Infectious and parasitic diseases

Fleas are biting insects frequently encountered in dogs and cats. The most common flea is Ctenocephalides felis, a cat flea but which is often found in dogs. The adults stay on the animal and feed on blood by bite. The females lay eggs (up to 50 per day) which fall into the animal's environment, give several larval stages, then a nymph in its cocoon, finally a “pre-emergent” adult which remains under the shelter of the cocoon several weeks, sometimes up to 6 months. During the passage of a new host, the pre-emerging stages emerge from the cocoon, pass over the host and sting it. Contamination mainly takes place in the animal's environment when it finds itself on "hot spots" (sleeping areas, rugs, carpets, armchairs, wooden floors, car, etc.) ...

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that mainly affects dogs, more rarely cats. Transmission is mainly by the bite of an insect: the sandfly. Transmission by mating between affected breeding dogs has been reported. The geographical distribution of the sandfly is essentially throughout the Mediterranean region with an extension along the Rhone Valley but currently many foci of leishmaniasis are found in many places throughout France. ...

Infectious disease caused by a bacterium (rickettsia type, most often Ehrlichia canis) transmitted by ticks and infiltrating white blood cells. The tick transmits this bacterium during a blood meal and the clinical signs appear after an incubation period and include depression, fever, lameness, vomiting... Ehrlichiosis is fatal in +-30% of cases when it is not not neat. The carriage can be chronic.