Going on vacation?
Here is the checklist for your pet
What do you need to think about?
Your animal must be identified, that is to say that it must have a microchip(or a tattoo if it was done before July 3, 2011 and remains legible) and you must have the European animal identification passport established by a veterinarian, don’t forget to check that your pet’s registration is encoded in Dog id or Cat id in case your pet is lost. Also, it should be vaccinated against rabies from 3 months old, depending on the destinationyou may need to do a blood test 30 days after the vaccine against rabies and before departure. Trip to United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden or Finland EU legislation now applies to these countries. However, treatment against flatworms is mandatory and must be carried out between 24 and 120 hours before entering their territory. This treatment must be certified by a veterinarian.
What are Dog Id and Cat Id?
Dog ID and CatID are official registration platforms for dogs and cats in Belgium. Do your dogs and cats have microchips? The data related to the chip is in the Dog ID or CatID database.
What is the European passport?
It allows to prove that the animals are effectively vaccinated against rabies and are clearly identified by electronic chips (or tattoos with a transition period of 8 years).
Therefore, this one document can take your pet to all member countries except Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the United Kingdom where antibody titration is required.
The Commission states that this passport may also contain information on other vaccinations, including those not required by law, as well as information on the animal’s medical history.
Leishmaniasis Vaccine
Leishmaniasis is a potentially fatal disease for dogs, and humans can also be affected by the disease. Around the world, between 1.5 and 2 million new cases of human leishmaniasis are recorded each year*. It can also affect rabbits, hares and cats.
Leishmaniasis is transmitted by small flying insects, phlebotomines, which feed on blood like mosquitoes.
The parasite is transmitted from infected to uninfected animals by sandfly bites. To control canine leishmaniasis, experts recommend a combination of two controls: parasite protection and vaccine protection.
The dog is the only species to be given a vaccine against leishmaniasis. This vaccine can be administered from 6 months of age, independently of the usual vaccines.
Although it does not completely eliminate the risk of contamination, it can better protect dogs living in dangerous areas and those who will be there for a few weeks. Vaccination can reduce a dog’s risk of developing this disease. More than 500,000 dogs in Europe have been vaccinated against leishmaniasis.
The disease manifests itself through various symptoms: skin problems, weight loss, fatigue, lameness, diarrhea, eye problems
Heartworm disease
Heartworm disease in dogs and cats, sometimes called “heartworm disease,” is caused by adult worms living in the pulmonary artery (the large artery leading from the heart) and sometimes even in the right side of the heart itself. It is a slowly progressing but serious disease as it can lead to heart failure and sudden death in animals.
It is a slowly progressing but serious disease as it can lead to heart failure and sudden death in animals. At our latitude, the areas most at risk are southern Europe (Portugal, Spain including the Canary Islands, southern France, Italy, Balkan countries, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania) and North Africa. The disease is also common in the West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique), Guyana and Reunion.
How to protect your dog: To avoid this and limit the risks of contamination, it is necessary to take some precautions to protect dogs living or traveling in dangerous areas: bites mosquitoes can be limited by using specific repellents and collars. Ask your veterinarian to prescribe the most suitable product for your pet. However, beware, protection is limited and preventive medicine is also preferable. By providing preventive medical treatment, the larvae (transmitted by mosquitoes) are destroyed before they become adults. In a pipette or tablet, these medications will be administered as prescribed by your veterinarian. In the case of a dog going on vacation in a dangerous area, it must be treated monthly during the stay and again upon return.
How to protect your cat:
In the cats, the attempts to eradicate adult worms are not not recommended, because their death will also kill the cat! It is better to provide a treatment that improves the animal’s condition and supports him until the parasite disappears naturally. On the other hand, it is entirely possible and desirable to treat the patients against the larvea with specific medications that can also be used to prevent cats living or being brought into dangerous areas. The preventive treatment is administered at the same rate as the dog, i.e. once a month, as prescribed by a veterinarian.
Piroplasma
Piroplasmosis is one of the the most common parasitic diseases in dogs and it still kills many dogs in France each year. The disease is is caused by a parasite transmitted by ticks which destroys red blood cells. The treatment is effective if it is implemented quickly, but the complications can be serious.
The symptoms in dogs with piroplasmosis are usually very pronounced:
The dog is down, he does not eat, it can also vomir,il a une high fever (usually 40°C) and its urine has a unusual color: orange, red or dark brown.
Even if your dog only loses his appetite and seems listless for 4 to 8 days after a trip to the country, don’t hesitate to consult your veterinarian, because these symptoms are not always easy to spot.
The piroplasm, Babesia canis is transmitted by and only by ticks (the latter capture the parasite by biting the affected dogs). Babesia canis sporozoites in the tick’s saliva can infect the dog once the tick settles and begins to suck blood.
Depending on the stage of the disease, the veterinarian will treat it as :
– Anti-parasite injections,
– Infusions, to hydrate the animals and to fight against hepatic and renal complications,
– Blood transfusions to make up for the lack of red blood cells.
Antiparasitics:
This is the surest way to truly prevent piroplasmosis and the product must destroy the tick before it has time to inject the pathogen at the end of its blood meal. The best thing is that it gets intoxicated by contact with the hair within minutes.
The products that meet these standards are :
Pipettes: They deposit a protective film on the whole body, the distribution of the product is autonomous from the zone of application in a few hours, and they can be effective for a few weeks.
Collars: They are valid for several months.
Spraying: You must spray the whole body of the animal and update the application regularly.
It is therefore important to treat your pets ALL year round and if you see a tick, it must be removed as soon as possible to avoid the risk of your pet catching diseases.