Bruno is an energetic, 18kg lagotto romagnolo, an Italian breed of water dog with floppy ears, thick curly fur and handsome chocolate-and-white markings. He\u2019s in the prime of his life and gives every appearance of being indestructible \u2013 but he does, as owner Kath explains, have one Achilles heel. He\u2019s very prone to picking up ticks<\/a>.<\/p> During one family holiday on the west coast of Scotland, she picked off more than 30 ticks from his body, and his groomer found another 13 the following week. \u201cI try to use an oral tick treatment when I remember to give it to him,\u201d Kath says. \u201cBut he spits it out, so I have to break it into small pieces and feed it to him with yoghurt.\u201d<\/p> Apart from the sheer unpleasantness of ticks \u2013 those little fat bodies that swell up like Augustus Gloop in a river of drinking chocolate, the fact that they actually bury their heads into their victim\u2019s skin, leaving their little legs waving about like a toy doll\u2019s \u2013\u00a0there\u2019s another reason why you\u2019d want to avoid them. They spread diseases \u2013 not just Lyme disease, but others such as babesiosis and even (though it\u2019s still very rare in the UK) tick-borne encephalitis<\/a>, which can cause some very nasty symptoms.<\/p> For ticks, and other parasites<\/a> such as\u00a0fleas <\/a>and intestinal worms, vets will normally recommend a course of drugs that contain a range of different pesticides, some of which are known as neonicotinoids. Two common ones are fipronil and imidacloprid, but you will also find others such as afoxolaner and milbemycin oxide in some of the many brands that are available. NexGard Spectra is a common one, as is Advocate.\u00a0<\/p> They are mostly very effective at repelling pests, but there is a downside \u2013\u00a0scientists are increasingly finding evidence that these toxic chemicals are getting into the environment \u2013 and rivers and other freshwater courses \u2013\u00a0in worrying quantities and may be having devastating impacts. Fipronil and imidacloprid, which are the only two that have been properly studied, are 7,000 times more toxic to bees than DDT.<\/p> \u201cThere are studies from the Netherlands that have shown correlations between imidacloprid and fipronil concentrations and declines in macro-invertebrates, and declines in bird species, at concentrations we see in the UK,\u201d says Rose Perkins, who is a vet and has authored papers on the environmental risks posed by these pesticides. Impacted groups included freshwater snails, flies, mayflies and dragonflies.\u00a0<\/p> Exactly how they are getting into our rivers isn\u2019t completely clear, but some treatments are applied in what are known as \u2018spot-ons\u2019, which means they remain on the skin of the pet. If that pet then goes for a swim in the river or gets a treated to a shampoo (and, who knows, a blow-dry?), then the insecticide is washed down the drain and conceivably into a river.\u00a0<\/p> Many vets now recommend year-round treatment (whether or not the pet has any ticks,\u00a0fleas or intestinal worms at all) as the norm. Perkins is critical of this approach. \u201cWe have got into this mindset of recommending general blanket treatment of the whole [pet] population, which would make sense if these products were harmless but that isn\u2019t the case,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s become embedded in the veterinary business.\u201d<\/p>
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