Monsoon and Winter Pet Care in Nepal

Monsoon: parasites are the main event

Warmth plus humidity is ideal for fleas and ticks, and the monsoon is when a lapse in protection turns into an infestation rather than a nuisance. If you treat seasonally rather than year round, this is the season not to be late.

Two things worth knowing. Spot-on treatments are dosed by weight and the bands are there for a reason — a large-dog dose on a small dog is genuinely dangerous. And most of a flea population lives in bedding and carpet rather than on the animal, so treating the pet without washing the bedding is how the problem comes back a fortnight later.

• Keep to the interval: Protection lapses at the end of the stated period, not gradually. An autoship keeps the next dose arriving before the gap opens.
• Check after walks: Ticks favour ears, neck, armpits and between toes. Remove them with a tick hook, pulling straight out without twisting.
• Wash the bedding: Hot wash and dry thoroughly. A damp bed is its own problem — see below.

Monsoon: damp, paws and ears

Bedding that never fully dries is uncomfortable and becomes a skin problem. Beds with removable washable covers earn their keep in these months, and a spare cover means the bed is never out of action waiting to dry.

Dry paws and belly after walks rather than letting a wet dog dry in a warm room, and check between the toes — moisture trapped there is a common route to irritation. Dogs with drop ears are prone to ear infections in humid weather; if your dog is shaking its head or scratching at an ear repeatedly, that is a vet visit rather than something to treat from a shelf.

Winter: get them off the floor

The most useful thing you can do for a pet in a Nepali winter costs very little: give them somewhere to sleep that is not a cold tile or concrete floor. A raised or well-padded bed away from draughts does more than any coat.

Short-coated dogs, thin dogs, puppies and older animals with stiff joints feel the cold most. Older pets in particular tend to move less in winter, which makes joints stiffer, which makes them move less again — a warm bed and keeping up gentle daily walks are worth more than any supplement.

• Beds, not blankets on the floor: Insulation from below is the point. A blanket on cold tile is still cold tile.
• Watch the heater: Pets will lie closer to a heat source than is good for them. Keep a guard on anything hot and give them a way to move away from it.
• Cats find the warm spot: They will pick it themselves. Giving them two or three warm options beats choosing one for them.

Winter: the aquarium is the one that catches people out

Room temperatures across much of Nepal fall far enough in winter to stress tropical fish, and an unheated tank in an unheated room is a slow problem rather than an obvious one. A heater and — just as importantly — an independent thermometer are the fix, because heater dials drift and you want to find that out before the fish do.

Stability matters more than the exact number. A steady 24°C is better for most community tropicals than a tank that swings between 22 and 27 across a day. In a larger tank, two smaller heaters are safer than one large one: if one fails the tank cools slowly rather than crashing, and if one sticks on it cannot cook the whole volume alone.

Small pets kept in unheated rooms need the same thought — extra bedding to burrow into, and a hutch or cage moved away from draughts and exterior walls.

A simple year-round rhythm

If you would rather not think seasonally at all, the reliable version is: keep parasite control running every month without gaps, wash bedding regularly, weigh or body-check your pets monthly so a change is obvious early, and have the winter bed and the aquarium heater in place before you need them rather than after.

Common questions