Pet Care Corner: Biliary in dogs
In order to prevent ticks from surviving long enough on your pet to cause biliary, the Boksburg SPCA has a dip bath on its premises, where people can bring their pets to be dipped.
The Boksburg SPCA manager, Maggie Mudd, shares the following important points on biliary.
What causes biliary?
Biliary is caused by a parasite (Yellow Dog Tick) and ticks become infected by feasting on the blood of a dog already infected with biliary and then, when full, they will drop off onto the ground only to later latch onto another dog and then infect it with the disease. Ticks commonly attach themselves to the neck and shoulder of a dog, but in large numbers can crawl into their ears or between their toes, etc.
First signs that your dog may have biliary
Your pet will have a loss of appetite and become lethargic. As the disease progresses the gums and inner eyelids of the infected animal will become pale and the urine will become red in colour and the stools a pale yellow.
How to diagnose that your dog has the disease
A veterinarian will take a blood smear (usually from the tip of the dog’s one ear) and look under a microscope for signs of the disease.
Non-complicated cases
If caught soon enough by the owner, a dog suffering with biliary will be treated by a vet with anti-protozoal drugs and should recover quite quickly.
Complicated cases
This can result in the dog having to be hospitalised at the vet and receiving a blood transfusion and even tube feeding. If the liver of the dog is damaged by the anaemia it will no longer be able to excrete the bile salts which accumulate in the body and this causes jaundice (yellowing of the gums and eyelids).
Prevention of ticks in the environment
Ticks can hide in long grass and will drop onto an unsuspecting animal and latch themselves on for a feed of their blood, so keeping lawns cut short can help to prevent them from accumulating. Regular washing of your dogs’ bedding also helps, as does spraying the area with a tick control product.
Prevention of ticks on a dog
There are numerous products on the market that can prevent ticks from surviving long enough on your pet to cause biliary – these range from spot-on tick and flea treatment, tick shampoos, dips, sprays, powders and tick collars. It is important to remember that any of these deterrents need to be repeated in order to provide effective tick control. Dogs need to be dipped weekly in summer and it is important to keep the animal’s environment free from ticks.
“At this time of the year we see many dogs coming into the SPCA suffering from biliary,” said Maggie.
To try to curb this epidemic, the SPCA carries out a dipping programme every Wednesday, at the SAPS station outside of Vosloorus, where dog owners can bring their pets along for a dip.
There is no charge.
The society also has a dip bath on the Boksburg SPCA premises where people can bring their pets to be dipped – please remember to bring a towel to dry the dog off before he or she goes back into the car as their bodies are submerged in the dip and get very wet.
“Prevention is always better than cure so please keep your pets free of ticks and fleas this summer,” added Maggie.
