When the H1N1 flu was big news, everyone was a little concerned. Now since it has gone from our 'front of mind' conscience, we don't think about it as much. But the human MD's still think about it, and they look for the symptoms with their patients.
Those same concerns affect us Veterinarians as we talk to our patients also. Our problem is the dog and cat don't always understand us. ;-)
So we talk to their owners. We vaccinate against Rabies, Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus, not because we see those diseases, but precisely because we do NOT want to see those diseases. Anyone whose own dog, or friends dog has had parvovirus knows it is not a fun virus to have. The dog gets very sick, with vomiting and diarrhea. Some don't even live.
If the dogs are vaccinated, then we can prevent the disease. Or if the dog gets the disease, the form of disease is much less severe (like flu in humans).
In our cats, we worry about the upper respiratory diseases causing sneezing and eye discharges. Their 'distemper' protects against Panleukopenia, Rhinotracheitis, and Calicivirus vaccines. Some strains of the Calici virus can be deadly to our cats.
Those are common 'infectious' diseases that are in either dogs or cats.
The other area we want to inform and protect against are the "zoonotic" diseases. These are diseases that dogs and cats can give to people.
One of the categories we have tried to emphasize, are the intestinal parasites that dogs and cats get. Did you know that humans can get them also? Just by petting their fur?
Of course, most folks currently reading this Blog know to wash their hands, and do so religiously after every time they pet their dog and cat ;-), but what about the little children?
That is why we recommend to perform a stool check on every pet at least once a year. The stool check makes sure there are not any of those intestinal parasites in your dog or cats system.
And if you have someone who has had chemotherapy, an organ transplant, or a young child (who puts everything in their mouth) the Center for Disease Control recommends to also give a strategic deworming for the most common parasite: Ascarids (roundworms).
Ask us how to prevent these parasites in your dog or cat today.
