Pups and kittens all have worms - they get them from their mother and there is little you can do to prevent this happening. Left untreated these will make your pet unwell, result in por weight gain and and at worst can cause death from balls of worms blocking the intestine. Therefore puppies and kittens should be wormed every 2 weeks until 12 weeks of age, then every month until 6 months of age.
After this age you should worm your pet every six weeks for life if there are children under ten years old in the household or otherwise every 3 months for life . The reason we recommend more frequent interval for households with young children is that one worm that dogs can get - Toxocara canis - can very rarely cause blindness in humans with young children being most susceptible. This is very rare but nonetheless a risk not worth taking.
We recommend Milbemax Tablets, Drontal Plus Tablets or Panacur Granules all of which will kill all common Roundworms and Tapeworms. These can be bought over the counter at the clinic without a prescription. Worm treatments available from supermarkets are not particularly effective - if they were we would sell them!
Flea treatment and Prevention
We recommend use of Advocate for prevention and treatment of fleas but Stronghold, Frontline or Advantix are also products that we stock and which are effective. These are small tubes of liquid which are applied to the skin between the shoulder blades and provide cover against fleas for 1-2 months. Advocate and Stronghold are also effective against roundworms (but not tapeworms) and Adavntix and Frontline are effective against Ticks (but not worms). If in doubt about which is best to use for your individual circumstances our nurses will be more than happy to advise you. Flea collars, powders, shampoos or other treatments which may be freely available from supermarkets, pet shops or pharmacies are not really effective and should be avoided (even though they may be cheaper!)
NB - The Law: Strict interpretation of the Animal Remedies Act require that we only dispense these medications (which are legally classified as Prescription Only Medications ('POMs')) to animal under our care. The annual Health Assessment and Vaccination will suffice for this examination - in other words as long as your pets vaccinations are up to date then you will be able to collect these flea treatments whenever you wish.
