Do We Over Medicate Our Dogs

[Rebanne]

Greytmate be very careful about what you say. Homeopathy can and does work I have used it on horses with great results. It is your opinion that it doesn't work but others will strongly disagree I'm sure.

It isn't just my opinion.

There is no evidence available that it works.

Many conditions will heal on their own, and that may be attributed to homoeopathy. But in controlled double-blind trials, homoeopathy has shown to be totally ineffective.

If people strongly disagree they need to provide the evidence to show they are right. We have been waiting years and no reliable evidence has ever been produced. The advocates of homeopathy are the ones that need to be careful in what they say. In my opinion homoeopathy is just a legal scam. People can disagree, but without evidence they are wasting their time arguing about it.

My proof is in the dogs and how they react to a course of treatment. Some have worked some have not, same as other types of treatments. I know it has worked cause I have seen it do so. Don't need any more proof then that. I only used it once for a physical illness, it was to counteract the ill effects of a vaccination. No idea if that worked or not. But the symptoms settled, treatment or time, who knows. But I do know in some of the behavioural issues homeopathics worked when nothing else did, except for travel sickness, never found one that worked there. I used a vet formally trained in homeopathics, same as I used a vet formally trained in chiropractic and acupuncture.

[Abilene]

I have a dog that has an allergic reaction to vaccinations... we titer. I routinely vaccinate all puppies and after the first annual vaccination, we titer everything... for rabies as well... since we vaccinate for rabies over here. The dogs I brought with me from Australia, were given rabies vaccinations before leaving Australia. Some states here require rabies vaccination to be administered annually, some require every three years. I live on the border of Oklahoma and Texas and in here in Oklahoma, rabies is considered an annual vaccination, whereas in Texas it is given every three years.

I titer for all vaccinations.

I treat for heartworm during the warmer months and stop after our first freeze... guided by the weather, will depend on when we reccomence heartworm prevention. We have a heartworm test on all dogs performed at beginning of summer annually. I treat for fleas in the same manner as heartworm. I do my own fecal egg counts on all our animals (dogs, horses, sheep & cattle) and treat according to the results - a number of ranchers in the area bring manure samples for me to perfrom egg fecal counts.... the kids who live up the road from our ranch call me the poop lady

All puppies are wormed reguarly until they are six months, then I do fecal egg counts on them also.

[Christina]

Of course we over medicate our dogs & ourselves.

Fear of getting or catching things is a big money maker for the manufactures of these products & the profits for sales along the line so

I guess its a case of using common sense & the personal circumstances of how your dogs live & what the risks are.

[Guest lavendergirl]

What you could do is establish exactly what parasites you NEED to treat and what can be dealt with on an 'occurence' basis.

My guys are treated for heartworm only during mosquito months. I would never give an injectable for this.

They always get their internal parasite tablets every three months.

They are given tick preventatives only when in a tick area (not often)

They don't get flea treatments and I've only ever had to treat them for fleas twice in 14 years.

The idea of giving a once a month all in one "just in case" treatment has never appealed to me. I prefer to tackle individual issues with specific treatments and only as required. Easy doesn't necessarily equal better in that regard.

However, I would not be mucking about with half or less regular dosages.

Yep this is me too.

Heartworm is something I don't want to risk, so that gets given regularly all year round. I feed a completely raw diet so I also worm monthly as I don't want to take the chance with hydatids. All doses are correct as per weight.

I only treat for fleas if I come across them and I haven't vaccinated since he was 16wks old.

Is this an issue if human grade meat is fed?

For people who need to board their dogs regularly, vaccination schedules are virtually dictated by the boarding kennels who won't accept less than yearly vaccinations - which I would rather not do. I give Frontline every month for flea and tick control mainly because I don't want fleas to get a foot in - so hard to get rid of once you have them in the house. I have cut back on the worming to every three months for the all-wormer and monthly for the heartworm. I don't see the need to give an all wormer every month for a dog that is essentially a house dog fed human grade meat.

[Inevitablue]

I wonder how many parents routinely, to the day, worm their kids? Or do they wait until there is some bum scratching going on before they remember?

[flame ryder]

My vet told me I should be worming my new puppy (now 5 months) every 2 weeks. That's way over the top. He was wormed when I got him at 9 weeks, then 1 month later, now he will be done along with my adult dogs...3 or 4 times a year.

Does anyone know if Advocate will do Hydatit worms. I currently use Frontline but am thinking of swapping to Advocate so it includes worms but if I then have to go out and buy a separate pill for Hydatit I wont bother.

And yes in answer to the original question I do think we over medicate. When my small dog was vaccinated I asked the vet is same dosage given to a Chihuahua as a great dane?...and yes it is the same dosage. Then I started to think the same question.

[Agility Dogs]

I don't agree with using homoeopathy. It simply doesn't work. It has no active ingredients. It's useless.

That's OK and MAY be true, but if it gives me the confidence to wait and see whether something needs further investigation (itching, conjunctivitis, absess) and saves me hundreds or thousands in the process them I'm happy to give it a shot. :laugh:

Sorry to derail the thread - I didn't read the first post thoroughly enough.

[Red Fox]

I wonder how many parents routinely, to the day, worm their kids? Or do they wait until there is some bum scratching going on before they remember?

I do know of parents who worm their kids at the start of every term.

Teela, I'm pretty sure Advocate and Advantage don't cover hydatids. Sentinel and Interceptor do though.

[megan_]

Hydatid tapeworms can kill dogs AND humans - it may take a few years, but it can and does happen. For this reason alone I will always worm my dogs. It is also the reason why I'll never feed by dogs pet-grade raw meat or offal. I don't believe they'll always be picked up in stool samples?

