Heartworm Prevention for Dogs & Cats

Heartworm is prevalent in Spain, but fortunately it is easy to prevent. The most common preventatives are given in chew form once a month by the pet's caretaker. Preventatives kill the immature heartworm larvae before they can hurt the animal, and as long as they are given every month, are very effective in preventing heartworm infection and subsequent development of heartworm disease.

How Animals Contract Heartworm
Animals usually contract heartworm from mosquito bites. The mosquito ingests the blood of an infected animal, and then passes the heartworm to the next animal it bites. However, heartworm cannot be passed directly from animal to animal. In Andalucia, mosquito season runs from May to November with the heaviest mosquito activity during the summer months.

The Importance of Prevention
Heartworm prevention is particularly important because the heartworm takes 6 to 7 months to become sexually mature and be detectable by a heartworm test. During the first 2-3 months of that time, the worm works its way through the host animal's tissue to the heart, damaging the lungs and other tissues. Signs of heartworm disease may take several years to manifest and include soft cough, tiredness, weakness, loss of weight, and eventually heart failure.

Heartworm disease is caused by damage from the adult worms once they get into the blood vessels of a dog's lungs. The worms cause the blood vessels to swell and become scarred. As the blood vessels shrink in diameter, blood flow becomes restricted and blood pressure begins to rise. Eventually, the increasing blood pressure will lead to heart failure.

How Monthly Preventatives Work
The monthly heartworm preventatives work to kill heartworm larvae that are 45 days or less in age before they can damage the animal's tissue and organs. If you had your pet in a country, such as England, where heartworm treatment was not needed, you should start your animal on heartworm preventatives as soon as possible after settling in Spain.

Purchasing Heartworm Prevention Medication
You can buy the monthly preventative called HeartGuard from the base veterinarian (phone: 956-82-3149), or you can buy the same medicine, called Cardotek, from local vets. You can also get a heartworm preventative injection that is good for one year from the local vets. There is some controversy in the US about this injection, so please do research before making that decision.

Dangerous Insects in Spain

Andalucia plays host to a variety of stinging insects including bees, centipedes, caterpillars, scorpions, hornets, and wasps, and the sting from any of these insects can be very painful. If your animal is stung, try to withdraw the stinger immediately by scratching it off with your fingernail, a knife or the edge of a credit card. Do NOT use tweezers because squeezing or pressing the stinger can inject more poison into the skin. Clean the area with cold water; the normal reaction to an insect sting is pain, itching and swelling of the injured area but these symptoms usually pass within hours.

Processional Pine Caterpillars
These caterpillars are found where pine trees grow in abundance, such as in yards on base and along the boardwalks near the Rota beach. The caterpillars can be seen living in silk cocoon-style nests where they strip pine trees of their needles. When hungry, they leave their cocoon to seek another uninfested tree on which to feed. They travel nose to tail in a line, thus the name "Processional". They are most noticeable from January to mid-April and are at their most dangerous in mid- to late-February. The caterpillars are often seen in the evenings, walking in procession from tree to tree.

As well as causing much damage to pine forests, they are a major danger to animals and, to a lesser degree, human beings. Do not touch them! The very fine hairs on the caterpillars are poisonous; if one drops from a tree onto you or your pet, don't brush it off with your hands. Touching the hairs can cause irritation, rash, pain, and shock in animals and humans. If an animal shows signs of shock, get it to a veterinarian immediately. Don't hit the caterpillars with sticks because flying hairs in the air are just as dangerous (particularly to the eyes), and the hairs are still virulent even when the caterpillars are dead. If you see these insects while you are out walking you pet, avoid them! Dogs are most at risk when sniffing the ground where caterpillars have passed.

Sand Flies (Leishmaniasis)
Leishmaniasis (also known as Kala-Azar) is carried from dog-to-dog by the bite of the tiny sand fly. The name "sand fly" is misleading since the sand fly's natural habitat is wooded and garden areas. There have only been few cases of Leishmaniasis in Spain; however, if your dog contracts Leishmaniasis, it can be treated but not cured. Dogs can be bitten up to 100 times an hour during the sand fly season which begins in May and ends in October, with the worst month in August. The flies are mainly active between dusk and dawn, and early morning, 2 to 4am, is the worst period.

The best prevention for Leishmaniasis is fitting your dog with a "SCALIBOR" collar. The collar is similar to a flea collar and is impregnated with a repellant called "INTERVET". The collar will protect your pet from approximately 95% of sand flies bites for the whole season. The collar lasts for one season only and needs replacing each May.

To protect your pet from Leishmaniasis:

• Keep your dog inside the house when the sun starts to set, especially during August.
• Use mosquito sprays and treatments, which will also help keep sand flies out of the house.
• Purchase a SCALIBOR collar for your dog from the base veterinarian.

Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus Tredecimguttatus)
The Black Widow is the most widely distributed species of spider in Europe and is the most dangerous spider in Spain. Black Widows are rare, but are most common in arid parts of Almeria and Aragon and also in the Valencia and Andalucian regions. The spider's bite can give your pet a nasty sting, but is not usually fatal. If your pet is bitten, try to kill the spider and keep the body to help the veterinarian identify which anti-venom to use for treatment.

Ticks
As in most hot countries, ticks are prevalent in Spain and they can transmit nasty diseases to your pet. If you find a tick on your pet, you should douse the tick with alcohol, which causes it to contract and allows you to pull the tick's body out whole. Leaving a portion of the tick inside the dog or cat is likely to cause an abscess. If you remove a tick with tweezers, make sure that the head has not remained under the animal's skin.

To protect your pet from tick bites, purchase anti-tick drops from the base veterinarian which are applied monthly to your pet's neck. Do not use an anti-tick collar if your pet already wears a sand fly collar, since the two collars worn together can be detrimental to your pet's health. The anti-tick drops will not react against the chemicals in the collar.

Dangerous Snakes & Amphibians in Spain

Toads
Toads in Spain are very poisonous to animals. If molested they exude a poison from their skin or produce saliva and an animal ingesting this can suffer heart failure. They are not particularly harmful to humans so you shouldn't kill them, just keep animals and children away. An infected pet needs urgent treatment by a veterinarian within 40 minutes or death is quite probable.

Fire Salamander
Salamanders live in a moist environment such as under damp logs. When people put logs onto campfires they often see these little creatures scuttling out. Salamanders can grow 5 to 12 inches long and look like lizards with big eyes. They have a black body with bright yellow or orange patterned markings, which is a warning that they are poisonous. Their skin produces a nasty substance that tastes awful, irritates the eyes and can even kill small mammals. They have poison glands on their backs and they can squirt this toxic liquid into the face of an unsuspecting animal. Keep pets away from them.

Snakes
While there are many snakes in Spain, they are mainly found in the mountainous and heavily forested areas, such as Catalonia. The most dangerous period is in the spring and summer as they hibernate during the cooler months of autumn and winter. Generally speaking, snakes are rarely seen (unless you are a hiker) and very few people or pets are bitten.