Parasite Control

Parasites can pose serious health risks to pets, but we understand that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to treatment. At Brockwell Vets, we avoid the blanket approach of monthly parasite subscriptions and instead tailor our recommendations based on your pet’s individual risk factors. This way, they receive only what they truly need. 

Parasites have evolved alongside all living life, so we cannot fully eliminate these pesky bugs from our lives, but we can avoid the harms that follow. Our primary goals are to protect against disease, prevent infections spreading between pets and people, and minimise environmental impact. 

• Flea and Tick Prevention: Treatment recommendations tailored to your pet’s lifestyle, environment, and specific risk level.

• Intestinal Parasite Treatments: Recommendations for deworming, addressing intestinal parasites based on your pet’s age and lifestyle.

• Screening: Screening tests can be useful in certain cases to guide our treatment approach.

Our Approach:

There is growing concern that anti-parasitic treatments are being overused, particularly with the rise of monthly subscription models. This is going to increase the risks of resistance to the product and increase the environmental burden.  

Some ‘spot-on’ treatments (containing fipronil and imidocloprid) are now detectable in ponds, streams, and other environments at levels far beyond safe levels for non-parasitic insect life – think bees and butterflies. Not only this but we are also seeing increasing levels of resistance to these products.  

Factors that we consider are age, scavenging behaviours, hunting behaviours, family members (babies/immune compromised) and ease of medication. It may not be surprising that the treatment we recommend to you is different to another pet. 

References:  

Rosemary Perkins, Leon Barron, Gaëtan Glauser, Martin Whitehead, Guy Woodward, Dave Goulson, Down-the-drain pathways for fipronil and imidacloprid applied as spot-on parasiticides to dogs: Estimating aquatic pollution, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 917, 2024, 170175, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170175. 

Wells, C., Collins, C.M.T. A rapid evidence assessment of the potential risk to the environment presented by active ingredients in the UK’s most commonly sold companion animal parasiticides. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 45070–45088 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20204-2