The Worming And Flea Business

[giraffez]

Its been a while since i've done this so I've forgotten what to do

Worming

What is the timetable for worming a pup? Is this the drontal?

And when do I start heartworms? I think i started this on my old dog when he was 11 weeks.

Fleas

As for flea treatment, are the strength of the medication in the topical vial the same for each weight level - the only difference being the volume of the medication to administer? if i have two dogs that need the 10-25kg packet of flea treatment where each treatment is 2.5mL, could i buy the next weight level up (ie over 25kg which contains 4mL) and half the medication between the two dogs?

Edited November 13, 2010 by giraffez

[Kirty]

Worming should be done every 3 months with an allwormer tablet.

Some spot-on flea treatments can be halved to use on different dogs, but not all. I know that Advantage is definitely safe for that (I buy the large dog treatments and divide them up for my cats).

If you decide to use Revolution, that treats fleas and heartworm (not not intestinal worms). I imagine it would be fine to buy a larger dose of Revolution and divide it between two dogs.

[giraffez]

Is the heartworm not the same as the all wormer? Are the all wormers the one from the supermarket?

[Dju]

For puppies and worming, my breeder told me once every two weeks, I believe? Drontal puppy is good, yes, the tablets are too big for puppies. The benefits of Drontal is also that there's a paper inside that tells you how often to administer the treatment, that was pretty useful for me :D I'm not sure myself about flea/tick treatments for puppies though.

[Kirty]

No, not from the supermarket. All-wormers only treat intestinal worms. You need something else for heartworm. You can use tablets or injections or, as I prefer, Revolution. I use Ambex tablets for my dogs, but I know a lot of people use Drontal.

[giraffez]

so the all wormers are for life? not just the puppy period. So when does heart worm need to start?

[becks]

Wormers like Drontal treat intestinal worms (not heartworm) and should be given monthly to a puppy up to 6 months of age and then every 3 months (as you should be doing with your adult dog now)

Fleas - just treat when they get them.

Products bought from the vets or online pharmacies are going to be more effective then the rubbish from the supermarket.

[giraffez]

Wormers like Drontal treat intestinal worms (not heartworm) and should be given monthly to a puppy up to 6 months of age and then every 3 months (as you should be doing with your adult dog now)

oops. :D I must have missed that instruction from my breeder - for some reason i was under the impression that worming was just puppy, then the rest is heartworm. Better get some tomorrow.

I think i saw some post/article somewhere a while back saying the supermarket all wormers matches if not better than the non supermarket ones. Thats why i thought allwormers were from the supermarket.

[Kirty]

Oops sorry, I just read your post properly. I thought we were talking about adult dogs. Yes, pups should be done once a month until 6 months for worms. So for a little puppy, you could worm with Drontal once a month, and use Revolution once a month - then you are covered for intestinal worms, heartworm and fleas. :D

ETA: Most supermarket products are crap and some are downright dangerous (like the cat flea treatments that contain pyrethrins).

Edited November 13, 2010 by Kirty

[giraffez]

ok thanks. Is drontal a good brand then? Since i missed worming my older dog, if he has worms in him, would it be safe to administer the all wormer or does he need a blood test to have the all clear before doing so?

I haven't seen any worms in his stool tho.

Edit:

I feed my dog interceptor, that covers heart worms and intestinal worms - so do i still need the all rounder?

http://www.pets.novartis.com.au/dogs/inter...orSpectrum.html

Edited November 13, 2010 by giraffez

[WreckitWhippet]

worming every two weeks with an all wormer such as drontal, until they are 12 weeks, then once a month to 6 months and 3 monthly from there on.

use flea prevention if you have fleas at your house. There's no point putting chemical on them , if they don;t require it.

heart worm prevention once a month, using a basic heart worm tablet such as heartgard. Once again if you dont live in a heart worm area, why fill your dog full of chemicals.

I go with the less is best approach.

[Dju]

worming every two weeks with an all wormer such as drontal, until they are 12 weeks, then once a month to 6 months and 3 monthly from there on.

use flea prevention if you have fleas at your house. There's no point putting chemical on them , if they don;t require it.

heart worm prevention once a month, using a basic heart worm tablet such as heartgard. Once again if you dont live in a heart worm area, why fill your dog full of chemicals.

I go with the less is best approach.

How do you know if you live in a heartworm area? I heard the same thing being said about the tick prevention "if you don't live in a tick area there's no need for it", but how can one tell, are there statistics on the internet or something like that? :D

[Flick_Mac]

worming every two weeks with an all wormer such as drontal, until they are 12 weeks, then once a month to 6 months and 3 monthly from there on.

use flea prevention if you have fleas at your house. There's no point putting chemical on them , if they don;t require it.

heart worm prevention once a month, using a basic heart worm tablet such as heartgard. Once again if you dont live in a heart worm area, why fill your dog full of chemicals.

I go with the less is best approach.

What she said! That's the official advice from my Vet lecturers... it takes into account the life cycle length of the parasites... Agree with the minimal use of chemicals too!

[giraffez]

I feed my dog interceptor, that covers heart worms and intestinal worms - so do i still need the all rounder?

http://www.pets.novartis.com.au/dogs/inter...orSpectrum.html

Edited November 13, 2010 by giraffez

[Crisovar]

I feed my dog interceptor, that covers heart worms and intestinal worms - so do i still need the all rounder?

http://www.pets.novartis.com.au/dogs/inter...orSpectrum.html

No

[Sandra777]

How do you know if you live in a heartworm area? I heard the same thing being said about the tick prevention "if you don't live in a tick area there's no need for it", but how can one tell, are there statistics on the internet or something like that?

Phone around the local vets and ASK!

Intestinal worming for adults is another area I wonder at - costs very little to have a fecal exam done once and a while to see if the dogs actually need worming.

Oh and no you don't need to do any sort of test prior to giving the dog intestinal wormers - that's heartworm only that you need to do that for.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Sandra777

[giraffez]

worming every two weeks with an all wormer such as drontal, until they are 12 weeks, then once a month to 6 months and 3 monthly from there on.

When is it safe to start heartworms? The interceptor packaging says its safe for puppies from 2 weeks but do they really need it at that age? I was thinking of starting at 12 weeks but i am thinking about doing it a bit earlier.

My puppy was wormed with all wormers at 8 weeks of age. Which means at 10 weeks i need to worm again. Rather than going out an buying all wormers which has several doses and only use one, should i just start him on interceptor (covers intestinal worms and heartworm) at 10wks?