Health Tips
for All Seasons
Summer veterinary medical news for San Francisco Bay Area must include the ever present FLEA. Now is the time to assess flea control for your cats, dogs, kittens and puppies. Insect growth regulators are important year round to reduce the flea population in the environment, especially indoors.
Insect growth regulators can be thought of a "birth control" for fleas
and products such as Program, which is lufeneron, or collars that contain
methoprene or nylar are effective. Warmer weather means fleas can
reproduce more rapidly and soon can be an infestation in the yard and on
your pet. 
There are numerous products that act to kill or limit adult flea activity. These can be powders, foams, sprays containing botanicals like pyrethrins or synthetics like permethrins. There are the organophosphate dips (NOT TO BE USED ON CATS, KITTENS, OR PUPPIES) that are becoming less available because of environmental concerns.
There are several spot-on products that are either pyrethrin/permethrin
based (usually the type sold through pet stores) or the newer chemicals
that affect gaba receptors on the fleas nerve endings. These are
the veterinary products Advantage or Top Spot. Oakland Veterinary
Hospital carries Advantage because it has less restrictions regarding application--no
need to wear gloves, can be applied right after pet is dry from a bath,
and no need to be avoiding pet for 24 hours after application.
(more flea info)
Other
nuisances are mosquitoes. Mosquitoes in the Bay Area
can carry heart worm that infects dogs and has been seen to infect cats
in some areas in the U.S. The infection rate of dogs in the Bay Area for
heart worm is low so why should we have our dog on a preventative medication?
Because some of us travel to areas where heart worm infection is prevalent
in the dog population...like Santa Cruz mountains, like Clear Lake, like
Santa Rosa, like the foothills of the Sierra. Maybe your neighbors
dog has just come back from one of these areas? Years ago there were
no heart worms detected in dog populations west of the Mississippi River.
If we want to keep heart worm from becoming endemic in the Bay Area we
can eradicate every mosquito or we can get as many dogs on a preventative
as possible. There are several medications available from daily tablets
to once-a-month medications. Ask your veterinarian. (And remember
mosquitoes can come indoors!)
Summer Heat Safety
Tips
Remember when the weather is warm the inside of our cars is warmer.
Since our dogs cool off by panting the air they breath in has to be cooling.
When the air temperature inside the car is too warm, heat exhaustion results.
Severe enough heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke and death. 
Dogs can also have heat exhaustion if they are exercised during the peak temperatures of the day. This is very hazardous for dogs that have short, wide muzzles, like bull dogs, Boston, Lhasas, etc. These breeds are called brachycephalics. They have narrow windpipe opening and large wide tongues making air exchange with their lungs difficult.
In keeping with their incredible common sense, cats refuse to exercise
in the heat and sensibly seek cool areas from which to watch the dogs suffer.
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