Parasite Control

Worming

All puppies and kittens have intestinal worms. Your pet can be infected with intestinal parasites before they are born or through their mother’s milk.

There are some important considerations that need to be taken into account when worming your pet. It is important to weigh your pet prior to each treatment to ensure the correct dose is given. Whilst many spot on flea treatment combinations treat some worms they do NOT treat all intestinal worms and so it is important to use an “Allwormer” tablet. It is also important that you use an effective Allwormer as there are inferior products available which may mean that if used your family is not fully protected.

All Puppies & Kittens should be wormed every 2 weeks, from 2 weeks of age, until they are 12 weeks of age. Your Pet should then be wormed monthly until 6 months of age. It is important that the worming treatment is repeated as most medications only treat the adult worm and not the larval stages, for this reason repetitive treatment is required for removal of all worms.
Worms not only have a serious effect on the health of your pet (diarrhoea, anaemia, weight loss etc.) but also pose a significant health hazard for humans, particularly young children. Children love to cuddle and kiss their pet, likewise dogs love to lick children – unfortunately worm eggs and larvae can be swallowed during this process.

While worming is effective in killing worms that are present in the animal’s intestinal tract at the time of treatment, your pet can be reinfected by other animals or from the environment. For this reason all adult dogs should be wormed every 3 months for the rest of their life, particularly if they have contact with children.

Fleas

Fleas are always a problem and due to ideal environmental conditions have grown in huge numbers over recent years. If left untreated fleas can cause discomfort, skin disorders, anaemia and they can spread disease and worms.

Early detection of fleas and treatment is extremely important as they reproduce at phenomenal rates! A single female flea can lay 50 eggs a day with ten female fleas laying 15000 eggs a month! The majority of the flea life cycle is completed in your pet’s environment such as its bedding and your carpet. For the flea to complete its life cycle and reproduce it needs a blood feed and this is why it is imperative that you treat your pet for fleas even if you don’t think you have flea problem because before you know it you could have huge problem!

Older flea prevention options just don’t work anymore or have a very short period of action. These include Flea washes, powders and flea collars. ‘Spot on’ and ‘flea tablet’ supermarket sold preparations also fall into this category as they are made from old inferior chemicals that no longer kill fleas.

Modern flea treatment options make the control of fleas relatively easy.

‘Spot on’ flea treatments are extremely effective and easy to use. They protect the animal for one month, kill the fleas on contact and help to kill larvae in the environment. They can be used at almost any age as well as having some water safety meaning your pet is protected whatever it gets up to. There are flea only spot on treatments while combined medications (flea, heartworm, and or worm prevention) are also available.

New flea tablet prevention options are now being produced. They again protect your pet from fleas for one month and are completely water safe. These tablet options start killing adult fleas within 30minutes of ingestion and appear to be particularly useful in atopic or itchy dogs. Other older flea tablet preparations prevent the fleas from breeding and thus reduce overall flea numbers but do not have a fast kill action.

At The Causeway Veterinary Clinic, we offer a broad range of preventative care products which cater to all types of pets and lifestyles, with the emphasis being on effectiveness, convenience and ease of application.

To select the best flea prevention option for you and your pet, talk to us at The Causeway Veterinary Clinic so we can advise you on the most suitable option for your particular situation.

Heartworm Prevention

Heartworm is an extremely serious and potentially fatal disease that is caused by a worm called Dirofilaria immitis. Heartworm disease is passed from dog to dog via the mosquito and so it is possible for your pet to contract heartworm without coming into direct contact with any other animal. The immature stages of heartworm live within the small blood vessels of the body and then at maturity inhabit the large chambers of the heart. HEARTWORM KILLS DOGS! (Heartworm can be treated but it is extremely invasive and very expensive!)

Normal intestinal worm preparations do not generally protect your pet against heartworm.

Young puppies can be started straight onto heartworm prevention however in older dogs it is recommended that they have a blood test first (to ensure they don’t already have heart worm).

There are a number of heartworm preventions available and range from once a day, once a month and yearly medications but all must be given for the life of the dog to ensure 100% protection.

Monthly options are available in a ‘tablet/chew’ form or in a ‘spot on’ application. At The Causeway Veterinary Clinic, we have a large range of these products to suit most individual requirements.

Once a year Heartworm prevention takes away any risk of forgetting monthly or daily dosing and for this reason is the preferred prevention option at The Causeway Veterinary Clinic. Monthly treatments do NOT adequately protect your pet against heartworm as it has been proven that people do NOT remember to use these treatments correctly. Missing one of these treatments puts your dog at risk and for this reason The Causeway Veterinary Clinic recommends yearly heartworm prevention as the most effective means of keeping your pet safe from deadly heartworm!

An annual ‘Proheart’ Heartworm injection protects your pet against Heartworm for one year. So give us a call at The Causeway Veterinary Clinic to ensure your pet is fully protected and kept safe!