Lungworm is in my area eek!

pamelab21

I ordered worming tablets for my dog from them (Vet UK) last Thu and took the free del option. They arrived on Friday...I will def be using them again and their prices were the cheapest I could find on line by far!

foreign_correspondent

Well, the granofen has arrived today, well packaged and in three days which is good as I ordered on bank holiday monday - am pleased with the service and would use them again. Hope the dogs get on ok with the Granofen (same as Panacur) - side effects seem to be uncommon

wuno

Been out of the loop for a week or so. You lot have raised some interesting points.

Milbemax is undoubtedly effective at treating lungworm infestation. In the days before any drug was licenced to treat lungworm, it was a common choice. However, now there are two licenced drugs, it would be illegal for a vet to prescribe milbemax to treat lungworm, since it is not itself licenced for that purpose.

It is true that milbemycin, like ivermectin, has a lower safety threshold in some (rare) pure bred collies carrying a double copy of the MDR1 mutation. However, I have personally never seen a problem with milbemax in collies, and it is by far the most common wormer I prescribe - you just have to err on the side of caution in the dose. Collie crosses are almost certainly not going to be at a greater risk from ivermectin-type drugs since the collie MDR1 mutation is recessive and any collie crossed with another breed will only ever have a maximum of one copy of the mutant gene - you need two to get an effect.

Lungworm is endemic in some fox populations. It is passed on through slugs and snails, which are the staple food of foxes (i.e. not lambs and chickens!), and they themselves live on fox poo, so completing the cycle.

Dogs get it from either eating fox poo, or grass contaminated with poo, or eating slugs and snails that have themselves eaten fox poo. It could then theoretically be passed on from dog to dog through slugs eating dog poo and dogs eating contamiated slugs, but I don't know how much evidence there is that this happens.

I doubt that a ban on hunting has made lungworm more common. The percentage of the total population of foxes in the UK killed by hounds was very small, so the population has not been massively increasing since hunting with hounds has been banned. More likely, the disease is simply getting more common in foxes, and undoubtedly, there are more urban foxes.

There is a theory that as winters get warmer, all parasitic diseases will become more common, since cold weather kills worms and insects in the environment.

Where did it come from in the first place? Well the disease is also known as French Heartworm, so I know who I blame.....

foreign_correspondent

wuno wrote: »

Where did it come from in the first place? Well the disease is also known as French Heartworm, so I know who I blame.....

ha ha ha, yeah it probably is their fault if you ask me! Am I right about the granofen being same as panacur and both being ok for this purpose?

wuno

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

ha ha ha, yeah it probably is their fault if you ask me! Am I right about the granofen being same as panacur and both being ok for this purpose?

There are a number of companies that make effectively the same stuff, so yes, you are correct.

If you want to find out whether Panacur (etc) might help your dog's cough, then you really need to speak to your vet. However, I would say that the reason you can buy Panacur (etc) online without a prescription is that it is safe, and provided you follow the instructions, I doubt you will do any harm by using it.

Tortieshell

Just got Advacate, it reads:

As with any product containing macrocyclic lactones, special care should be taken with Collies, Old English Sheepdogs and related breeds or crossbreeds, to correctly administer the product as described under the section "ADVICE ON CORRECT ADMINISTRATION"; in particular oral uptake by the recipient and/or other animals should be prevented.

djpleasure

For some right bargains see http://www.pets-megastore.com.au and for frontline plus ebay usa, thats where I get my supplies, no prescriptions, no silly vet prices. I am uk based

simontheiceman

Lungworm is pretty much countrywide - I see cases here in the Northwest from time to time. I would not be upgrading all my clients to advocate as I do not think it is necessary for all cases. Advocate is way more expensive and if your dog has no real need for it, then I would stick with advantage. Its all about "risk assessment" these days. We see lots of ticks due to sheep etc and those dogs that are walked in such areas get Advantix.

Point 1: f****line resistance would appear to be rife - I get loads of dogs treated with f****line who have stacks of fleas - very annoying for the owners and I wont follow them up on the yellow form scheme as they did not buy it from us - thats up to the original retailer.

Point 2: I sell drontal cheaper than some national stores - highly amusing!

Point 3: I simply love the price of wormers on the supermarket shelf - particularly those containing Piperazine. Piperazine is still a useful wormer but it has nowhere near the coverage of Drontal. It is, however, stupidly and insanely expensive from the supermarket. I can buy a pot of 1000 Piperazne tablets for the equivalent of a penny a piece - check the price of your wormers - I think the supermarkets may do better out of these than you might think. Indeed I used to work in a practice where they would give them away on request - In fact I think I might look at that again as a bonus to the vaccination.