Alerts

A Silver Hair bat was submitted to a veterinary clinic on Aug. 18, 2014 in Pincher Creek, AB after a 3.5-month-old puppy had captured it. The bat was tested for rabies in the CFIA lab; results confirmed that it was infected.

The owners of the puppy have elected to place their puppy under a six-month quarantine under the supervision of the Public Health Vet, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. The owners are also consulting with the Medical Officer of Health for any human health concerns. In this case, the puppy was too young to start its normal course of rabies vaccinations. This occurrence serves as a reminder to Alberta pet owners that the rabies virus is indeed present amongst some species of bats in Alberta, and that vaccination against rabies is the best defense. This is the second confirmed case of rabies amongst the bat population in Alberta this year; both cases were in Southern Alberta.

Engorged tick with mouth parts embedded

Pet owners in Calgary are finding more and more ticks after their furry companions have been outdoors. When the tick takes a blood meal, they enlarge in size making them more visible. In some cases, the patient arrives at our veterinary clinic to examine a “new mass” that has just appeared, only to find it is a firmly attached, engorged tick. The doctors at Midlake Veterinary Clinic are noticing that many of the pets have not been travelling outside of Calgary, so even local dogs and cats (and therefore people) are at risk.

So far, the most common exposure locales we have noticed at our clinic have been in south Calgary:

• Fish Creek Provincial Park near Sikome Lake in the SE
• Off leash area north of Canyon Meadows Drive at Bow Bottom Trail SE

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