Newsletter

Welcome to the Halifax County Veterinary Center Website!  We hope you enjoy the site, please tell your friends if you find it educational and interesting.  Since the objective of this project is community education, feel free to share your thoughts and recommendations on how we can better serve you through the website.  Our goal is to inform new clients about the clinic as well as keep current clients up to date as things change at Halifax County Veterinary Center.  We have added a newsletter page that will contain seasonal health recommendations and updates from the constantly changing world of veterinary medicine.  Periodically we will post two articles, one for small animals and one for large animals, to address the interests of the entire HCVC clientele. 

What You Should Know About Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)

      Is your cat an outside cat or does it come in contact with outside cats? Then you should consider having your cat tested and vaccinated for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus or FIV. FIV is a common viral infection that interferes with the immune system of a cat.  The virus lives in the bone marrow and blood of an infected cat is carried throughout life.  As FIV weakens the immune system, cats are unable to resist other diseases and often die from associated infections.  Up to one in twelve cats in the United States are FIV positive.  Primarily, FIV is spread through bite wounds between fighting cats, as the virus is shed in high levels through saliva. Although rare, it is also possible for a mother to spread FIV to her unborn kittens.  Some early symptoms of the virus are a decrease in appetite, decrease in grooming, and less energy.  As the virus progresses you may notice that there is a marked loss of appetite, weight loss, weakness, pale mucous membranes, bleeding gums, vomiting, dehydration, diarrhea, behavioral changes, and enlarged lymph nodes.   Infection with FIV is often fatal despite treatment.  Although in the early stages there may be no symptoms present, a cat can still transmit the disease to other cats.  The best way to ensure your cat does not become infected with FIV is to vaccinate yearly.

Cricket Cook

Fly Control

        We are now in the middle of fly season.  This year seems to be a very bad year for flies due to our mild winter.  Flies decrease weight gain and milk production along with spreading pinkeye in cattle.  In horses flies often cause skin problems such as hair loss, whelps and scabbing.  In most instances no one single measure will provide complete control. 

In cattle face flies and horn flies are the main concern.  Face flies feed on the secretions of the eye and cause and spread pinkeye.  Horn flies spend most of their time on the backs, sides and belly of cattle biting and feeding on blood.  For cattle, the most common practices are inserting ear tags containing pesticides and utilizing pesticide sprays.  Fly tags provide good fly control for 3 months.  In our area fly season lasts through September many years, therefore to have good control through the end of fly season fly tags should not be put in until early June.  The most frequent comment we hear is that people can’t wait until June because flies are a problem earlier in the year.  If this is the case we recommend using a spray or pour on in May before inserting tags in June.  Pour-on products require the cattle be sent down the chute to apply the pesticide down the back in a manner similar to dewormers.  The sprays must be mixed up in a sprayer, but can be sprayed onto a group of cattle in a small pen.  The pour-ons and sprays provide up to 3 or 4 weeks of fly control per application.  Alternatively sprays or pour-ons can be used every 2 to 4 weeks throughout the summer.  This generally is much more labor intensive than putting fly tags in.  Most sprays are water based and are washed off by rain and must be repeated after each rain.  Lastly, face mops or back rubbers can also be effective if used correctly.  They must be placed in areas where cattle have to go under them.  This means areas like mineral feeders for face mops and in gates going to water for back rubbers.  Calves are often unprotected because they are too short of rub against the mops or back rubbers.

In horses house flies, stable flies and horse flies are the main concern.  These flies must be treated differently since most of their life cycle is spent in the environment not on the horse.  Therefore, treatment is mainly aimed at treating the environment.  These flies breed and lay eggs in organic material such as manure and bedding.  To prevent population growth clean stalls frequently and store used bedding and manure far away from where horses spend most of their time.  There are many sprays for use in the environment and on horses that are effective.  The key is to use products consistently to keep fly populations low.  Fly traps such as sticky strips also provide some although probably minimal additional reduction.  Some people have tried predator wasps that feed on flies with minimal success.

An effective fly control program should be tailored to your operation.  No one specific program will work for each farm or barn.  Work with your veterinarian if having significant fly problem despite taking several control measures.

 By Dr. Collins