Spring Ahead

Spring is upon us and as we anticipate getting outdoors in the warm weather here in Chicago, my professional thoughts as a veterinarian turn toward problem prevention. In order the major concerns and ways to prevent them.

1. Heartworms: easy to prevent, just start using heartworm preventive medication in June or there abouts

2. Intestinal parasites: easy to prevent, currently my opinion is that Interceptor or Sentinal monthly are great. A good argument can be made to use these products every month all year round for prevention

3. Ticks: a bit more difficult to prevent, but good products like FrontLine Plus used monthly are good, these should start now. Ticks are most common in areas where wildlife can exist like forest preserves, rural areas, the dunes in Indiana and Michigan etc.

4. Fleas: pretty easy to prevent, but rarely a problem in Chicago in the spring. We usually start seeing flea issues in July and on to the first frost.

5. Leptospirosis: an old problem bacteria which is seeminly making an emergence again in our area. Vaccines are pretty effective albeit not 100%. The bacteria is a water borne agent so drinking water from anything other than a fresh or controlled source could result in exposure.

6. Rabies: a rare problem but a required vaccination for all pets in Cook county. No exceptions are made for indoor cats as is often thought. The reason for its requirement is that rabies is nearly 100% fatal in humans and it is alway spread from animals. I get asked the question often how can an indoor cat get rabies? The answer is if an animal (bats are the most common) gets into the house and has interaction with a cat, potential exposure can occur to the cat and hence its humans. The second possibility for exposure is the cat getting outdoors.

plan ahead to prevent problems

dr hagedorn