# How often should you worm a dog?



## YellowLab

As the title says really. How often should an adult dog be wormed and is it worth going to the vets to get the treatment or going to a pet store. Also I just remembered that Yogi gets treated with Advocate so does she even need worming? What should she have in addition to Advocate?

Thanks a lot


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## Helbo

Not sure about the advocate but it's definitely worth getting a wormer from the vet - they can also make sure you're not giving something on top of advocate that you're not supposed to, and tell you how often to give it. 

I worm Charlie every 6 months because he's a nosy Beagle!


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## Terrier Fan

Advocate is a flea and worm treatment but it doesn't treat Tapeworms.

Our vets advised that when we were using advocate that we should also use Drontal worming tablets every 6 months to make sure we a treating for everything


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## rottie

I give him worm treatment at every 8-9 months, but I give him garlic from time to time.


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## Spud the Bull Terrier

My vet advised me that the wormers you can buy from the pet store are considerable less effective then the ones the vet prescribes, and dont target all kinds of worms. I dont know how accurate this is as obviously my vet has a vested interest in getting me to buy my wormer from him. Anyway I worm Spud ever 3 to four months.


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## SEVEN_PETS

I used to use Advocate with Ollie. I didn't like how often you had to use it, which was monthly. Most adult dogs need only be treated every 3-6 months. I have since changed over to Drontal wormer and Panacur Granules (swap them over every 6 months). And flea treatment is Frontline every 2 months.


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## Leanne77

I worm mine every 3 months as they are raw fed and are sods for eating unknown things on a walk. I use Panacur liquid which I believe is for lungworm too.


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## babycham2002

i worm every 3 months as my dogs are raw fed
I worm them with cestem or drontal


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## Izzysmummy

We use Advocate on Izzy. She also has droncit every 3 months for tapeworm. Apparently droncit only does tapeworm so no overdosing. If you ask at your vets I dont think you will need to actually see a vet but can probably just buy it from reception :thumbup1:


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## Blitz

I have never been great at worming adult dogs. The theory used to be that they would be fairly immune to worms so just do for tape worm if they have fleas or if they hunt (or eat raw I suppose) but now even our farm assured scheme insists dogs are wormed regularly. I was using Drontal but now I use Advocate so they only need doing for tape worm.

and yes, wormers that you get from a pet shop will not be so efficient unless the pet shop is one with a trained member of staff and a license to sell the 'real' wormers. So no need to actually buy from the vet but essential to buy the same wormers as the vet sells. Buying online from viovet seems to be a good option, much cheaper and the same drugs.


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## Nonnie

Once a year, if that.

When i do i use drontal.

EDIT: Thats what I do, what you should do is down to personal choice and affected by variious factors. Mine don't scavenge or eat poo etc, so the risks are really minimal.

Im loathed to use harsh medicines on a regular basis, and id rather wait and treat an actual problem, than go with the shotgun approach. I dont use flea treatments either.


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## Dogless

I worm using Milbemax every 3 months as Kilo is an awful scavenger at times as well as being raw fed.


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## redroses2106

i worm with drontol every 3 months 
i get it from hyperdrug though and not the vets.


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## DoodlesRule

Nonnie said:


> Once a year, if that.
> 
> When i do i use drontal.
> 
> EDIT: Thats what I do, what you should do is down to personal choice and affected by variious factors. Mine don't scavenge or eat poo etc, so the risks are really minimal.
> 
> Im loathed to use harsh medicines on a regular basis, and id rather wait and treat an actual problem, than go with the shotgun approach. I dont use flea treatments either.


I do the same


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## Redice

I worm my dogs every 3 months and alternate between Milbemax which I get from the Vet and Panacur granules which I buy online. :thumbup1:


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## Lady.turbo.wrx

*I worm my staffies every 3-4 months with drontal,sometimes a little earlier if i think either are showing signs of needing it sooner :thumbup1:*


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## Honey Bee

I have been worming Honey every 3 months with Milbemax but last time I collected it one of the vet said it only needs doing every 4 months. I will be checking this with my usual vet next week when she has her boosters just to make sure. 

