We picked Thor up three weeks ago and he was up to date with his treatments (Cant remember specific dates) and i was just wondering how often we should do this and if anyone can recommend what treatments to use specifically in the uk? He is now 13 weeks if that makes a difference at all? I think i read that some of the treatments you can give are far less effective so looking for some recommendations?
I'm not 100% sure what Stanley gets but we go once a month to be wormed. We just go to the vets for it. When he turned 6 months it was supposed to reduce to every three months but Stanley eats disgusting things so we still go every month. He gets flead every three months. We also get this from the vet. We get a tablet rather than the drops because it's much easier to get Stanley to eat something than for him to sit still long enough to get something on his skin
I don't believe in putting chemicals into dogs (or cats) unless needed. I have 2 Labs, aged 10 and nearly 5 years old and they have never needed any treatment, no sign of fleas!
I use nexgard+heartgard combination for my dogs. I give them every month. I used to use frontline, but didn't really seem to work. so switched to nexgard.
Hi Aimee! I'd suggest you ask your vet; I think that the best routine for worming and flea treatments sometimes depends on the local area (what nasties are around, etc). We are in south Wales. Pongo gets a worm tablet every three months - he thinks they are delicious. And we used to give him Frontline flea treatment once a month, but now we have changed over to a Bravecto tablet every three months. I prefer the tablet because he hated the treatment drops on his neck and I always thought he acted a bit down the next day, as though he had a headache. Possibly my imagination, but there you go. We stagger the two treatments so that he isn't getting both at the same time or too close together.
Our breeder sends that information home with us. WE got a schedule of the things she had done, signed by her Vet, and a schedule as to when the next things were due. Can you ask your breeder?
We were also sent home with information from our breeder and confirmed/updated this with the vet. Ella has a monthly chew that protects her against the the nasties(including fleas) in our area. We have to do monthly as it includes heartworm prevention. We had a similar issue with Ella. Her reaction became worse each month (three different brands of wormer with different key active ingredients) to the point where she was panting and pacing around the house. The last time we put it on (it took us a little while to work out that the spot on was causing the issue) so we put her in the bath immediately and washed it off. Now she's been on the monthly chews for six months and she loves them
That is really interesting - thanks for posting. I thought it might be my imagination, but perhaps not. I'm glad we are on tablets now - he gobbles them up happily and I've not noticed any side effects. It surprises me that a "spot-on" application can have more of a whole-system side effect than a tablet that is actually ingested; but that seems to be the case here.
You need a puppy programme of worming at first - the best thing to do is get this from your vet who will prescribe the right treatment for your puppy's age and weight. Not all treatments that people will give to an adult dog are ok for small puppies. Betsy had panacur, advocate, and drontal. Then she switched to her adult routine which is Milbemax and Frontline (I don't use advocate but it is the only thing that guards against lungworm and is suitable for very young puppies so she had it at first). If you want Milbemax to cover lungworm, it needs to be given monthly. If not, 3 monthly. At first, it really is best to get your vet's advice. Once you've settled into a routine, then you can buy stuff online etc.
I agree. Snowie had a seizure after Milbemax and two seizures after Bravecto. He absolutely hated the spot-ons and had to be held in a vice grip to administer them - we tried them all and he still itched. He itched MUCH worse after Bravecto. The warnings on all those products to avoid contact for humans are so frightening that I eventually asked myself: why on earth would I give my dog an insecticide? More and more I'm reading of illness and death possibly linked to the oral flea tablets (containing fluralaner) so I absolutely avoid them. My vet just said last week that a spot-on is a safer alternative (altho not 100% safe particularly for a seizure-prone dog) if fleas become a problem. I do deworm Snowie regularly because I am told the chemical is out of the system in 24 hours. I do everything else to prevent fleas: wash bedding, put bedding out in sunlight, vacuum regularly, basically keep the environment flea-free.
Now that Xena is over 6 months she's on a 3 monthly worming cycle. I've yet to use a flea treatment on her. We don't have ticks or many of the big nasties here in Wellington, so I plan to flea only when needed. I thought I'd need to treat in Spring, but Spring came and went without a problem. My 3 cats haven't had a flea treatment since...early 2016? I only treat them as needed.
I don't think I "know" a single person on this forum that doesn't have their dog's best interest at heart so please don't thin I am suggesting otherwise. I also understand that Snowie suffers from seizures so your requirements/research/sensitivities in relation to flea and worm prevention might differ from others. However, it always makes me a little nervous when people promote going against veterinary advice. Just because a product isn't suitable for humans doesn't mean it's toxic for dogs (and vice versa). I can tell you right now that you wouldn't catch me gnawing down on a raw chicken carcass just as I wouldn't dream of sharing some raisins with Ella. I, as I'm sure many others would, find the news of illness and death relating to flea tablets very worrying so I'd be very grateful if you could provide some links to this information. I do however, tend to err on the side of caution when reading about single cases of death or illness following veterinary medication as it can have a tone similar to that of anti-vaxxers. I do believe, as I have mentioned above (Ella's reaction to spot-on treatment), that some dogs can have some reactions to some treatments so what works for one may not be suitable for another. However, I believe that the best course of action should be decided upon with the expert advice of your vet.
