Worms, fleas and ticks

[Emily]

We used to have Ella on a monthly wormer that covered heartworm and the nasty worms in our local area. It also had a flea "treatment" as a part of the wormer.

We've now decided to give Ella an annual heartworm vaccination (for a couple of reasons - one being that the vet advised that recent studies are showing some resistance to the key ingredient in the heartworm tablets and spot-ons but no such resistance has been found in the key ingredient in the vaccine). This means that we can switch to a wormer that we only have to give every three months.

Now, fleas. The new wormer doesn't include any type of flea "treatment" so the vet said that, if we wanted a flea "treatment" then we might want to look at Nexgard or Bravecto.

Ticks are not an issue in our area (no ticks in three years with no prevention or treatment).

The reason I keep saying flea "treatment" is because I didn't realise that our wormer didn't prevent fleas or even kill them! Apparently all it did was make adult fleas sterile so they couldn't reproduce. In three years, Ella has never had fleas, which I'd originally assumed was due to the wormer.

So, if you're still reading... I'm thinking of using the heartworm vax with the three monthly wormer but no tick/flea stuff. I'm just not sure that I want to use a product such as Bravecto/Nexgard when I'm not sure there's actually a need. Do you think I'm crazy?

BTW.. I will run this by the vet before confirming my decision.

 

[Charlie]

I don't think you're crazy Emily. I have never seen fleas on either of my dogs, nearly 11 years and 7 years. I only use a tick/flea combination treatment due to the deer population. If there were no ticks I wouldn't use anything. I wouldn't use Bravecto at all, just my personal decision.

But of course see what your vet says x

 

[Oberon]

You’re not crazy. Or, if you are, so are we, because that’s exactly what we do. Annual heartworm injection, 3 monthly wormer (Milbemax) and no flea treatment. We don’t have a flea problem. If we go to a paralysis tick area we use Nexgard tablets as they’re the fastest acting against ticks. That’d be once a year, max....

 

[edzbird]

I don't use any tick treatments, I avoid areas where sheep have been - the most likely place here to pick up ticks. Coco has only picked up one tick so far. Fleas..? Yes I do treat for fleas (spot-on), Coco has picked up the odd one - I think from other dogs at training. Either that or OH has brought them in, he's the one that gets bitten and sees a flea.
Given that you've never seen a flea on Ella I think I'd try leaving her untreated and see how she goes.

 

[snowbunny]

If ticks and fleas aren't a problem, I don't see the point in treating for them!

 

[Selina27]

Do you think I'm crazy?

No I don't.

I've never treated Cassie for fleas, she's not troubled by them. Amazingly my vet tells me we are not in a high tick risk are, amazingly because we have a lot of sheep and deer.

I did run worming treatment by him during her recent check up, given Cassie's poo eating tendencies. He advised Milbemax monthly, he said that as yet there was no evidence regarding any resistance to the active ingredient, but perhaps he was wrong?

 

[Emily]

I did run worming treatment by him during her recent check up, given Cassie's poo eating tendencies. He advised Milbemax monthly, he said that as yet there was no evidence regarding any resistance to the active ingredient, but perhaps he was wrong?

The resistance that my vet mentioned was purely in relation to heartworm (transmitted by mosquitos)

 

[Boogie]

My pups are on Drontal for worms and Nexguard for ticks and fleas. Tatze has the same - just for ease and consistency so I don’t have to remember two dates.

We once had fleas on our Cavaliers, I took the ‘we’ll treat them if we have them’ approach in those days. It took months to rid the house of them. The little b*****rs hide their eggs in any soft furnishings they can find then jump back on the dogs over and over again.

Never again!

.

 

[MaccieD]

I'm like @Boogie and had a terrible problem with fleas one year although with cats, not dogs. Ended up with the council coming in and spraying the entire house which thankfully worked - but never again. I use Milbemax at 3 monthly intervals for Juno and Bravecto a few days later - I never give together. Last time I had the Braveto spot-on instead of the tablet as I was concerned about causing any stomach reaction after the colitis so may well stay with that as it was easy to administer and lasts 3 months the same.

 

[Ashley]

I was having the same issue last year when our clinic stopped recommending Revolution spot on for fleas/parasites/heartworm/dog ticks as it is not effective against deer ticks which carry lyme and are getting more prevalent in our area (allegedly) and were recommending Bravecto paired with a heartworm preventative. I've never seen a tick in my life, so I declined Bravecto and stayed with the old treatment last year. This year, I was torn, as Quinn HATES the monthly spot on and we planned to go up north, where ticks are more likely, so I went with Heartguard chews for heartworm and Bravecto chews for ticks/fleas etc. All has been fine on Bravecto, but I only use it half the year, same with heartguard due to our winters. There has to be a flea preventative out there...maybe something natural from a pet shop?

 

[MaccieD]

There has to be a flea preventative out there...maybe something natural from a pet shop?

I don't trust the natural preventatives - that's when we suffered our flea invasion ?

 

[Anne123]

If you don’t have fleas I wouldn’t treat Ella for fleas. You can always start treating her when she has them! But I don’t think she would...None of our labs had fleas! In those +20 years we have labs I never saw a flea. Ticks yes, a lot of them even with advantix. For worms Finn gets milbemax.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Drontal and bravecto for us but I have to admit that it's 2 doses of bravecto a year and I'm bad at remembering the wormer so 2 or 3 on a good year.
seems to work for us.

I would Always always check with your vet what to prioritize and use in your area based on both prevalence and resistance patterns.

 

[M.F.]

I don’t use insecticides on Snowie. He doesn’t have fleas. And if find a tick, I remove it. We don’t have a problem with ticks carrying diseases.

I gave Snowie a Bravecto tablet a couple of years ago when we’d been holidaying in a biliary area and I was worried. He had two grand mal seizures within 6 weeks of taking the Bravecto. Since then I’ve read about a lot of cases regarding the chewable tablets and illness and deaths. Next time we were in that area, I just used a repellent spray and he was fine.

Since stopping all tick and flea insecticides (spot-ons) Snowie has had no seizures.

I use a repellent spray called Wondercide from the US. Made from cedar bark and lemongrass. I spray it on our carpets and skirting when I remember. Supposed to keep away fleas and mites and ticks.

 

[Stacia]

I do not and never have in 45 years of dog owning, used flea prevention, I don't believe in putting chemicals into my dog's body unless there is a very good reason. Many years ago I did have one flea on one dog and I probably brought that home from the vet's where I worked!

 

[Joy]

I wouldn't deliberately use flea treatment but it comes as part of the spot-on treatment (Advocate) that I use to safeguard against lungworm. We are in a high lungworm area, we have lots of slugs and snails in the garden and Molly does a lot of grass and leaf grazing. I don't use tick prevention as none of my dogs have ever had a tick since we've been living here. (But I do check carefully as a friend's son had Lyme Disease which was frightful.)

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

I don't treat fleas preventatively, only once they appear. I had to treat Xena and the cats this summer, and chose to use the Seresto collar for Xena (cats got Broadline). It lasts 8 months. It's due to come off next month, and I won't replace it. Should fleas reappear over summer, I'll do the same. She gets Endogard like clockwork every 3 months, and it's way cheaper at my vet than online surprisingly. The collar was massively cheaper online, go figure.

 

[Emily]

Thanks for all of the replies, I can see that everyone's circumstances are different and each treatment/prevention method has been carefully considered.

I think I'll have a chat to the vet today about not using a flea treatment/prevention.