Dr. Sam's Thoughts

MOSQUITO SEASON IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!

Yes, my favorite season of the year is upon us! Flowers are blooming, buds are popping open and the Kentucky Derby is soon to be run. Along with this renewal of life’s forces by nature come some of those little critters we would rather not have.

West Nile Virus, as you all know, is transmitted by mosquitoes. Heartworms are also transmitted by them and this disease can affect dogs, cats and ferrets. West Nile can also affect any warm-blooded mammal, and we have a lot more to learn about this disease in dogs and cats. One of my dogs, CoCo a Yorkie-Poo, tested positive for West Nile with a screaming high titer done by Cornell University. While CoCo showed no clinical signs, I tested all my dogs to see where they were with respect to exposure. We have seen a few patients the last two summers who were non-descript neurologic diseases and we were not able to diagnose. We have a feeling they were West Nile, and they were all dogs. They all recovered with supportive care.

CoCo and Reese, (my Boxer) are outside more than my other four dogs. Coco and Reese call the garage home and sleeping quarters as their behavior does not fit in with the other four dogs inside. We are in a highly mosquito laden area, a pond across the road, and ponds all around us. Personally I have vaccinated Coco and Reese against West Nile using the equine vaccine by Fort Dodge. Do I recommend you do this? No, not necessarily! First and very important is that this is an OFF-LABEL use of the vaccine, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tends to frown on this, and there of course is always legal liability. Clients who I have used this vaccine in their animals must sign a release form, releasing us and Fort Dodge from liability.

I also vaccinated my per birds for West Nile last year, Stevie, an Umbrella Cockatoo, Rupert a Spectacled Amazon, and Ramón a Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot. I love for the birds to get to go outside in the spring and summer, in their cages, supervised! They love it and they often get a spray bath with the water hose while outside. For the last two years I had stopped this due solely to the threat of West Nile.

We now have a little more data that say as a GROUP Psittacoses are much less susceptible that the Corvidae (Crows and Jays) and Raptors (birds of prey). My problem is that I have read several reports, particularly out of Louisiana, that documents Psittacine deaths from West Nile. Therefore I really do not care what research says about a GROUP, these are my pets and I do not want to roll the dice betting on a GROUP response. We have probably had deaths in Kentucky in Psittacines from West Nile, but I have yet to document one. Many times owners choose no to spend the money necessary on autopsy and diagnostics. Although remember you can take a deceased bird to the University of Kentucky Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on Newtown Pike, and get testing done for West Nile relatively cheaply. At least you could last year! Why did I wait two years before vaccinating my birds with the equine product? I wanted to wait and see what happened at the zoos around the country, I knew they were vaccinating and I wanted to see if they had complications or reactions before I vaccinated my babies. Reportedly they have had no major problems with the vaccine and the zoos who have vaccinated have had less West Nile deaths than zoos who did not vaccinate.

There is a product on the market reported to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your immediate area. I found this reading the Avian Examiner #26, a publication by Harrison’s Bird Diets (www.harrisonbirdfoods.com). The product is to be sprayed in the yard and is advertised as being “all natural and not harmful to children, pets or plants”! This is a garlic based formula and supposedly mosquitoes do not like garlic. Perhaps this would be a safe way to decrease the exposure of your loved ones this spring and summer to West Nile Virus, the Encephalomyelitis viruses and Heartworm disease. I think I will order some and give it a try!

Talk to you soon!

Sammy Vaughn