Parasite management

[Urban Homestead]

Do you guys treat your livestock and pets year-round, only during the warm seasons, or only as needed (when they actually have parasites)? I treat my livestock and pets during the warm months as a preventative, but since it's not cooling off until much later than usual, I'm wondering if that's too much medicine.

 

[Almost Eden]

My cats get Revolution and my dogs get Heartguard Plus as their preventative most months. I usually skip December-February though since mosquitos (heartworms) aren't out then. I dose our livestock now and then.

 

[RanchHouse]

I think that it depends on the animals in question. The recommendation is that pets should have a full health check once a year. In my view, what's most important is having enough personnel who can carry regular inspections and notice when livestock are either in good health or not.

 

[RichZ]

Most treatments for parasites are toxic chemicals. I don't treat my dogs and cats prophylactically, they all get check ups twice each year. However, it's harder to do that with livestock. When I had large numbers of sheep and goats, I treated them twice a year with ivermectin.

 

[Digger]

I think that it depends on the animals in question.

And where you live. People in cooler climates might get away with not giving their dogs a heartworm preventative, but in the South where mosquitos are out for 8 or 10 months out of the year, it seems foolish to risk it. I've never known a vet who didn't recommend it.