Spring Parasite Prevention Program…..

Helping you protect your pets and your family!!

Spring storms bring warm humid sunny days and perfect conditions for parasites.

Let’s take a good look at our prevention program for all our domestic companions and livestock.

 Cats and Dogs

• Intestinal Worms – Treatment essential for protecting families as many dog and cat worms are transmittable to people. Large range of preventatives at every Vet Cross clinic.

• Heartworm – These have the potential to kill. Carried by mosquitoes but easily prevented with monthly chews, spot-ons or annual injections.

• Fleas – Flea population booms in spring, start prevention early to stop the population explosion.

• Ticks - It doesn’t matter what kind of tick it is, you don’t want them on your dog, don’t give ticks a chance. There are Spot-ons and tick collars at Vet Cross  

 Horses

• Intestinal Worms – Colic is frequently caused by an inadequate worming program, and the moist conditions that come with spring is the worst time for worms, don’t give them a chance, treat your horses early. There are a range of easy to administer horse wormers at your nearest Vet Cross clinic

• Mosquitoes & Nuisance Flies – Not only can these drive your horse crazy but they can cause skin problems such as Queensland Itch. Fix the flies first, check out our range of sprays

• Tetanus - Moist Spring soils increase the risk of bacteria and tetanus. Prevent this often fatal disease with an easy to administer annual Tetanus vaccination..

 Cattle

• Intestinal worms – Moist pastures are the ideal environment for worms to survive, multiply and infest animals. There is a range of drenches, pour ons and injections for every cattle owner
• Ticks – Ticks are responsible for transmitting tick fever organisms, which cause sickness and death in cattle. Talk to our experienced cattle vets about vaccinations
• Buffalo Fly – Buffalo flies can be a real nuisance for cattle, skin irritations leading to self inflicted wounds, loss of grazing through fly irritation and transmission of certain worms are cause for concern in herd health management. Talk to our vets for advice
• Vaccinations – Three day sickness in cattle is a virus spread by mosquitoes and can infect many animals in a herd. Discuss with our vets the vaccinations available and stop costly stock losses this summer.

Alpacas and Sheep

• Intestinal worms – Barbers Pole worm numbers increase very suddenly in warm humid weather, it is the major cause of production loss and death in Queensland, let our vets advise you on drenching and smart grazing
• Ticks – Moist humid weather is the perfect environment for ticks, with alpacas it’s advisable to rotate paddocks and keep them clean of manure.

 Poultry

• Internal Worms - Chickens can become infected with intestinal worms, particularly when raised in contact with the faeces of older birds so it’s advisable to keep litter clean. Depending on worm load birds may need worming 3 to 4 times a year.
• Mites - Birds should be routinely examined and treated if parasites are seen.

Horse and cattle owners should also talk to their vet about getting an egg count on their stock. It’s an easy process of performing a faecal float that will show if and what eggs are present and if your current worming program is working.

The staff at Vet Cross will help you pick the right product to fit your animals’ needs, from wormers, flea/tick preventatives to vaccinations.