We use as recommended by our vet advocate spot on once a month and a Drontal wormer every 3 months. I was just wondering if others use spot ons this reguarly? I know that advocate gives protection for alot of things ( not ticks though, which is what she keeps getting!!), but I just worry about putting such strong chemicals on her so often.

> I just worry about putting such strong chemicals on her so often

Me too!   I don't ever use a spot on.  Any odd tick gets a blast with the spray Frontline, so doesn't get used much at all. 

Many vets recommend Drontal monthly, which I would never do, unless walking dogs in an area that was frequented by many dogs.  I used to Drontal every 3 months, but, having left my 3 Collies for a year without worming, and then sending off faecal samples for the lab to assess - no worms were found - I now only do them annually.

However, it does depend on where your dogs go, and I realise that you have to take this into consideration.

You could try Frontline Spot-on which is given every 2 months and it says on the pack "Kills 98-100% of fleas within 24 hours for approx. 2 months. Kills ticks within 48 hrs for up to 1 month..."

I guess if you are having real trouble with ticks you would use it monthly. It also states the minimum treatment interval is 4 weeks.

There are some more natural alternatives you could try. Some details can be found here: http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_6299317_natural-flea-tick-control-dogs.html

Think I will try the frontline as it's every 2 months, we used this for our old dog and never had any problems, but our vet really gave us the hard sell on the advocate! I know that she needs to he protected from fleas and worms for her own sake and the fact we have young children, but it was just worrying me using something so strong every month, we just want to get it right for her. Thanks again for the great advice.

Do you live in a lungworm area, Bracey? You have to Advocate EVERY month if you do. Speak to the vet and ask if there have been cases in the surrounding areas - even phone other local vets and ask them.

I too was concerned about putting the horrible stuff on every month, even asked the vet if we could do it every 3 months. I missed 1 month, only doing it the 2nd month because we bought a new pup - Pierre was dead 5 days later from lungworm - 10 hours from 1st symptoms to PTS. It is a horrible disease and one that can be prevented. Needless to say, I Advocate every month now!!