West Nile Virus has arrived in Georgia, after arriving in New York in 1999. It was 1^st identified in Uganda in 1937. It is a mosquito-transmitted disease that can cause flu-like symptoms in people and rarely, can cause a fatal swelling of the brain (encephalitis) in people, horses, and birds. People-people or animal-people transmission does not appear to be a factor in this disease. Signs of the disease include fever, depression, incoordination, muscle weakness or spasms, seizures or paralysis.

Experts report that less than 1% of mosquitoes carry this virus, and when infected, less than 1% of people will die of the disease. Fortunately for dogs and cats, rarely have any been found to have developed clinical disease at all after being infected in the U.S. The few that have had clinical disease and exposure to the virus had compromised immune systems. About 8% of dogs in the New York area of the 1st outbreak were found to have been exposed and had developed antibodies against the virus, though none developed any illness.

Precautions for all to take against this disease are to remove breeding areas for mosquitoes: standing water in old cans, rain gutters, discarded tires, drip areas of air conditioners, birdbaths and pet water bowls. Replacing birdbath water at least weekly and cleaning/refilling pet water bowls daily should minimize mosquitoes.

For people: Avoid the outdoors @ dawn/dusk; use DEET containing repellents with less than 30% DEET; in children use <10%; avoid use in infants.

For pets: Do NOT use DEET products on pets! If you want to minimize contact with mosquitos keep dogs and cats indoors during dawn and dusk; The ONLY SAFE AND EFFECTIVE repellent is FRESHLY applied pyrethrin 0.15% applied ONE to TWO TIMES DAILY. It comes in sprays or wipe-on gels. We carry “Pet Guard” gel, which is meant for ear tips and other small areas that the pet cannot lick off. Pyrethrins’ disadvantage in the spray form is the strong odor it has, which definitely breaks down the human-animal bond! Spot-on products such as FrontlinePlus, Advantage, and over the counter permethrin or phenothrin spot-ons will kill mosquitoes but cannot repel all mosquitoes on the frequency they are labeled for (once a month.) Clinical studies on permethrin products show incomplete mosquito repellency for 1-2 weeks after application. Fortunately, it does NOT seem to matter that products have marginal mosquito repellence, as pets are known to be highly resistant to the virus!

WHAT NOT TO DO:
DO NOT use permethrin or DEET containing products on cats, they are very toxic to cats! DEET can also be toxic to dogs as well.

DO NOT use over the counter products “off-label” i.e., more frequent or higher dosage.
Do not waste your time (or the look of your pets’ fur) by applying SkinSo Soft. It has been clinically tested to repel fleas for only 1-3 hours on cats; however, no mosquito repellency or safety trials have been conducted on pets. Do not use over the counter so called holistic or natural remedies (other than natural pyrethrin products) as they have not had independent safety studies performed.