What can I expect to be a problem for my dog during the Malta summer?

Salt will  irritate eyes and skin if left on, you should wash your dog with fresh water after his walk if it includes contact with sea water.

If in doubt visit your vet and get a blood test.

Terry

best you consult a vet. when our dog started scratching the whole day and we could not find any flees, it turned out that she had a dry itching skin, solution was a can of tuna in sunflower oil every second day :-)

matm911 wrote:

<snip> dry itching skin, solution was a can of tuna in sunflower oil every second day :-)

Apologies for the slightly OT. Half teaspoon of coconut oil in the morning and squirt of salmon oil at night worked wonders for our Jack Russell skins and coats. May be worth trying too, and added benefits of helping to repel insects and being good for their joints (as is the tuna).

OP (and also anyone else reading) - have you given the dog Virbac's CaniLeish vaccine? Canine Leishmaniasis was one of my biggest concerns regarding moving, and it appeared the vaccine coupled with a deltamethrin collar would seem to provide the best possible protection - though news reports seem to vary, and suggest some vets aren't a fan of the vaccine.  Just wondering how others have dealt with it, and how they have found this combination?

We haven't tried the combination, however at the beginning of the year I was discussing available options with our vet and we opted for the new Frontline that works against sandfly too, as the protection % was even higher than that of a vaccine. They say Frontline is around 80-90% protection and vaccine around 70-80%, the leash is only around 60-70% (we used this since our move), that is if I recall correctly.
Perhaps using citronella spray on top of whichever it is you choose would also be good? Although combination of 2 of the 3 options mentioned sound more assuring.

kiwi dan wrote:

matm911 wrote:

<snip> dry itching skin, solution was a can of tuna in sunflower oil every second day :-)

Apologies for the slightly OT. Half teaspoon of coconut oil in the morning and squirt of salmon oil at night worked wonders for our Jack Russell skins and coats. May be worth trying too, and added benefits of helping to repel insects and being good for their joints (as is the tuna).

OP (and also anyone else reading) - have you given the dog Virbac's CaniLeish vaccine? Canine Leishmaniasis was one of my biggest concerns regarding moving, and it appeared the vaccine coupled with a deltamethrin collar would seem to provide the best possible protection - though news reports seem to vary, and suggest some vets aren't a fan of the vaccine.  Just wondering how others have dealt with it, and how they have found this combination?

You may want to read this link... http://www.podencopost.com/2015/03/bev- … leish.html

Its main point is that the injection does not protect against Leishmaniasis but just enables the dog to better fight the infection, I personally would not wish to risk the side effects on my dog from the injection.

Terry

tearnet wrote:

You may want to read this link... http://www.podencopost.com/2015/03/bev- … .htmlfight the infection, I personally would not wish to risk the side effects on my dog from the injection.

Terry

Thanks, Terry, I had indeed read that but there does seem to be very little recent reports of effectiveness and statistics.

Frontline et al are toxic but I have no concerns giving them to my dogs as the risk of complications from infections is higher; I would have the same view of Canileish as the research supports it, though as caveated above there are conflicts regarding efficiencies. It is suggested that though the vaccine has been created for Europe performance is still subject to the type of mosquito prominent to an area, as such was curious how people had got on in Malta specifically. Comments regarding deaths of dogs is noted, and risks do need to be weighed up.