The current news about British Petroleum's disaster in the mainstream media reads as a roaring success. “The Gulf beaches are clean, safe and opened for business.”

Everything is fine, you can go back to sleep.

Sometimes I wonder if their press releases have been written by undereducated pre-schoolers. “The oil gushing well will be sealed forever and most of the oil is gone, evaporated into the air or dissolved in water, kind of like what sugar does in the water”.

The fact is, highly toxic substance Corexit was used to disperse and keep the majority of the oil under the waves - out of sight out of mind. From there, it has spread throughout the Gulf and into the Atlantic - poisoning the sea life and contributing to the further destruction of life and the environment beyond the sea.

About the only thing these predators care about, is what they are liable for and have to take legal responsibility for. Now BP is suddenly off the hook and free to carry on as normal.  In fact the company announced while ago they will soon begin drilling to even greater depths off the coast of Libya. So if you think that we are very far from this latest disaster, think twice.

Indeed  it is predatory world out there, and while supernatural predators like British Petrol hotshots usually remain hidden behind the curtain of distance, natural predators go about their business in the way nature intended. So as promised in my last blog,  today we are going to meet very peculiar tiny predator or parasite to be more precise. On planet Earth  it is always about the food.

Imagine that you are observing our planet with a high- powered telescope out in space. This telescope gives you detailed close ups of any point on the planet, but you cannot hear anything. You can only see.

Pretty soon you would realize that most common activity denominator for every single species on the planet is to eat or avoid being eaten.

Being a “highly evolved species” we often think of ourselves as being above this crude mortal coil. Many of us are often shocked or even disgusted when faced with simple facts of nature of life on our planet.   In the depths of this mortal coil we find wide variety of parasitic life forms.  Why is it that lion or cheetah hunting down a gazelle inspires us mostly with awe for its strength or hunting skills while tiny insects that are essentially doing the same thing as lions or wolves evoke nothing but disgust?

Is it just a matter of perspective?  Does it have something to do with the fact that we are biologically so far removed from insects while we feel closer to big cats and our fellow mammalians?  Even the most dedicated animal lover will not think twice before squashing the flea or  a tick.

One of the less common type of dog and cat parasites which seems to have exploded this summer in Malta, and which I am therefore seeing a lot of in my clinics, are Harvest Mites, Harvest bug or Bracken bug (Trombicula autumnalis). They got this name because they usually appear at the end of the summer. Funnily enough this year we started seeing them as early as April.

Many pet owners have never encountered this type of parasite and very often it is diagnosed at the clinic when the owner notices some strange looking tiny moles on the skin of their pet.

Harvest mite is whitish to orange red in color and just visible to the naked eye, measuring about 2 mm in length before engorgement and about three times this length when replete. The more it feeds darker it gets.

The first active stage in the life of the harvest mite is the six-legged larva and this is the only stage to attack warm-blooded animals. The larvae congregate in groups on small clods of earth, in matted vegetation and even on low bushes and plants. They are active only during the day and their movements appear to be controlled chiefly by the weather which is why they are most active when it is dry and sunny and least active when the day is cold and wet. When the larvae come into contact with any warm-blooded animal (dogs are particularly susceptible) they swarm onto it and wander in search of a place to attach themselves. Infestation in human beings generally occurs around the ankles when walking in areas where the mite is common; sitting or lying on infested ground offers even better opportunities to the mite.

In cats, the mite favors areas where the skin is relatively thin and hairless. The thickness of the skin is probably the most important factor because the harvest mite feeds by thrusting its small hooked fangs into the surface layers of the skin. Where the skin is unusually thick they attach with difficulty and may be brushed off by the movements of the host. The insertion of the small fangs into the skin is painless, and is merely intended to puncture the skin so that the feeding process can begin.

Once fixed, the larva injects a fluid into the wound and this breaks down the cells underlying the horny layers of the skin. The liquid food resulting from the process is sucked back into the digestive system of the larva. The alternation of injecting and sucking then continues for two or three days until the larvae is fully fed and has increased in size three or four fold. During the whole period of feeding, the harvest mite does not change its position on the host. This is why most animal owners very often mistake them for small moles scabs.

The popular belief is that it burrows into the skin to feed and lay eggs and this is quite erroneous; microscopical examination reveals no trace of a tunnel and since the larva is sexually immature it cannot lay eggs. The irritant effect of the fluid injected by the larva causes a skin reaction characterized by small inflamed pimples (in the human) and intense irritation. In the cat, irritation causes scratching which may dislodge the mites, but extensive self-inflicted injury can result, and, in very bad cases, raw, moist bleeding areas can sometimes develop. Once the larva has finished feeding it drops to the ground to complete its life-cycle. It descends into the soil and, after a period of five or six weeks, changes into an eight-legged nymph. This stage is sexually immature like the larva, but it resembles far more closely the adult male or female into which it eventually develops. Both the nymph and the adult live in the soil and feed on plant juices or small insects. They are never parasitic. They prefer moist conditions and are especially numerous in the vicinity of rabbit or rat warrens. Thus the life-cycle of the harvest mite is completed.

There are chemical products that provide effective protection against harvest mite.  Natural repellants such as citronella or Neem oil do not seem to be very effective.

If you are in doubt which product to use always consult your veterinarian.

Ask Dr. Zoran your questions below