Advocate or Milbemax

[moosemama]

My 13 year old dog has been a bit off over the past week and last night when I went downstairs to use the bathroom I thought it seemed as if his breathing was quite laboured. I sat with him for a while and after offering him a treat (actually one of his Yumove pills, but he thinks they’re treats) and seeing how fast he moved, decided I was probably being over-anxious and could go back to bed. This morning he was absolutely fine, nagging for his breakfast, chasing the woodpigeons in the garden, etc. He had his annual check up today and the vet said she suggests trying a two months of lungworm treatment and if there’s no improvement, then have some testing done.

For info, he doesn’t fit the symptoms on the Lungworm.co.uk website, he’s not off his food, has actually gained weight that we now need to get off, no vomiting or diarrhoea and isn’t depressed or lethargic. He’s monumentally lazy, but that’s nothing new and quite typical of his breed and I suppose he has been tiring more easily, but he’s a 13 year old large breed and is bound to slow down eventually, plus he’s had less walks because one of my children is very ill and off school now until next September, so I can only walk the dogs when my husband is home - and he’s started a new job which means he’s out of the house 14-16 hours a day, so it’s often one, rather than two walks a day and then usually shorter than they used to be.

I was unable to go to the appointment this morning, so only have this via the dh filter, but apparently he had a weak pulse and the concern is because of this and the fact that he’s had a couple of occasions where his breathing has been more laboured than usual.

Dh didn’t want to go ahead with treatment without speaking to me first and I have been having a quick read online since then. The thing is, the reason my dogs aren’t on Advocate already is because I know personally of a few dogs that had bad reactions to it and that scared me off giving it to my own.

During my reasearch today I noticed that Milbemax is also approved for lungworm and I was wondering if this is as effective or if Advocate is the only option?

What are people’s experience of using both/either?

I have no idea about Milbemax but I stopped using Advocate as my dog wouldn't sleep and was a bit hyper due to the smell. I also hated not being able to bathe him or allow him to swim for a few days.

I now use nexgard spectra which is a monthly tablet and we have seen no side effects.

As always with medication it may affect dogs differently and you have to weight up any side effects with the risks of not treating etc. Just because other dogs have had possible side effects which may or may not be due to medication doesn't mean it will be the same for yours.

No dog with lungworm will have all the symptoms so I would treat for lungworm.

Nexgard spectra is the same active ingredient as milbemax so won't make much difference either way (and nexgard spectra very hard to get hold of as out of stock). Panacur is also licensed for lungworm so will work too.

Milbemax only has a license for prevention of lungworm if used monthly, not treatment of an existing burden. Panacur is not licensed for treatment of angiostrongylus which is the lungworm your vet is concerned about ( it treats oslerus osleri which is unlikely to be an issue). There is an quick in-house angio-detect blood test available if you want to be sure before treating. In your shoes I would do that and pursue other testing more quickly if it's negative, a few months is a long time to wait if your dog potentially has any of the other possible causes of breathing difficulties.

Vet nurse here, my advice would be to ask if they have in house angio detect tests. If they do you can find out very quickly if your dog has lungworm or not. If they don't have the test and have to send bloods off treat your dog with an Advocate anyway so that you are covered if your dog does have lungworm. And milbemax can then be used monthly to prevent lungworm.

Very weird. Checked back on Sunday night and had no responses, then came on today and found four.

BiteyShark the dogs that had the bad reactions, including one that died, are of very similar breeding to mine, hence my reluctance to put my own dogs on it. I believe it’s something to do with the ivermectin. It wasn’t just a knee jerk reaction to vague rumours regarding reactions in dogs we don’t know and we took veterinary advice before making the decision.

Thank you for the advice re testing. I will call the vets and ask if they can do in house angio detect tests. They do have their own lab at the main branch for some tests, so it’s possible they will.

He hasn’t had any more instances of laboured breathing since that night and has been absolutely fine in himself so, in effect, other than a slightly weak pulse, he doesn’t have any symptoms at all. Given that he’s a large breed and 13 years old and has had a reduction in exercise over the last few months and is therefore less fit, I would have thought a weakish pulse wouldn’t, on it’s own, be an instant indicator specifically for lung worm, but I will pursue it anyway.

I wasn't suggesting that you didn't treat or prevent with medication due to a knee jerk reaction but just based my comment on the fact that you asked What are people’s experience of using both/either?