after the sad news on here of a dog passing away due to lungworm, i ask you all how often do you treat your dogs for this problem and what do you use.i thought twice a year was fine for adult dog,but now i think again
jo

I use milbemax but have only used it for one treatment so far.  My dog is partial to a bit of grass so I thought better safe than sorry.  He is a boxer so not a collie-type as I believe they can react to milbemax.

I tend to do drontal every 4 months, but this has set me thinking. I did recently have a word with the vet re lungworm, but she said there is not a lot in our area at the moment so I felt safe just doing the norm, however I am not so sure now.
I am not too happy at putting unwanted or unnecessary chemicals into my dogs and worming every month seemed too much and I hated the thought, however it appears that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I am open to advice here from more knowledgeable folk.

As far as I am aware the dosage is different for treating for this than for normal worming.

I understand panacur is used, at a higher dosage rate and over a different timescale than for normal worming.

> tend to do drontal every 4 months

Drontal doesn't treat lungworm, monthly advocate drops do, as do milebax (?sp) and I think panacur.
Chris

Yes, I had to use Panacur on my dog, who carries the MDR1 gene, so can't have Milbemax...Panacur treatment for lungworm is for 7 consecutive days, and different doseage to normal worming....it gives you all the details on the bottle.

Drontal doesn't treat lungworm, monthly advocate drops do

The trouble is I was only worming and not using preventative for lungworm as my vet didn't think it was necessary. Do you use a preventative regularly for your dogs because I am not sure what to do for the best, perhaps I should have another word with her.

I have not been advised that it is an issue in my area.

Zuma has had very mild lungworm twice, 1st time was 18mths ago, he had a 'huffy -clearing his throat' type cough off and on for 3-4 days so visit to vet and advocate drops which cleared it straight away, then 2nd time was about 3 mth later - he coughed about 4 times one evening so I did him straight away.
I'm in Suffolk and its in this area so I do same as my vet does (her dog has had it as well) and advocate him about every 6 weeks and just do drontal about every 6 months.
chris

Just so sad to see such a young dog pass away from lungworm. I have no idea what part of Surrey Killickchick lives in, but it might help some of us to know?

I'm in Hampshire and as far as I know it's not here, but many of us travel around with our dogs, so it would be very helpful to know of the areas where it's prevalent. Is there any one place we can find information or even see a map of serious cases? If not, then there should be!!!!!

It's clear that routine prevention isn't always enough and if you don't live in an affected area then you wouldn't prevent anyway.... About time there was a central reference to see exactly where the problem is.

> I had to use Panacur on my dog, who carries the MDR1 gene, so can't have Milbemax

I was avoiding Milbemax too as one of mine hasn't been dna tested yet. However my vet says that milbemax is safe for dogs with the MDR1 mutation. Apparently you would have to give ten times the correct dose to cause a problem?

> About time there was a central reference to see exactly where the problem is.

Prehaps there could be a permanent post on CD, so we could post if aware it was in our area? The local paper here on the I.O.W reported that there was an outbreak locally last summer.

>However my vet says that milbemax is safe for dogs with the MDR1 mutation.

The datasheet for Milbemax says "Studies with milbemycin oxime indicate that the margin of safety in certain dogs of Collie or related breeds is less than in other breeds. In these dogs, the recommended dose should be strictly observed.
The tolerance of MILBEMAX in young puppies from these breeds has not been investigated."

> Prehaps there could be a permanent post on CD, so we could post if aware it was in our area? The local paper here on the I.O.W reported that there was an outbreak locally last summer.

Great idea Lacy... I am not far from you, just over the Solent, and I would have no idea if it were present here.
We need to ask the mods about this.

when they say collie or related breeds,what are the related breeds,prob an obvious answer but i dont know it lol
jo

collie crosses.

Hi Joanne the breeds they are talking about are Border Collie, Rough Collie, Smooth Collie, Sheltie  and Australian Shepherds. The gene has also been found in German Shepherds, Old English Sheepdogs , Silken Windhounds and collie crosses

My friend's vet in Dorking told her it was rife in that area and in our vets (Surrey/Sussex border) they've got a big poster up to warn about it.

This time last year I had a dog PTS who coughed for a while, then stopped but started to labour in his breathing. All the other dogs were fine. From the xray 2 vets said it appeared to be a tumour on his lung but, as he was a grazer I still wonder.......

Also Lancashire Heelers i believe, so not sure if Corgi's are another breed to take care with.

Just thinking outside the box here.... Is there any evidence that some breeds are more likely to succumb to lungworm than others?
So little is known about it, and where it's rife.... We need data! Urgently....

I know its in the southern Berks area at the moment after my encounter with someone's dog who came to our house recently...

Which area in Southern Berks?

I know it's at least within the Bracknell area

Thanks for the heads up, not so far away....

The first time I heard of it was when a puppy buyers bitch (born in 2003) was lack lustre and unable to take proper excesses, she thought it was the after effects of spaying, I urged her to see the Vet.  This one was a snail eater and it was in the home counties in 2004.

Hi Everyone,

I have just been reading all your comments re: Lungworm as I received an email from a Vet nurse friend last night that owns two of our dogs from previous litters and she said  at the surgery where she works they have been concerned about the raised number of cases they have seen of dogs suffering from Lungworm over the last few months resulting in one 6 month old pup almost dying from it. She is based in Stoke, further investigation by her surgery has found that there have been increased cases all over the West Midlands which is a worry (we are east Midlands). This promted everyone who works at my freinds surgery to get their own dogs tested and a couple came back positive, although the worm burden was not much and was easily treated. Its a huge worry though as I have of course heard about it but never realised what a problem it is becoming? I only worm our dogs about every 6 months and that's with Drontal which doesnt seem to cover lungworm so I will certainly be speaking to my vet now as I do have a couple of my older dogs who do cough occasionally although are in good health otherswise..   

Wow, I'm due to go darn sarf for a weekend away soon, I think I'll be treating my two, just in case.  Thank goodness for this thread, if I hadn't read about it, then I may have been ignorant to just how much a problem it is becoming, I knew it was present in areas mainly further south to me, but hadn't realised quite how widespread it seems to be.  I think the sticky idea is fab! 

You do all have to remember the dosage and duration of treatment is DIFFERENT for Lung worm than the normal worming routine used. 

So even if you use one of the wormers that covers it, it won't be any good unless you give the correct dosage and length of treatment.

Thanks, am bearing this in mind as I look through to see which one to use.  Also looking at when I might be in the area where it is possible it might be present, what with this and parvo outbreaks, and there seems to be a lot of KC about, I feel like I'm dodging bullets taking the girls anywhere! 

Hi , is this lungworm in the north west area ? just that my 16 week old puppy has been vomitting and has had an upset tummy he has also lost weight i thought it might have been as i have been feeding him bakers food so i have had him at the vets today and they gave me milbemax wormer for him and advised to chnage his food to a more premium one which i have started to ween him onto it today. Just from reading the symptons of this lungworm he has a few of them or am i just being paraniod ?

Natalie & Blade

There's been a couple of case near us in Chester :(

My very good friend is a vet. nurse in Norfolk ( unfortunately not my area). She spoke to one of the vets in her surgery and he said that he has not treated any dogs for lungworm and doesn't believe that any of the other vets have either. As far as he is concerned it is not a threat in that area yet.