Is dog at risk from grass mites?
Q
DOG-walking friends of mine have warned that mites in the grass can cause trouble at this time of year. Have you had any experience of this?
A
THE most common mites found in vegetation are known as harvest mites. I do not see these in London, but when I worked in Kent and Scotland I saw many cases of dogs and cats picking them up.
The mites tend to favour chalky soils like the Downs in southern England but they also thrive in woodland and scrubland in many parts of the UK.
As the name suggests, they tend to be at their height in the autumn, and when I first qualified I saw my first case in July and the last in October.
However due to climate change this has changed drastically and at least in southern parts it is now possible to see these mites well into December.
Harvest mites are free-living in vegetation. It is only the larvae that cause problems in animals. They hatch out and attach themselves to a host, feeding for several days before detaching and completing their life cycle.
They are just visible to the naked eye and are bright orange when fed, tending to latch on to dogs between the toes, on the belly and on the ear. They cause intense itching in many dogs. Veterinary anti-parasite products will help reduce the mite’s feeding time.
Otherwise, avoiding known mite-infested areas is the only other advice I can give.
Q
I HAVE a pair of three-monthold rabbits who will live indoors with occasional access to an outside run. Should I have them vaccinated?
A
THREE rabbit diseases can be prevented by vaccination. These are myxomatosis, and rabbit viral haemorrhagic diseases 1 (RHD1) and 2 (RHD2).
You may have seen cases of myxomatosis in wild rabbits while on trips to the countryside. It produces swelling, especially of the eye area, makes the rabbit very sick and death is almost certain.
I have seen cases in domesticated rabbits without them having had obvious contact with wild rabbits.
RHD1 and 2 can easily infect rabbits such as yours as well. RHD1 is virtually always fatal in unvaccinated rabbits.
Often there are very few signs and infected rabbits are simply found dead.
A new variant of the disease, RHD2, has now cropped up in continental
Europe and has quickly spread to the UK.The reason for its rapid spread is that the virus can survive in organic material for as long as seven months.
It is less aggressive, with mortality rates of around 50 per cent. However survivors will require intensive, expensive treatment.
The most likely cause of infection is from people walking in the countryside where wild rabbits are present, picked up either from your shoes or those of anyone who visits your house.
RHD1 and 2 are different strains with separate vaccines being required. These are not given simultaneously.