g a l o d y

Back in July, I wrote about lungworm and the various preventatives which exist for it.  I said that I wished there were a monthly tablet to give, much like in the US dogs get treated for heartworm monthly.  (We don’t have heartworm in the UK, so people don’t treat their dogs monthly for it.  However, some of the drugs available in North America for heartworm would also be effective against lungworm, were they available in the UK.)

I’m particularly concerned about lungworm because our dogs are big grass-munchers and the tiny slugs and snails which are the hosts for it, are often present on blades of grass.  It is almost impossible for us to prevent the grass-munching – even if I walk around saying ‘Leave’ constantly, they have already taken a mouthful by the time I say ‘Leave’.  Grass, let’s face it, is very plentiful and not easily avoided.

Yesterday, I came across this article, written by a vet.  He seems a very open-minded vet:

• He’s prepared to acknowledge that a lot of the current hysteria surrounding lungworm may have been stirred up deliberately by the drug companies and by vets – both of which stand to benefit if the public are convinced they need to give Advocate monthly.  Who owns the website lungworm.co.uk – at first glance giving factual and unbiassed info out about this parasite – but Bayer, who are the manufacturers of Advocate?  Cunningly, there is no mention of Advocate on the website; it really does purport to be unbiassed info.  Advocate is currently being marketed as the only option to prevent lungworm – when there are, in fact, other meds which work.  Why are vets pushing it so hard?  Why are there boxes of it on the front desk of our vet’s surgery, but not of the other meds?
• Secondly, as this vet points out, there are actually 4 kinds of lungworm, not one.  Which kind of confuses things, because everyone is talking about ‘lungworm’, as if it were one parasite – when really they should be talking about ‘lungworms’.  These are:

1. Angiostrongylus vasorum
2. Oslerus osleri
3. Filaroides hirthi
4. Crenosoma vulpis

• Advocate:  Advocate addresses only Angiostrongylus vasorum and Crenosoma vulpis.
• Panacur:  Panacur tackles Oslerus (Filaroides) osleri.  (I believe this is just number 2. from the list above.)
• Milbemax:  Milbemax works on Crenosoma vulpis and Angiostrongylus vasorum.  (Although it only says ‘reduction of the level of infection’, rather than claiming to be a complete cure.)

.

To add to the confusion, although it looks like there is no one med which treats all 4 types of lungworm, some folk reckon that these meds work on a wider range of parasites than they claim to/have been tested against.  For example, the same vet goes on to state in his health sheets (my underlining in green):

.

And what is Fenbendazole?  Panacur!!!  So, according to this, Panacur treats 3 out of 4 lungworms – although the data sheet provided with it only claims efficacy against Oslerus (Filaroides) osleri.  Panacur does not treat Angiostrongylus vasorum, the ‘French heartworm’, which is the one everyone is hysterical about at the moment.  Almost everywhere you look online, you come across people suggesting to each other to use Panacur against lungworm and confusion on forums is rife.

The only two products which treat Angiostrongylus vasorum are Milbemax and Advocate.  I’m still determined not to use a monthly spot-on, if I can help it – so I don’t want to use Advocate.  Which leaves Milbemax.  And that’s prescription-only, isn’t it?  Yes, if you’re looking anywhere in the UK.

No, if you buy it from Pets Megastore in Australia.  I’ve just ordered Milbemax from here, and the shipping was only £3.14 and it should take 5-7 days to get here.  (It seems that there are several other prescription-only items which you can order from Pets Megastore, without a prescription…  and save £s.  Australia must not consider these items to be PO meds.  I’m glad I’ve found this online store and have bookmarked it.)

.

Finally, the active ingredients in Milbemax are praziquantel and milbemycin oxime.  Only the milbemycin oxime is needed for lungworm treatment.  Praziquantel is for tapeworms.  The instructions on the Milbemax are:

For Angiostrongylus vasorum infection, milbemycin oxime should be given four times at weekly intervals. It is recommended, where concomitant treatment against cestodes is indicated, to treat once with MILBEMAX and continue with the monovalent product containing milbemycin oxime alone, for the remaining three weekly treatments.