When can I stop giving worming and flea meds to dog?

[sunshinechaser]

Apologies if this has been asked before! But I'm looking for some advice. I will ask our vet however thought I'd ask here first.
My dog is 9 and since she was a pup we have given her a monthly worming tablet (Milbemax) and a 3 monthly flea treatment (Bravecto). We have her on a monthly plan at the vet which is £25/month and covers the cost of these tablets and annual vaccinations.
Do we need to continue these meds for life? She is on dry kibble only which I think reduces the risk of worms. She is also never really around other dogs unless we meet them on a walk and certainly never gets near a cat! Again I think this reduces the risk of fleas.
I'm asking as my DM has never given her dogs flea or worm treatments (couldn't afford it) and her dogs have always lived to a ripe old age. Thanks

It is for life, but assess the risk and make a choice. You could switch to twice a year treatment in peak flea seasons for example.
If you aren't walking your dog in the countryside and doggo doesn't pick up sticks or eat things off the ground then you are probably fairly low risk.
A monthly dip in the sea of you happen to live on the coast is also good for keeping a dog flea free.
I have to say your monthly plan is quite expensive. Shop around, I think pets at home do £15 for the first year. My vet plan is £18 pet month.

You could alternatively...

a) check frequently for fleas and only treat when you find them; or (as pp said) just treat as routine during the warmer months and use the checking option during winter
and
b) have a worm count done regularly and only treat when you find them

But, you don't tend to save money that way and should be aware that some pet insurances are invalidated by now fleaing/worming regularly.

We don't treat ours regularly for either worms or fleas. We send her poo off for a worm count a few times a year (gross!), and she's never had any, but we would then treat if she did. She's never had fleas either - but doesn't play much with other dogs and has short hair, so maybe that helps.

For life imo.

We stopped the annual boosters when our old boy got to 10, the vet advised us that he didn't need them anymore.

You can get a prescription for both from your vet and then bulk order the tablets online via Petdrugsonline for a fraction of that price!

Personally though I think giving your dog flea/worming medication is the bare minimum (alongside walking and feeding them) of pet ownership. People can take the risk, but why would you when it is actually quite cheap? I have five dogs ATM and their two most recent doses of flea/worming/tick cost me less than £100 for all five.

Thanks everyone. Good advice to consider only giving flea treatments in the warmer months. My dog is at the vet for her vaccinations soon so I'll discuss it while I'm there. I will ask for a prescription and get these online which will hopefully work out cheaper.
I'm definitely not sending her poo away to check for worms 😂 nope! Not happening!

@Killingoffmyflowersonebyone I've checked Petdrugsonline and it's looking like £125/year for her flea and worming tablets. Not sure how much the vet will charge to write a prescription. So it looks slightly cheaper to do it this way. Thanks.

We never treat for fleas and have never spotted a single one in six and a half years.

We do worm him though, as we have cats who bring in all sorts, plus there's the risk of lungworm which you can't check for in their poo.

We do it every month but this seems expensive. Ours ordered through the vet is £9 a month, just through vets for pets.

I've never flea treated my two Labs.

I buy Drontol wormers from PetDrugsOnline and give every 2-3 months.

Monthly vet plans are a bloody rip off.

I've never bothered to preventatively treat for fleas and ticks as my dogs and rarely had them perhaps as they had to stay on lead for most walks so didn't go off into undergrowth or mix much with other dogs & no cats at home. I still wormed as they can easily be picked up, although lungworm wasn't high risk at time so opted for OTC wormer online and was only about £5 p/dog every quarter.

@ScattyHattie are OTC workers effective I wonder? Why do vets only give the prescription one? I am clueless here!

My Westie has a Seresto collar which around £35 but lasts 8 months
He's only ever had one tick, which needed a vets visit for a skin reaction
He's wormed a few times a year, with Drontal bought online.

I only use flea prevention in the warmer months, my dogs have never had fleas despite the foxes living within our garden bounds and being ridden. We check daily and would use a treatment if an issue.

Worming I buy tablets myself and give every 6w. Both dogs are very healthy but likely due to being mutts

Not really, fleas have evolved to be immune to most OTC, but there’s still ways to switch it up through online companies such as itch.

mine get theirs but not as regularly as on the box. So they get wormed about every 2 months and fleas mostly in the summer.

I don't do a plan, I just order more when I run out and buy 3 or 6 months at a time, so that lasts abotu a year.

You can pick up fleas from grass as well as other animals, (vert told me that) and a flea infestation is a bugger to get rid of, which is why I still do it, just not monthly

The BVA 5 point plan does not recommend monthly worming and flea treament but are asking owners to look at their flea and worming regime for their individual circumstances.

The environmental impact of the treatment and giving wormers when the dogs do not have worms needs to be considered. Fleas and ticks are getting more resistant to the (often) unecessary treatments and then make it harder to treat them

Wormcount and only treat if needed. You can then use the accurate treatment for the specific worm rather than general over treatment.

Regular grooming and life style needs to be considered for fleas and ticks.

Ancedotal example I have worm counted for 30 years on 14 different dogs. In that time period only two dogs ever had worms on two separate occasioins. They were treated appropriately for the worm they had and all clear within days. How many unnecessay worming would I have used if treating the dogs monthly!

You need to consider worms fleas and ticks for the lifetime of the dog but that does not necessarily mean monthly worming.

Drontal does not cover lungworm so you would need to using another wormer for your dog to be covered or wormcount.

OTC treatments are very very unlikely to be effective

You CAN check for lungworm in dogs poo

Thanks all. The BVA 5 point plan is informative so I'll discuss this with the vet when I visit soon.

I don’t use either unless I see actual evidence that they have them. Never a flea since our last cat died ten years ago.

I have a petplan but tend to stretch out the time between doses.

I also am not convinced any animal needs boosters past she 3yo.

I have a suspicion that all the above drugs and boosters is part of the reason that pets are so much less healthy now. My own dog has developed some allergies and even the vet said a huge number of dogs have allergies now which is a new issue.

My cat also has an autoimmune condition.

As a PP said, you make your own risk assessment.
I flea treat mine in the warmer months. My vet charges about £13 for a prescription, the tablets are half the price online than what the vet charges. I rarely worm, but we live semi rural and we seldom see other dogs where we walk let alone interact with them! Don't vaccinate either for the same reason, especially as we've never had to use kennels to leave them.

Our dog is 14 and we treat as the vet prescribed but we live in a high lungworm area and frankly I’d rather treat for fleas regularly than run the risk of an infestation in the house ( black , fluffy dog ) .We are on a vet plan and I’m updating it next week as our vet has started one for £30 per month that includes free consults which are £72 at our vets .

Hi OP. We have two labs. One is 10, another 4.

We treat with bravecto x4 per year and that's it. Never done worms. Vet never mentioned it.

I buy a prescription for the bravecto every year from the vet and then buy the bravecto online as its much cheaper.

Thanks all.