Australia Weather News

A big, thick fur coat isn't usually any good for the Top End's muggy climate but it is about to come in handy for some.

Health authorities are warning that a combination of high tides and the late September rains are set to unleash a mosquito "explosion" starting October 26 and lasting for 10 days.

The usual advice around long sleeves and DEET repellents has been issued for the human population, but what about cats and dogs?

"If they've got a thick coat they're relatively well protected," vet Ian Gurry told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

He said it was on exposed skin around the nose and ears where bites could be just as annoying and potentially dangerous for pets as they were for their owners.

"Mosquitoes are a problem for animals as well as humans, not just the annoyance factor but the disease transmission.

"One of the things that mosquitoes actually transmit is heartworm and that is a big problem in dogs.

"Basically the more mozzies there are, the higher the risk of heartworm along with any other diseases they carry."

Dr Gurry said pet owners should ensure their animals received regular heartworm medication, which can be administered monthly or yearly.

And he said regular insect repellent could be carefully applied to a pet's ears and nose.

"You've just obviously got to be careful around the mouth because you don't want them licking the stuff off," he said.

'Thousands of eggs' hatch after tide inundation

With rain starting earlier in the build-up than usual this year, the Health Department's Nina Kurucz said the annual spike in mosquito numbers had been intensified.

"That led to thousands of eggs being laid in the swamp areas all along the coastline and with the big tides we had last night that inundated all these eggs and they will now simultaneously hatch."

She said teams conducting mosquito surveys had found "extensive breeding" with "extremely high larval densities" and that aerial spraying was underway in swampy areas.

"Unfortunately these mosquitoes can fly up to 50 kilometres and we expect a huge influx of mosquitoes on the wing from next week onwards."