I would not trust wormers from supermarkets and pet stores to be effective. I do think it is really important to worm regularly because of the risks of Toxacara.


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## Horse and Hound

I use Cestem upon recommendation from my groomer.

Cheap and works as well.

Cestem Worming Tablets (1) - Cestem | Petmeds.co.uk&

Should do them every 3 months but I normally end up doing it every 4/5.


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## SixStar

I worm my boys four times a year - I use either Drontal, Plerion, Cestem or Panacur - whatever I can get the best deal/offer on at the time! 

I only worm so regularly because they're raw fed and eat alot of wild rabbit, game etc.


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## kathyaggy

Terrier Fan said:


> Advocate is a flea and worm treatment but it doesn't treat Tapeworms.
> 
> Our vets advised that when we were using advocate that we should also use Drontal worming tablets every 6 months to make sure we a treating for everything


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## melannie

*


YellowLab said:



As the title says really. How often should an adult dog be wormed and is it worth going to the vets to get the treatment or going to a pet store. Also I just remembered that Yogi gets treated with Advocate so does she even need worming? What should she have in addition to Advocate?

Thanks a lot

Click to expand...

edit*, I was going to say best is Advocate and then seen that you said "in addition to advocate", so I don't know, any of the buy over the counter wormer stuff I guess as some others have mentioned. (I personally have never in my life used any type of wormers until now with this new dog and that is probably down to just panic I guess same as most people do, before this I never used anything or knew anyone that did and it always seemed to be that no one ever had any problems at all, maybe we are all mad nowdays, lol


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## Westie Mum

melannie said:


> *
> edit*, I was going to say best is Advocate and then seen that you said "in addition to advocate", so I don't know, any of the buy over the counter wormer stuff I guess as some others have mentioned. (I personally have never in my life used any type of wormers until now with this new dog and that is probably down to just panic I guess same as most people do, before this I never used anything or knew anyone that did and it always seemed to be that no one ever had any problems at all, maybe we are all mad nowdays, lol


Am a bit confused why you think we are all mad ? Worming a dog isn't just something you do out of panic 

We use advocate monthly with our 3 dogs and then 6 monthly milbemax.


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## BoredomBusters

I only worm mine if one catches and eats a rabbit (they are riddled with tapeworm). I keep being told worm eggs or lavea or something live in muscles and wormers can't touch them, so has to be done regularly to catch them as they move into the main body of the dogs. That may or may not be true but my dogs are fine being treated after not before. I don't want to dose my dogs if I don't have to (I only flea treat for approx 4 months of the year and only that much as Fred seems to turn into a scratching maniac on the day the medication wears off until the autumm!). If I see worms or symptoms of worms I'll treat. Otherwise, just for the rabbit. I think the last time was last year, as I did Tinker's chase recall last year so he hasn't caught any rabbits since then.


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## Blitz

melannie said:


> *
> edit*, I was going to say best is Advocate and then seen that you said "in addition to advocate", so I don't know, any of the buy over the counter wormer stuff I guess as some others have mentioned. (I personally have never in my life used any type of wormers until now with this new dog and that is probably down to just panic I guess same as most people do, before this I never used anything or knew anyone that did and it always seemed to be that no one ever had any problems at all, maybe we are all mad nowdays, lol


NO, not any over the counter wormers. They do not work. There are strict laws about what can be sold. Something you can buy in the pet shop is not allowed to contain the drugs that are needed for efficient wormers. There are wormers that you can get from certain places that are licensed to sell them and have a qualified person and then again there are prescription only ones which only the vet or an online store with a prescription from the vet can sell. Then there are the silly ones that do nothing that you can buy in a pet shop.


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## melannie

Blitz said:


> NO, not any over the counter wormers. They do not work. There are strict laws about what can be sold. Something you can buy in the pet shop is not allowed to contain the drugs that are needed for efficient wormers. There are wormers that you can get from certain places that are licensed to sell them and have a qualified person and then again there are prescription only ones which only the vet or an online store with a prescription from the vet can sell. Then there are the silly ones that do nothing that you can buy in a pet shop.


