Parasite Prevention 2018

Helping you to maintain optimal health in your 4-legged family members has always been our primary focus at Fairhaven Vet, and parasite-control is an increasingly important part of good, preventive, health-care!   The incidence of external and internal parasites has clearly been rising in our area.  These parasites not only pose a health risk to your pets, but many can cause disease in people as well.

Fairhaven Vet now recommends Year-Round comprehensive parasite prevention for your pets: 

• Dogs: A combination of once-monthly Credelio (Fleas and Ticks) and Interceptor Plus (Internal Parasites) is recommended for all dogs for excellent, safe parasite  prevention.
• Cats: Once-monthly Revolution is recommended for cats for Fleas and Internal-Parasites.  All cats with outdoor exposure, or in households with other pets who go outdoors, should be treated.  Treatment should be considered for 100% indoor cats living in high-density housing with a lot of other animals in the environment, especially if the household includes children.

To protect your family (four-legged and two-legged) from illness caused by parasites, Fairhaven Vet now recommends year-round parasite prevention for Fleas, Ticks and Internal-Parasites.  Flea activity in our area has steadily expanded over the last several years and we now see fleas as early as January and as late as November (essentially year-round!).   We have also seen a significant increase in Tick activity in dogs in the past 2-years.  While Tick-borne illnesses are still rare in our area, they can occur, and we believe active tick-prevention in dogs is important.  Intestinal parasites (Roundworms, Hookworms, and Whipworms), have been on the rise in our area for several years, and we continue to recommend monthly preventive treatment for internal parasites.   While Heartworm Disease has not, yet, become endemic in the Pacific Northwest, we don’t know if this will change, and monthly, internal-parasite protection has the added benefit of preventing heartworm disease as well.

Each year, we review available parasite-prevention products, evaluate the threat that parasites pose locally, and recommend the best products and protocols to help keep your pets healthy.  The recommendations above were chosen to provide the safest, most-complete parasite protection to help keep your fuzzy friends and you healthy.    More information can be found below.  Please let us know if you have any questions – we are here to help!

Credelio for Dogs:  Credelio belongs to the relatively new, “Isoxazoline” class of insecticidal medications that have proven to be very safe and effective against fleas and ticks.  Isoxazoline medications readily bind the neurologic “gaba” receptors of insects, causing rapid death, but have very little effect on mammalian gaba-receptors.  Fleas die rapidly before they can reproduce, and ticks die rapidly before they can transmit disease.   Credelio is approved for puppies as young as 8-weeks old, weighing at least 4.4 lbs.  Like most flea/tick medications, Credelio should be used cautiously in dogs with pre-existing seizure disorders, only after consulting with our veterinary team.

Interceptor-Plus:  Interceptor-Plus combines two very longstanding parasite prevention medications to kill most intestinal parasites and prevent heartworm disease.  “Milbemycin Oxime” has been used for decades for monthly preventive treatment of roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms, as well as heartworm prevention.  The inclusion of “Praziquantel” (another very safe, long-standing parasite medication) in Interceptor-Plus, means that Tapeworms are also effectively and safely treated.

Revolution:  Revolution has been our recommended parasite-prevention product for cats for over a decade.  Revolution has proven to be very safe and effective at killing fleas, treating intestinal roundworms and hookworms, treating ear-mites, and preventing Heartworm.  Revolution does not treat tapeworms – additional medication will be needed if tapeworm segments are seen.  Revolution has limited activity against ticks.  We have not seen any significant incidence of Tick’s on cats on our area but please let us know if you find any ticks on your cats!