By vet Alice Moore

Lots of clients have been asking about lungworm treatment at the practice this week and last night I saw first-hand the reason why.

An extremely effective television advertisement is running at the moment warning of the dangers of lungworm infection in dogs.

One of my more cynical clients asked me why we are suddenly hearing about (and worrying about) lungworm when we never used to?

The answer is that this is a new emerging condition that we are seeing more and more these days.

Maybe because of global warming, maybe because of an increase in overseas travel lungworm has crept into the UK. The south of England has seen the most cases and more cases are being reported every month.

Lungworm can cause a variety of symptoms from a dog just being generally off colour and coughing to severe bleeding disorders.

Some of the most dramatic cases that are seen are when a pet goes in for routine surgery but, because of an undiagnosed lungworm infection, is unable to clot its blood properly – these dogs can then suffer severe post operative bleeds.

The most common host carriers for lungworms are slugs and snails, often we do not even see our dogs ingesting these but any dog that snuffles around outside is at risk.