Monsoon Health: Keeping Pets Safe Through the Wet Season

The monsoon brings a predictable set of problems into every clinic in the country. Most of them are preventable. Skin infections Constant damp means yeast and bacteria thrive, particularly in skin folds, ears and between the toes. Dry your pet thoroughly after every walk, paying attention to the feet and the ears. A dog that is merely towel-patted and left is a dog with a hot spot next week. Ear infections Water in the ear canal plus warmth equals infection. Dogs with drop ears — spaniels, retrievers, many indigenous dogs — are far more prone. Signs are head shaking, scratching, a smell, or a dark discharge. Do not put cotton buds into the canal. Leptospirosis This is the big one. It spreads through rat urine contaminating standing water, and Dhaka floods every year. Dogs that walk through flood water are at direct risk, and it transmits to humans. Vaccination works. If your dog is not covered, arrange it before the rains, not during. Tick and flea explosion Humidity accelerates the entire life cycle. Ticks here carry babesia and ehrlichia, both of which cause serious blood disease. Use a monthly preventive through the whole season, treat every animal in the house, and treat the environment too — most of the flea population is in your floor, not on your pet. Mosquitoes and heartworm Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes and is present in Bangladesh. Prevention is a monthly tablet and costs very little. Treatment of established disease is expensive, dangerous and sometimes impossible. Fungal skin disease Ringworm is not a worm; it is a fungus, it thrives in humidity, and it is contagious to humans. Circular patches of hair loss with scaly skin need proper diagnosis rather than a guessed cream. Food and water Feed stored in damp conditions grows mould, and some moulds produce toxins that damage the liver. Keep feed in a sealed container off the floor. Discard anything that smells off. A short pre-monsoon consultation to confirm that vaccination, tick prevention and heartworm cover are all current takes a few minutes and prevents most of what we see in July.

calendar_month Book Now