02/09/2025
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Seasonal Canine Illness 🍂 🍁🐕
We have seen our first case of Seasonal Canine Illness (SCI) today. It is still not fully understood and we are yet to identify a specific cause for the disease. However, it is believed to be connected with an infestation of harvest mites picked up by dogs when they walk through woodland, usually occurring between August and November.
SCI can affect dogs of any age or breed but it doesn’t seem to affect other pets such as cats or rabbits. Dogs generally become unwell roughly 24-72 hours after walking in woodland and whilst clinical signs are often self-limiting they can sometimes be very severe (and rarely fatal) so it is important to know the signs to look out for which can include:
🍁Vomiting
🍁Diarrhoea
🍁Inappetance
🍁Abdominal pain
🍁Lethargy
🍁Muscle tremors
It is a good idea to rinse your dog’s paws after woodland walks and to spray them with a Fipronil-based product once a week. Check your dog’s paws / armpits / ears regularly…harvest mites are visible to the naked eye, and are bright orange dots. If you find them in your dog’s paws apply a few pumps of Fipronil-based spray onto each paw. SCI is not normally seen after the first hard ground frost as this kills harvest mites so avoiding woodland / long grass until then is a good way of preventing SCI if you are particularly worried.
Please remember that there are several causes of vomiting / diarrhoea in dogs and SCI is still relatively uncommon but if you are at all concerned about your pet please contact us at the vets on the usual number.
