Preventative care for our precious pets is an important and easy way to prolong and improve their quality of life, ensuring that we have them with us for years to come. Both cats and dogs require preventative treatment for common parasites such as fleas, ticks, mites, heartworm, and intestinal worms. Here at Ripley Vet Hospital, our aim is to ensure that every pet we see is up to date with their preventatives.

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Fleas, ticks, heartworm, and intestinal worms are prolific at all times of the year, and they not only affect our fur babies but can also affect adults and children in the household. Commonly, if your little one has a flea or tick infestation, they develop skin irritation, redness, vomiting, and diarrhoea. They can also develop anaemia through blood loss or develop paralysis from the particularly nasty paralysis tick. Intestinal worms can cause your pet to become seriously ill and can be easily transmitted from pet to pet without proper protection. Moreso, heartworm disease is a serious illness, and which can lead to heart failure without preventative care.

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For both dogs and cats, we recommend Bravecto as a preventative. Products such as Bravecto will cover your pet for mites and additional parasites, whereas other supermarket products may not. Bravecto Plus for cats helps protect them against fleas, ticks, ear mites, heartworm, roundworm, and hookworm. Each treatment lasts for 10 weeks.

 

For complete protection against common parasites, they also require a tapeworm tablet that covers them for 3 months. For our dogs and puppies, Bravecto has monthly, 3 monthly, and 6 monthly protection against flea infestations, paralysis ticks, brown dog ticks, and demodex mites. Puppies can start treatment as early as 8 weeks. Heartworm disease can be easily prevented with a yearly SR12 injection, and intestinal worms prevented with a tablet that protects for 3 months.

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As per our gold standard care here at Ripley Vet Hospital, we aim to make it as easy as possible for our patients on preventative care. This includes being on annual coverage for the deadly heartworm parasite, and 3-monthly prevention for intestinal worms, fleas and ticks. If you are wanting to get your little one up to date with their preventatives, feel free to pop in and have a chat with one of our lovely receptionists, who can provide you with the most suitable options.

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What If My Cat is Indoors Only?

Indoor cats are still sensitive to fleas and ticks even if they don’t go outdoors. Unless your home is hermetically sealed, ticks and fleas can make their way inside. The best way to keep your cat safe is with regular preventative treatment.

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What If My Dog Doesn’t Visit Dog Parks, Beaches, or Kennels?

Heartworm is transferred by mosquitoes, meaning that your dog can contract it without socialising with other dogs. Fleas and ticks live in the environment, so even in urban areas your dog is susceptible to them if not on a preventative treatment. This is the same for intestinal worms and other parasites.