Advocate question

[Dublin]

I took Sparky to the vet last night for his 1st injection & check up.

I knew he had manky ears (& have been cleaning them daily since he arrived) & the vet looked in & found 1 earmite!! So she gave him a dose of advocate. I told her he was due worming (& she gave me worming tablets - which I didn't give him lad tnight as I fiigured I dodn't wanna overload him with nasty chemicals.

I just looked up advocate as ive never used it before & it says it is a wormer too - I'm wondering why the vet gave me wormers too & didn't just tell me that the advocate worms too?

[Karlin]

Usually Advocate isn't going to be enough for earmites -- generally you are going to need to treat them with drops into the ear for two weeks to cover the full life cycle.

Puppies often need worming several times -- just once is not generally enough -- but see below.

I'd always recommend calling your vet when you have questions like this -- since they precribed this range of medications it's a good idea to clarify why and what you need to do with them directly, as we don't have any vets on the board here. I'd also ask if Advocate is going to be enough for the earmites.

I would also go back and inform the breeder that she is homing puppies with earmite infestations as this is pretty sloppy breeding practice and should not happen --she needs to treat all her dogs as these are highly contagious and spread through all dogs and puppies and are extremely uncomfortable. The breeder normally also worms the puppies before homing -- I would check that you are not overdosing the pup with wormer if he was done by the breeder a least once or twice already (as would be the norm). Puppies often do need to be wormed again but not several times all in a few weeks.

[Dublin]

Hi there!

Sorry should have elaborated! The vet also gave me surolan drops for Sparky's ear mites.

The breeder had wormed Sparky (& litter mates) at 2 week intervals & was due again at 12 weeks - 2 days after I collected him.

I also will inform the breeder of his ear mites - hadn't even thought of telling her to be honest!

Just rang my vet about the 2 drugs & she said that Advocate & the wormer (miramax - I think it was called?) can be given together as the advocate dosn't do tape worms. I said to her maybe I'd leave it till next week to give him the pills though & she said that was fine as he was showing no sign of worms anyway. - Still dosn't sound quite right to me though.

[Cathryn]

Some wormers are aimed at round worms only whilst others will work on round worms and tape worms. I agree with Karlin that you should tell the breeder about the ear mites as this is very bad husbandry indeed. I could never let a puppy leave me that had ear mites until it had been totally cleared up first, touch wood, none of puppies have ever had them anyway!!