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Bye bye dog breath (Image: Rex)
You wouldn’t want to take on the UK’s first “self-cleaning” dog.
The new breed, which only needs a brief wash to remain flea- and fly-free, was the creation of Dr David Pritchard, a vet and microbiologist from Edinburgh.
Dr Pritchard, 57, says he was spurred on to create the dog, named Max, after he watched an infestation of maggots destroy a puppy. He told the Daily Star: “I was appalled. When I’m a vet, I’m trying to help animals, and this was just gross.
“And maggots are disgusting. I thought: if I could do it for these maggots, I could do it for dogs.”
The research, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, describes how Dr Pritchard was able to turn a flea-infested animal into a dog “that is clean and healthy, with no need for a flea-killing wash”.
“It’s like magic,” he adds.
(Image: Rex)
Fleas are thought to have existed for nearly 400 million years, but only reached their modern-day form around 80 million years ago.
“Fleas are incredibly ancient and ancient creatures,” Dr Pritchard explained.
“Fleas are basically a very small mite, about the size of a pinhead, with a body that’s mostly a sack. They can actually eat with their feet.”
Dr Pritchard, who was a visiting fellow at Imperial College, London in 2012, said he began his research into fleas and flea eggs in 1993.
“I started looking into it because I thought the whole issue of using a chemical treatment to kill fleas is silly. It was a waste of money.”
(Image: Rex)
He added that the problem was that people don’t understand that the only way to keep dogs clean is to keep them out of the outdoors.
He explains: “Flea eggs live inside a dog’s skin cells. There is no way to get rid of them without causing the dog harm.
“So it’s actually easier to keep them clean than to treat them with chemicals.
“I spent seven years going into schools with dogs to teach kids how to keep their dogs clean.”
The research began with flea egg research on cats, which were then used to develop methods for cleaning dogs.
Dr Pritchard, who has been working on the research for the last 16 years, says he also had to overcome two main obstacles to making the research commercially viable.
(Image: Rex)
First, there was the problem of getting rid of the eggs.
He explained: “I did a lot of work looking at how to get the eggs out of the skin, and how to get rid of them without causing harm to the dog.
“There’s only a few ways to get rid of them, and they all cause harm to the dog.
“The only effective way to get rid of them is to kill the dog.
“It’s quite complicated, but we have a solution, and it’s very effective.”
The second problem was the issue of cost.
Dr Pritchard said: “It took seven years to develop the technology, and it cost £100,000 to develop the product. It was a very difficult thing to sell.
“I had a lot of investment debt, but I was confident that I could create a product that would work and sell.
“But when I put my foot through the door, and I told the banks that I was going to do this, they thought I was completely mad.
“It was really a difficult thing to sell, but once it did, I sold it to a big company, and now we’re selling over 2.5 million units every year.”
(Image: Rex)
He said: “When I first started this, it was to make it possible for animals to live outside.
“It was originally for cats, and the market was much smaller, and was focused on outdoor cats. It was a much smaller market.
“It was a tiny market, and now it’s much bigger.”
Dr Pritchard, who lives in South Lanarkshire, added: “It’s taken me 16 years to perfect the technology. It’s worked with dogs all the way along, but it started off on cats.”
“It’s very expensive,” he says. “It’s about $10,000 per unit. It’s about £4,000 for a cat and £5,000 for a dog.
“But if you’re going to buy a flea product, you might as well spend $10,000.”
He also revealed that the reason the dog only needs a quick wash is because he is very well-designed.
(Image: Rex)
“They have to be able to survive outside without their coat,” he explained.
“They have a kind of water-repellent skin that makes them almost waterproof. They only need a quick wash, and they come out looking like new.
“I’ve had lots of dogs tell me: ‘I’ve done that before and I just put my dog outside and I’m done.’
“The dogs come out looking new. It’s almost like magic.”
He said the most challenging part of the research was trying to make the technology