, but also for the health of you and your family. If they are long overdue for deworming and tick and flea treatment, it could mean that you are sharing more than Easter eggs with your family members this weekend. Yuck!

Pets always seem to find the dirtiest thing to discover in the garden, especially our cats, who know that the lockdown does not apply to them and their daily adventures, which means you have no idea what they’re getting up to and what kind of parasites they are picking up.

A common parasite for both dogs and cats are different types of worms that can cause our pets to become very ill. Deworming is advised from an early age. We usually recommend puppies and kittens be dewormed at each puppy vaccination and thereafter every 3 months. In adults, deworming every 3 months is usually sufficient. If your pet has a very high worm burden, the vet may recommend additional deworming but this is based on what the individual pets needs and the product used. We do not recommend supermarket-bought products as these products often do not treat tapeworms. See our online or instore collection to select the appropriate treatment for your dogs here and your cats here.

Ticks and fleas are another parasite to protect our pets against to prevent transmission to the family because of our urban living conditions, unfortunately the diseases they cause are very serious and can only be controlled by regular tick and flea control. We recommend registered products with proven efficacy. Due to South Africa’s climate, ticks and fleas don’t go away, even in winter!

There are a lot of home remedies around that make big claims but we see the failures of these remedies all too often. Ticks cause serious diseases, such as biliary and ehrlichiosis, which can be deadly. Fleas cause skin irritation and allergies, spread tapeworm and can even cause anaemia in the case of small puppies infested with fleas.

We stock a variety of products, in-store and online, both topical and oral tablets, to meet your pets specific needs. Please look under the Wellness Sections on our online store to purchase for your dogs and your cats.