[Kavik]

I use Advantix for fleas and Interceptor for heartworm and worms - prefer to be on the safe side, especially with an allergy prone dog and little kids. I think that covers my bases?

[Echo]

What you could do is establish exactly what parasites you NEED to treat and what can be dealt with on an 'occurence' basis.

My guys are treated for heartworm only during mosquito months. I would never give an injectable for this.

They always get their internal parasite tablets every three months.

They are given tick preventatives only when in a tick area (not often)

They don't get flea treatments and I've only ever had to treat them for fleas twice in 14 years.

The idea of giving a once a month all in one "just in case" treatment has never appealed to me. I prefer to tackle individual issues with specific treatments and only as required. Easy doesn't necessarily equal better in that regard.

However, I would not be mucking about with half or less regular dosages.

Same opinion here.

[espinay2]

I do believe we are encouraged to over medicate. Agree that I prefer to treat when there is a need. I have needed to use treatment for fleas twice in 17 years and the problem was quickly resolved. I don't generally worm more often than every 6 months. After discussion with my vet I do not use a heartworm preventative due to the very low risk where I am. I vaccinate no less than 3 yearly and have for years. This works well for me to help me maintain my dogs in optimum health. Naturally you mileage may vary and it pays to do your own research on pros and cons of doing things.

Edited February 22, 2012 by espinay2

[stormie]

What you could do is establish exactly what parasites you NEED to treat and what can be dealt with on an 'occurence' basis.

My guys are treated for heartworm only during mosquito months. I would never give an injectable for this.

They always get their internal parasite tablets every three months.

They are given tick preventatives only when in a tick area (not often)

They don't get flea treatments and I've only ever had to treat them for fleas twice in 14 years.

The idea of giving a once a month all in one "just in case" treatment has never appealed to me. I prefer to tackle individual issues with specific treatments and only as required. Easy doesn't necessarily equal better in that regard.

However, I would not be mucking about with half or less regular dosages.

Yep this is me too.

Heartworm is something I don't want to risk, so that gets given regularly all year round. I feed a completely raw diet so I also worm monthly as I don't want to take the chance with hydatids. All doses are correct as per weight.

I only treat for fleas if I come across them and I haven't vaccinated since he was 16wks old.

Is this an issue if human grade meat is fed?

It's not something I would want to take a chance on. See the thing is, humans don't get infected from eating affected offal, so for eg if you had a piece of liver that had a cyst in it and you ate it, you wouldn't get infected.

Humans act like the sheep or other animal host. But if your dog eats it, they can be infected and then humans in turn can be affected if they swallow the eggs which are passed in the dogs faeces.

So I'm not sure what happens with the testing of human grade offal. I'm not sure how thoroughly they need to check each tiny amount seeing we wouldn't get affected? I know when I buy liver, it's still whole, but perhaps they have other screening methods?? No idea!!

[Salukifan]

Firstly Advantix, advocate and advantage are not "Chemicals" as such. They were derived from the human edible crop divisions that use the same active ingredient of the Advantage family range - Imidicloprid. This product is used on food crops that you and I EAT.

Since when haven't naturally derived substances been called "chemicals". They're organic chemicals.

Being naturally derived doesn't equate with being "safe" or without adverse effects. Some of the most deadly chemicals around occur in nature.

I don't make a habit of dousing myself in pesticide (naturally occuring or not) on a regular basis and I'm not going to do it to my dogs unless there is a bloody good reason for doing so. Ticks are a bloody good reason IMO but fleas? Simply not an issue around here.

[moosepup]

I don't give preventatives for fleas or vaccinate but do use Interceptor evrery 6 weeks for worms and heartworm.

Bit OT but do dogs sometimes just get an itchy butt? :laugh: I catch Moose scooting maybe once or twice a month, when is it cause for concern? If its frequent? I check his anal glands so it's not that.

[Mason_Gibbs]

My allergy dog scratches his butt i assume he just gets itchy there like he does everywhere else

[karly101]

I use Advocate monthly atm but only because my dog had been struggling with Demodex mites. He also has skin issues so the last thing he needs are fleas and mites as well. If he didn't have those issues I would have done Sentinel every 60 days which is what I do for my sisters dog.

They are both vacc'd yearly but will switch to 3 yearly and KC yearly once he has matured. I will provide pain relief when needed and antibiotics only when needed.

It's very much an individual thing, whats in your area, what risks. One thing is I strongly believe in regular worming especially where hydatids are concerned as you won't see the symptoms until its too late. As for flea treatment, I've worked in areas where animals are riddled with fleas and can see the benefit of using flea preventatives year round as once you are infested it is SO costly and hard to get rid of them.

Personally, reading on homeopathy I can't see how it works when it is so diluted there is no way the ingredient would be active at such a low concentration.

[mita]

I'm glad the OP asked the question. I often wonder about it myself. So I've found the replies useful.

[WreckitWhippet]

I do believe we are encouraged to over medicate. Agree that I prefer to treat when there is a need. I have needed to use treatment for fleas twice in 17 years and the problem was quickly resolved. I don't generally worm more often than every 6 months. After discussion with my vet I do not use a heartworm preventative due to the very low risk where I am. I vaccinate no less than 3 yearly and have for years. This works well for me to help me maintain my dogs in optimum health. Naturally you mileage may vary and it pays to do your own research on pros and cons of doing things.

That's pretty much me and my dogs too. I worm a little more frequently and we live in cool climate country and have no need to use heart worm preventatives.

[Atanquin]

I use natural products for my horses altho I do worm him every season change. I find ACV and garlic keeps the flys and bittig insects away and if I don't give t to him they will annoy the c€#p out of him. I'm looking into natural alternatives for zorro's flea and tick treatment instead of using chemicals.

I think I will stick to the worming every 3 months tho as worms are nasty.