Leishmaniasis warning if taking pets to Mediterranean

[contadina]

Having just seen another thread about pet passports, I thought I'd post something about a particularly nasty and often fatal disease endemic in most of Greece, much of Italy, the Balkans, Malta, southern France, many parts of Portugal and Spain (particularly in the south east and the Balearic islands) and in the humid parts of North Africa.

Leishmaniasis is prevalent during the warmer months (so April - October) and pets become infected after being bitten by a tiny blood-sucking insect called a sand fly during the hours between dusk and dawn. If the disease isn't caught in time it will eventually lead to organ failure, and if caught in time it can be controlled with weekly injections, although it can never be completely cured.

So if you are bringing family pets overseas check if it's area where Leishmaniasis is a problem and either fit them with a Scaliber collar a week before you head off or use a spot on treatment such as Advantix every three weeks. According to our vet over 70% of dog and cat deaths locally are due to this disease and I personally know of around 50 dogs who have either died or are carriers of it, so don't just leave it to chance.

[MuddyWitch]

Thanks for the warning

MW

[jackieinspain]

I have 4 dogs and live in Southern Spain where leishmaniosis is very prevalent.
All four of them wear Scalibor collars 52 weeks of the year, not just during the hotter months.
I´ve been here 5 years and so far my dogs are all free of this terrible illness.
Scalibor collars are well worth the money.

[pelmetman]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Contadina. Unfortunately there seems lots of horrid things out there that affect cats and dogs these days.

We have just returned from France and ticks are rife there at the moment. Indeed Troy got one that attached itself to his eyelid, luckily we saw it pretty quickly and removed it even though he had Frontline applied some weeks prior.

Sue