Getting ready to order my wormers from Viovet and I have noticed that you need a vet prescription for Milbemax but not for Drontal. Does anybody know why this is and which ones you usually use. I'm due to use Milbemax but was thinking of using Drontal so I can order them tomorrow.

I use Milbemax because we are in a lung worm area. There was a discussion on milbemax active ingredients that causes problems in certain breeds on here last week I think.

Guess it depends if you are in a lung worm area too

milbemax shouldnt be given to collie breeds.

I'm just off to the vets to collect my milbemax, for my collies and hounds. It's important not to overdose collie breeds with it (if you don't know their MDR1 status), but it's perfectly safe to use sensibly.

Although I don't have collies I do have a herding breed, or this is what they are mainly used for in their country of origin.  What would I be best using as my young lad has a habit of picking up snails and bringing them to me?

Milbemax is being used in dogs of unknown parentage all over the country without a single report of a problem. You have to bear in mind that there will be a lot of cross breeds which don't look like they have any herding ancestors but they may carry the mutant MDR1 gene. Looking at the silken windhound you wouldn't think there was a chance that they might carry it, but some do. The fear arises from the safety data sheet which states that tolerance in young collie breeds has not been tested and that the correct dosage procedure must be followed.

My vet prescribe it as the wormer of choice now to any breed but with every breed the correct dosage must be followed, which is fairly easy as it's one tablet for any dog up to 25kg.

If I had a litter of collie pups and I wanted to be very safe I wouldn't leave a box of Milbemax lying around where the pups could get it, same goes for slug pellets, antifreeze etc :-)

Do SWD carry the defect MDR1 gene Diane? It's worth DNA testing a few to see if you don't know, as there are other (more dangerous) ivermectin related drugs to be aware of if they do, for example imodium or eating horse dung from an animal that has just been wormed.

My two have Advocate every month for lungworm protection/treatment. They also have milbemax every 6 months for tapeworm

No not that we know of but I'm hearing that it seems to affect quite a few herding breeds so of course it is something that you wonder if it could affect your own breed and in some ways they are of similiar build and working type to the BC.

I see where you are coming from chaumsong but my reason for posting was that dog owners without your knowledge on the subject may go ahead and use milbemax without a second thought and may do more harm than good, so in my opinion there are other wormers that do just a good of a job and cause no harm to thier pet.
I also felt your flippant reply to my post was uncalled for...

I would not use this product on my dogs .

You can get Drontal + without a prescription from several online places:

http://www.bestpetpharmacy.co.uk/detailed_product.asp?id=13491

I'm not sure why some of these online pharmacies say prescription-only on some products which I know you can get without prescription on other sites.  (Frontline for eg, I saw being advertised as prescription needed on one site, but I know it can be obtained without a prescription.)  It's always worth looking around to see if things are prescription only everywhere.

Edited to say - Whoops, I misread your original post to say that you couldn't get Drontal without a prescription either.  Disregard all the above, but will leave it there in case it's useful!

Panacur is effective on the lungworm, it is given at half dose for 7 days. 

Then I would use Easimax (same ingredients and strength as Drontal) but cheaper, at other times.

Sorry Starryeyes the flippancy was really not intended to offend, its a character fault but don't worry I don't intend to breed from myself so it won't affect the gene pool :-)

Brainless, I hadn't  heard of easimax before, just looked at Hyperdrug and the prices are good.

chaumsong :)

Use Drontal Plus as cannot use milbemax on my aussies.

Panacur is effective on the lungworm, it is given at half dose for 7 days

I understood it was 10 days at a large dose. My girl had 40ml of it everyday.

Perhaps the protocol has been changed, or maybe that is the preventative dose rather than one for clinical confirmed problem.

That was the dosage level that one bitch I bred 8 years ago who was affected in the home counties has every month. 

She showed symptoms after spaying, and the owner thought it was due to the OP, when she described the exercise intolerance I had her take her to the vet right away and lung-worm was diagnosed.

http://www.intervet.co.uk/Products_Public/Panacur_10__Liquid/090_Product_Datasheet.asp

"For the control of lungworm Oslerus (Filaroides) osleri in dogs administer 1ml per 2kg bodyweight daily for 7 consecutive days.

(= 50mg fenbendazole/kg bodyweight daily for 7 days).

A repeat course of treatment may be required in some cases."

Interesting Brainless.
We treated Brooke at 40ml (so 1ml per kilo of bodyweight) for 10 days when she had lungworm. However she had been misdiagnosed before this by the vet who was treating her for MRSA and so this might explain this as she had had lungworm along time.
Now every 6 weeks with alternate between Milbemax and Advocate as a perventative.

Seems there are a whole host of different lungworms each with different treatment. I too use milbemax and Advocate - for the lungworm angiostrongylus vasara - french heartworm - but have to use Advocate every 4 weeks!

I would imagine that similar chemicals kill creatures of similar types.  Certainly fenbendazole kills a lot of different flukes in different species which is why it is used in so many species (cats dogs, cattle sheep horses goats etc) and it is also useful because it deals with immature/larval stages fo many parasites that a lot of the others don't.

You will see if you type in Panacur 10% for sheep, or horse etc you will get different lists of things it kills relevant for those species.

Frontline spot on is available everywhere without perscription,however Frontline Spray is only available on perscription,and for my smallish breed works out cheaper.

The Spray works out dearer per application for me, with the cost of the prescription, but it lasts longer (up to three months for prevention fo fleas) and is less concentrated than the spot on (you use more of it all over but it is diluted), so less likely to cause a skin reaction than the spot on which mien have reacted to when using it for Pet Passport entry.