Yes, I agree with that, I think the thread starter was referring to extra worming (tapeworm) on top of the monthly prescription only Advocate they use, its Advocate I use too and once a month to try and help protect from them darn snail/slugs and *larva* that can get everywhere as we all know, seemingly much more risk in certain countries though.

What I was meaning with the buy over the counter stuff and really not making a fuss over it was that we (my family) really have never required to use 'any' wormers in our whole life's with dogs, for one thing we couldn't afford the darn stuff, lol, and it was just the normal thing in all the years I have been on the planet, but we were all brought up/raised very rough and tough style and I guess the dogs were too and also treated the same way, in other words the dogs came way down the pecking order, they got their dinners and all the normal comforts like sleeping infront of the fire etc etc etc and that was that and for some reason they all made the best of pets too (and they were pretty much all just scruffy dogs from the pounds too apart from a few full pedigree terriers and spaniels), none were ever badly treated but it seems like nowday's everyone just wants to spend spend spend $$$£££'s on animals , its pretty much non stop isn't it, lol, the spending has even got a grip on me now, I think I spend more on the mutt than I do myself, LOL.

Apart from using the Advocate once a month I think if its me I would do what @BoredomBusters said too.


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## Nonnie

melannie said:


> we couldn't afford the darn stuff


You do realise a basic wormer, even from the vet, is just a few pounds?

If someone can't afford basic treatment for parasites, they should not be owning a dog. It has naff all to do with 'everyone wanting to spend, spend spend'.


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## kare

Who keeps dragging up these old posts?


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## melannie

Nonnie said:


> You do realise a basic wormer, even from the vet, is just a few pounds?
> 
> If someone can't afford basic treatment for parasites, they should not be owning a dog. It has naff all to do with 'everyone wanting to spend, spend spend'.


says who ?? You ? look, every time I say something on here I get flamed, that's just not right and isn't very friendly at all for what's called a "forum" that in theory is meant to serve as a platform for people to share ideas or say what they have to, I was merely telling a story from life experience that's all, I certainly don't need flamed for everything I say, and its a bit pathetic you trying to tell people what they should and shouldn't buy or spend money on, if you read my post again you will see I covered things as I seen it, I mean even if you would have just said simply "I don't agree with that" and then explained why then that's perfectly fine, but you shouldn't be trying to tell me or anyone for that matter how and what we do in our life's, sure you may have more experience in life than me if you were maybe brought up/raised the same as me and my very large family (depends on age) you may have had money to blow on nice things with your family, but I can assure you that not everyone has "just a few pounds" as you say, some people don't have "just a few pounds" to buy their own dinner, heat the house or turn a light on letalone worry about dog medicines, I really think people should get things in order.

Needless to say though, for me I can buy whatever I wish and if I want to I can buy dog medicines too which I do with Advocate monthly as I explained and I also explained that I think I would tend to do what @BoredomBusters said, I already made that clear, but as I can buy stuff and not need to worry just too much about cash then if my mutt was showing signs of anything wrong then I would have him in the vet in a second, no big deal.

LOL, I just noticed that too @kare , its from 2012, LOL


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## Muttly

I bought some Panacur from my Vet, it was £7.29 for a tube. Not expensive and a good wormer. Not used it yet, I don't really want to unless I see signs.

I did worm him last November (with a different shop bought brand) when I hadn't had him long, as thought I should and he was just sick all evening.

Thing is they are not preventative are they? They treat worms. Is it not like taking a lemsip when you don't have a cold?  The medicine is trying to fight something that isn't there.

He is Flee treated every month through the summer. With a 4 week spot on. I will lessen that soon, now the frosts are starting.


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## Brannybear

I'm using panacur paste at the moment which although I need to buy a couple of tubes at a time due to the 3 day dosage for his weight (for puppies), it's very cost effective. Just done his last and then will move onto every 6 months or if I suspect worms.


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