Vet issues fatal warning for dog owners to look out for this summer when their pet is playing with tennis balls
A VET has urged dog owners to be careful of the dangers they can face this summer.
Brisbane-born vet Dr Scott Miller, 47, appeared on ITV’s This Morning and told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that dogs can be at risk from parasites and bee stings.
Dr Scott warned that Lungworm can cause fatal damage to dogs’ lungs and major organs.
He said: “Lungworm is spread with an intermediate host of slugs and snails, and during the summer months it increases because the amount of slugs and snails increase.
“Now they don’t even have to eat them, although puppies eat them all the time, but even if they slither over a ball they have outside or even a blade of grass that they swallow, this parasite gets into their system.
“Once swallowed it goes into the gastrointestinal tract, into the bloodstream, then goes around, pops out into the lungs, then goes around gets swallowed and goes into the poo again and during that life cycle of course there is a lot of damage done, particular to the lungs.”
He advised that pet owners should look out for when dogs “start coughing”.
Dr Scott continued: “What we see with dogs is then they start coughing, but you can imagine they have an adult worm that’s breaking its way out like an alien, it can cause a huge amount of damage.”
Dr Scott advised there are monthly chewable tablets dogs can take to avoid it happening.
The vet also warned against dogs getting stung by wasps or bees.
If it happens, he advised: “You really want to try and flick the poison sacks because if you try to grab to pull it out you are actually squeezing the poison into your dog further.
“Cold compresses are the way to go and an old wives tale that works actually is Bicarbonate soda for bees and vinegar for wasps.”
And he thirdly advised against letting dogs swim in green waters that are infested with algae.
He added: “It looks like pea soup but actually it’s produced by a bacteria called cyanobacteria and it’s incredibly toxic.
“Some people allow their dogs to swim in it and they die every year, these dogs ingest some of it while swimming, it can have a major impact of their liver, they can have seizures and they can die.
“If you see something that looks anything like that not only should you not let your dogs go near it but your kids shouldn’t go near it either because it is toxic to humans as well.”