You should check timmings and brands with your Vet. Timmings might depend on the brand, size and age of your dog. Brands might be important for the type of bugs that are more frequent around your area (like if you live near rivers or lakes, or if you are on another part of the globe). For example here in our region leichmeniose is frequent. Oh and House dogs vs Garden, might also be important. We were advized to use a collar additionally to the external de-worming on the spring to autumn months (i think we'll let it on the winter too... we never get too cold temps, and we see a lot of flies and moskitos). We're using advantix for external de-worming, the normal frequency is 1 month, but for flea and leich's the optimum protection is 3 month. This will be like this for the most of his life, with adjustments for size. As for internal, i don't remember the brand but he has started now on a 6 month base.
Here is the study that was done on Bravecto to prove it is safe to sell: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3975339/ There are a number of factors that concern me: 1. The study was done on 32 Beagle pups, of which 24 dogs received Bravecto. This is a very small study in my opinion. And only on Beagles. 2. The researchers who conducted this study are employees of Merck, who sell the drug. This represents a conflict of interest in my opinion. When clinical signs (such as vomiting and diarrhoea) were observed, the response is "clinical signs were considered to be unrelated to fluralaner administration" -- one could argue this is their biased opinion. 3. The study dogs were euthanized at 168 days (24 weeks), which does not represent a long-term view of the effects of the drug. A second study was conducted, but to compare Bravecto with Frontline, again conducted by Merck (known as MSD in this study) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3975895/ Again, one could argue that a study conducted by the manufacturers of the drug represents conflict of interest. Here is a list of studies conducted using Bravecto: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/animal...ldrugproducts/foiadrugsummaries/ucm399075.pdf 1. This study concerns me, listed on page 35: A. Margin of Safety Study D009\11-001. In the conclusion, they state: "Potential treatment-related effects include diarrhea, mucoid and bloody feces, and vomiting." 2. This study concerns me, listed on page 36: B. Reproductive Safety Study 671596. In the conclusion they state: "In adult dogs, potential treatment-related effects include seizures, diarrhea and salivation after dosing. In puppies, potential treatment–related effects include limb deformity, enlarged heart and spleen, and cleft palate." One might argue that the other studies in the document (above) showed few adverse effects. However, the studies were sponsored by Intervet Inc, which is in fact Merck, the manufacturer of Bravecto. Again, a conflict of interest in my opinion. Here is a facebook page called Does Bravecto Kill Dogs? https://www.facebook.com/groups/411371212394679/ There are similar pages representing specific countries, eg The Netherlands. Many dog owners have reported adverse effects and death of their dogs after giving their dogs Bravecto. While one might argue that these provide only anecdotal evidence and that one can't prove these dogs were affected by Bravecto, there are enough reports to make me very wary of this drug. Many of the dog owners are filing reports to Merck, and in one case I read recently, the vet treating the pet dog reported the adverse effects to Merck. Snowie had two seizures after taking Bravecto and excessive itchiness for months so I won't be using it again. The drug has been on the market for just over two years. You will also find similar fb pages for Nexguard and Simparica, which are oral drugs in the same family as Bravecto. I feel similar to you about being wary of a tone similar to anti-vaxxers, but sadly there are just too many adverse reports of Bravecto for me to turn a blind eye. (While I am certainly not an anti-vaxxer, I do believe that most vets give routine vaccinations too frequently, and in fact, if you read skeptvet you will read the evidence for this: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2014/08/ro...cats-trying-to-make-evidence-based-decisions/.) I certainly do advocate that one should seek veterinary advice, particularly when seeking advice on treatment for local parasites. My vet is supportive of our not using any tick/flea preventive when there is no need for it (Snowie doesn't have fleas and there is no biliary in our area) and given that Snowie is prone to seizures (although he has not had any since those two after Bravecto earlier this year).
Well, actually, this article contains no evidence about how frequently (or not) vets do not stick to the current guidelines for vaccinations it just states lots of vets don't. The article advocates sticking to the most up to date guidelines for vaccinations. If I had a vet that didn't do this, or didn't know about those guidelines, or didn't offer me the option of a titre test I'd sack him. I do have to say, Charlie's recent titre test showed he needed more vaccines, not less. Having said that, my vet won't prescribe Bravecto and I take his advice - I don't really know what his reasons for this are though. I have taken both my dogs off advocate as my own experience is that Charlie had an adverse reaction to it often enough for me to be pretty sure advocate was the cause.
My unclear writing; I was referring to the evidence around the latest vaccine schedules and what is recommended. One would need to click through the links in the article to get the full story and read all the articles for oneself. Regarding titre tests -- I have read that some dogs will always show a low result to the titre tests even after revaccinating, possible because their immune systems never responds to the vaccination. In some cases, revaccinating did not alter the next titre test. I don't recall where I read it (I could dig it up) but it did come from a reputable source, a university study I think. It would be interesting to know what your vet's reasons are.
