Hi. My puppy is 11 weeks old.  She has had her puppy check and both vaccinations.  She has  been wormed and treated for fleas at the vet. (she hasn't got fleas).

Vet said to worm her every 3 months but I forgot to ask about the flea treatment.

How often should I use the flea treatment on her.

Thanks.   she is a shihtzu by the way

Actually she needs worming every month until she's 6 months old, but if she hasn't got fleas then she won't need treating for them.

oh right! thank you . Perhaps I misheard him. He wasn't English and it was a bit difficult to understand him.   He was the nurse at the vets and not the vet herself.

Why on earth would anyone treat a puppy for fleas if they haven't got them?     I'd be very annoyed by that.    Prefer to only treat when they have them.     These are after all, poisons and can have side effects despite having  good safety margins.

I also wouldn't want to vaccinate and treat for worms/fleas in the same week, let alone day 

Sorry I am a bit confused. I never treated my dogs for fleas because they didn't have them but I lost my little one just before Christmas and now have a puppy.   So I shan't bother with flea treatment unless I see any on her.

The worming is confusing me also.   The breeder suggested she be wormed once a month till 6 months old.   The vet says every 3 months.

I have just been online to order worming tablets and they say drontal liquid till 12 weeks of age and then drontal plus tablets every 3 months.

Any advice please

Most vets will tell you that monthly worming till 6 months f age, and every 3 months after that, is mos effective, especially if you have children in the home.

You wrote < She has  been wormed and treated for fleas at the vet. (she hasn't got fleas).>

Which is why I questioned it ;)

The vet or vet nurse gave an unnecessary treatment if your puppy doesn't have fleas ;)  I would have been hopping mad at this.

Since puppies are likely to try and eat just about anything and it can be more difficult to stop them, they may reinfect themselves with worms very quickly.  We have always treated for worms monthly until 6 months of age, then every 3 months afterwards ;)     It's also a good measure, since they are smaller than the adults and still growing rapidly, any worms can cause more serious problems.

Don't forget, the worming protocol not only helps protect your puppy, it also protects you and any children you may have.  Worms are easily passed on to owners and their children.

This seems to be a new protocol for puppy worming.   Perhaps you should discuss it with your vet?

JG,

Having looked at the leaflets for Dosage and Administration for both Drontal |(inc Droncit and others) and Panacur, it seems that the suggested/advised worming protocols have changed to 3 weekly until 12 weeks and every 3 months thereafter.   I can find no reason for this anywhere, including on the DEFRA website and the american websites.

However I have found this Small animal deworming protocols, client education, and veterinarian perception of zoonotic parasites in western Canada  which suggests (if I've read and understood it correctly) that the old protocols are to be preferred since there is a zoonotic risk which must be taken into consideration.

Still trying to find out more about the new protocol and why it has changed.   It seems to have come from the manufacturers rather than the RCVS, DEFRA or the American equivalents?  

All I know is that my bitch was wormed correctly by her breeder till she came to me just before 8 weeks, and was wormed at 8, 12 and 16 weeks; two months later she was passing mature roundworms. Another three months of monthly worming sorted her out, and now I worm her every 2 to 3 months.

This is why I'm puzzled at the apparently new protocol for worming.   Puppies can pick up worms so much more easily than older dogs.   They have their little mouths everywhere LOL 

DD was informed by the 'cat rescue' that her kittens had been wormed regularly.   2 weeks later she called in a panic, they were passing large roundworms in the litter tray - 5" at least!    Obviously the rescue hadn't bothered worming at all!   Luckily I always have a bottle of Panacur handy, so they were wormed immediately and properly until they were full grown, then went on the normal regime. 

As roundworms are so intrinsically linked to the reproductive cycle and it is a given that pups and kittens will have worms and as they poo much more often and are likely to eat their won and her dogs/animals faeces the reinfection risk is high, I have always stressed worming monthly to 6 months of age, and adult protocols after that.

As a mother with young children in the home I was always very assiduous about this.

I am sorry to say that vets attitude to this kind of thing is often so they sell their products.

Loads of vets do puppy packages now that include, vaccinations, flea treatment, worm treatment, microchip, discount off neutering etc. Many breeds seem to be suffering from auto-immune problems nowadays. is it due to an overload of all these drugs and stresses on their immature immune systems?

< She has  been wormed and treated for fleas at the vet. (she hasn't got fleas).

I wonder if you mean your dog was treated with one of the combination treatment such as Advocate Spot On?

I've always worrmed every 3 months (right from puppyhood) and flea treat every month. Some disagree but i believe prevention is better than cure. Once you see fleas on a dog you would also need to treat the whole house as the pesky fleas would be on carpets furniture etc

Yes it was. Puppy package. I just wanted to give her the best start.

>Once you see fleas on a dog you would also need to treat the whole hou

Actually if your going the prevention route you'd probably be better off doing the house instead as fleas spend 90% of their time and life cycle off the animal.

Any inadvertently brought in fleas would then killed in the environment and/or made infertile with only a once a year or every 6 months application.

In fact just treating the animal is of little use as you say.