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What Do You Use?


trace
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I've been recommended many different products for worm, flea and tick control. The main one I'm considering is ADVOCATE which covers pretty much everything except for ticks. Weould really like some feedback on what is best for your dog health-wise and economically...

Thanks

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For harvey i have used Interceptor and advantage for fleas. Now i am using Sentinal Spectrum which does all worms (inc Tape worm) and fleas. For ticks, i just do daily checks. Frontline plus does work for ticks but needs to be applied every two weeks i think for it to work have tried it but harves had a reaction to it.

Economically, ordering online is the best way to do it, will save you heaps!!

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We use Heartgard Combo (covers heart worm and all the other worms) packs for my boys. There is cheaper out there but my boys have always been on heartgard so we decided to keep using it. (When you have 6 dogs weighing from 50 to 75kg it does get expensive). I did think about switching to Proheart which is cheaper but after reading bad reports about the product I decided to stick to the one we know our dog's don't have a problem with.

As far as ticks and fleas - we wash our dogs weekly in the hydrobath with Fido's Itch Free Rinse. When fleas/ticks are really bad in an area where the dogs are working then we may use frontline (but not used regularly). Our boys rarely have fleas but ticks are something they tend to pick up in the work environment.

Edited by Tilly
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We have no need for flea control, so we save a heap on that. The dog has no fleas.

Same for ticks - unless there are a lot of them and the dog is collecting them in large numbers, it seems a waste, since one still has to keep an eye out for them even if prevention is being used. I just run my hands all over her each time we come in, but have not found any as yet.

Apart from the financial aspect, I believe there is some logic in minimising the chemicals fed to the animals. I really believe that a healthy dog, in clean environment, just does not have fleas. Rescue people and kennels have a problem - the dogs they get are not always healthy for a start, and seldom come from clean environments.

I was once told that animals can build resistence to ticks, and believe this could well be so - assuming the ones they do get are removed before too much harm occurrs. We had a rescue dog once - had both fleas and ticks at first, but after the first few weeks, never got them again.

Worming, Drontal, three monthly. Annual heartworm - she was on it when we got her and have just continued - bit lazy, perhaps.

cheers

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Our boys rarely have fleas - they are just not in our environment. We used to have fleas when we had cats but with 6 large dogs we just don't seem to have any cats around. :thumbsup:

If our boys never left our place we probably wouldn't use any form for flea control.

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We have had dogs here for 25 years and never a flea problem. If there was a problem, i would probably look into prevention if it kept coming back.

I am convinced that the health of the dog is relevant - somehow fleas are more attracted to animals that are unwell or neglected - just as most parasites and diseases will more easily invade any organism that has lowered resistance. They then, of course, lay eggs and spread - and once entrenched in an environment that is hard to "clean", there can be a recurring problem.

We seem to have a "clean" environment (largely by accident rather than conscious design) and they do not often have contact with other dogs. They are usually outside and the area they spend most time around gets lots of sun in winter - which, I suspect, kills off any eggs around. Mostly hard floors indoors too, which helps - I believe the fleas love carpets.

Most heartworm tablets are at least monthly, if not daily - an annual jab is just easier - it is not easy to forget either - thanks to our vet recalls :thumbsup: The other worm tabs (Drontal) are 3-monthly - and probably not as crucial if forgotten and given a bit late. So we're pretty much ok with the routine.

I have never been told there is a one off that does absolutely everything - maybe such a thing has become available since I last asked. However, we don't need it to cover fleas & ticks, so it seems logical that it would cost more to cover them as well, even if it is an "all-in-one" deal. There is also the issue of bombarding the poor thng with all those chemicals in one go.

The cost of the annual heartworm jab is about the same as the tablets - it's just that one pays in a lump sum!

cheers

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I use frontline monthly and have never seen a flea. We go to the dog park and training often so I dare not risk skipping it, I wouldn't want to have to de flea the whole house. Also the dogs go for bush walks almost daily, and I have only ever found 1 tick once and that was before I switched to the frontline, I think even if its only monthly it must do something :thumbsup:

I use "valuheart" monthly which is the same as heart guard but much cheaper. and I use drontal, but I am thinking of cutting back on those to try to stretch it out to 4-6 months instead of 3.

I space all these meds out so they are given a week or more apart cause I don't like to put too much into his system all at once, he tends to get abit lethargic if I do :/ which is why I would stay away from an all in one as well.

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I have two pugs. We live in Far Nth Qld.

We have a paralysis tick season every year & after trying everything else the most economical thing we found was Bayer Killtix tick collars replaced every 4wks rather than every 6 wks in peak season.

Canemax tabs (does all worms and heartworm) every 6wks works out $23 per dog (approx 10kgs) for the year. I used to get the jab for my boy but this is a lot cheaper only prob have to remember to religiously do it every 6wks.

and Advantage for Fleas (if any) replaced every 3 wks rather than 4. We buy the largest size pk and divide it up by weight as it works out cheaper :banghead:

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The cost of the annual heartworm jab is about the same as the tablets - it's just that one pays in a lump sum!

Just remember that heartworm jab only covers heartworm. So if you use it, keep giving your dogs something like Drontal all wormer to keep away the intestinal worms (tapeworm, ringworm, hookworm etc)

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Rappie, don't be mean! :(

I have been pondering these questions myself for quite some time in order to decide what we will sell to our customers, now that advantage duo is taken off the market. I don't like all in one products either.

Be aware Advocate misses out on one important parasite: Tapeworm. (including hydatids.) Dogs can get these from other dogs and from eating offal, so especially if you are in a rural environment, do give a tapewormer (or any allwormer) quarterly just as you normally would for drontal. Given that you have to do this, I don't find Advocate that convenient at all.

We have found a generic alternative to heartgard. It's the same amount of ivermectin as in heartgard, and it's even cheaper than proheart (depending on the size of your dog)

for a dog 1-12kg, 6 month's is $8.82

For 12-24kg dogs, 6 month's supply is $17.65

for 24-36kg dogs, 6 months' supply is $22.20

for 36-48kg dogs, 6 month's supply is $29.80

This stuff is also available in bulk, so for people with big dogs or multiple dogs, or if I got enough orders that I could split up a bulk pack, it works out to $2 per tablet!! That's really cheap. (One tablet treats a 24kg dog, it works like drontal, you halve it for a 12kg dog, double it for a 48kg dog etc.)

For wormers drontal really is the best, but also quite expensive - you can pay up to $5 per tablet. Endogard is also quite good, if you buy the bigger tablets and split them it works out to $3 per 10kg tablet. Then you can go to more generic brands, which can go as low as $1.70 per 10kg tablet - but it always depends on what sort of bulk you buy in. We stock all of these but I still recommend you use drontal for at least one of your wormings each year.

For fleas, I think advantage is the best and cheapest. Not counting things like excelpet which stink to high heaven and often don't work too well.

Sentinel is great for convenience as it does do tapeworm (unlike advocate) and it's $70 for the 6 month pack for dogs 0-4kg, $75 for 4-11, $80 for 11-22kg etc. Expensive stuff!!

BTW, I would avoid the annual heartworm injection - there are reports of problems in the USA with it. At least be careful until more research has been done into these cases.

*If enough DOLer's want to get together to make it worthwhile, I would be happy to get a 50tab pack of generic heartgard (just called monthly heartworm chews) and distribute it around for $2 per tablet. (12-24kg tabs) That would work out to only $12 for 6 months heartworm for 12-24kg dogs. Pretty cheap. If enough people are interested I could do this. Similarly, I could do allwormer tabs for $1.30 each (10kg tabs). I would need about 5 people to make it work though.*

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