WHAT DOES THIS PRODUCT DO?
DO OUR VETERINARIANS RECOMMEND IT?
DO YOU NEED IT?
Below we list each category of products as available on our website shop. Either find the product you are interested in via search product, or go to the corresponding list and find it in alphabetical order.
We do endorse these products as being reputable and worth considering if you personally wish to use that particular product. However, we also advise what we, as veterinarians, would and would not use on our own pets, and why. Central to this is our general advice on what our clinic recommends, and this can be found on our Less Is healthier page on our website. Feel free to educate yourself here.
Below we have a brief description of the products we do and don’t use ourselves, our Less Is Healthier link (and our website generally) will give you a greater education as to why. Modern marketing sells us more stuff to control more things, however we do not believe this is necessarily in our pets best interest. Hence peruse our reasons for using, and not using certain products, and feel free to make up your own mind as to what you want our pet to have.
Advantage: Monthly top spot for fleas only
We like this products for fleas. This is our preference over all other products (other than Comfortis, see below) , but we only recommend treating for fleas if there is a concern, not routinely.
Advantix: Monthly top spot for fleas, ticks (including paralysis), repels mosquitoes and sand flies (ear fly bite dermatitis)
This product is worth considering for paralysis tick areas if taking you pet into such places, and for chronic seasonal suffers of ear fly bite dermatitis.
Advocate: Monthly top spot for Fleas, Heartworm, most intestinal worms but not tapeworm, mites including sarcoptic and demodectic mange.
Capstar: Daily tablet for fleas
Given orally for 24 hour flea control. We recommend this product when there is very heavy flea infestations, along with a quality monthly product for 2-4 months.
Comfortis: Monthly tablet for fleas
Given orally for 1 months control of fleas. Along with Advanatge this is one of our preferred products for serious flea concerns.
Frontline: Monthly top spot for fleas
Monthly top spot for fleas
Heartguard: Monthly chew for heartworm only
Before treating monthly for heartworm, make sure your vet has explained exactly how this disease works. Monthly treatments must not be missed, ever! There is the option of the yearly proheart injection.
Sentinel: monthly tablet for heartworm, intestinal worms, and has a flea inhibitor but not flea killer
Monthly tablet for heartworm and intestinal worms. Sentinel also has a “flea inhibitor” in it which does not kill fleas (hence if your pet gets a flea infestation whilst on Sentinel and is allergic to them you may well still need to use a product like Capstar or Advantage), but it “inhibits flea reproduction” making it less likely to have ongoing severe flea problems down the line. We recommend considering this product when there has been a history of severe flea problems that have been hard to control in the past.
Revolution: monthly top spot for fleas, heartworm and some intestinal worms, ear mites and sarcoptic mange
Go to our best list to see what we recommend with regard to treating each of these problems.
The main product we like and recommend here is milbemax. The only other one we may recommend is drontal.
We feel over the years that these are the two most highly effective intestinal wormers. Hence we don’t sell other products at this stage.
Although marketing suggests we should worm our adult pets every 3 months, we feel that once, or maximum twice yearly is enough. Inside cats, we feel once is enough, twice for outside cats. However, use a quality wormer such as these.
Milbemax remains our preference. It is safe for use I puppies at 2 weeks of age and as an extremely small and oval shaped tablet is very easy to give.
For dental health it is most important to go to our website and link to our dental health via the General Pet Health heading in the menu bar.
Generally speaking, the correct raw bones 3x weekly is the only highly effective method that currently exists for staying away from the dentists table!
However, if not wanting to use raw bones (which we do highly recommend) then here we have what we consider the most effective methods of delaying the time needed between dental for as long as possible.
Our general dental advice is that most pets will need their first dental around 6-8 years of age, then will need this repeated, on average, every 1-3 years thereafter 9unless feeding the correct raw bones 3x weekly, in which case you will be unlucky if your pet ever needs a dental).
In addition to the products here, we would also recommend Hill’s dental diet for both dogs and cats as the most effective dental diet we have found so far, but needs to be 75% or more of their total diet to be effective.
“Greenies” for both dogs, and especially cats (I use a handful daily for my cat, as she refuses bones despite all my efforts!) we feel are the most effective daily treat for dental health.
Although brushing daily will certainly help, we tend to recommend: “good luck with that!”. But if your pet is compliant and you are willing, go for it!
Remember: if your pet is eating the right raw bones 3x weekly, then none of the other “stuff” is needed!
Our main advice here is don’t muck around with cheap products and poor advice (ie: pet shops!), especially with eyes!
The number poor treatment options we see for both ears and eyes before pet owners eventually come to see us is very high (along with skin conditions!).
Go to our website to educate yourself on the best way forward for all ear, eye, and skin conditions.
Our general advice for ears is: Don’t clean them routinely if there is no problem! All cleaners can actually be slightly irritant, and if there is no actual problem you do not need to regularly clean heir ears. Also, never, ever pluck hairs from ears if there is no problem. 90% of the time this causes problems where none previously existed!
PAW ear cleaner:
A good option for once weekly or fortnightly cleaning, when advised to do so by your vet.
Aristopet tear stain remover:
Try this one, but we always advise ar stain removers may or may not work! In itslef you do not need to remove tear stains, it is just an aesthetic consideration.
Epi-Otic ear cleaner:
This is our preference for an ear cleaner, but far too over used by pet owners. Use only as directed by your vet. We only recommend use in a small number of ear cases. Most ear problems are allergies and infections which do not actually require a cleaner, they require correct diagnosis via examination and in house cytology, then appropriate treatment. Hence if you pet is shaking and scratching their ears, do not just go straight for the cleaner. More often than not this will worsen the problem.
On occasions, we have some individuals that benefit from regular cleaning, but you vet will advise you on this, don’t do it routinely!
Dermoscent essential 6: Tops spot supplement for dry, flaky skin
We think this is an excellent product to try for dry, flaky skin. You can also dry a ½ to 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the food daily for 3 weeks! If this doesn’t work then these Essential 6 supplements are certainly worth a 6-8 week trial to see if your pets coat and skin improves significantly.
Balanced Cal calcium and Vit D3
A good option for calcium deficiency. Although improved commercial diets (the premium ones) these days are well balanced for what puppies need, and ideally we still recommend quality raw bones from 4 weeks of age which also will provide Ca needed, if feeding poorer quality commercial foods, or just home diets without bones 3x weekly, then this is a good supplement.
Calcium Sandoz Syrup
As above.
PAW Dermega omega 3 and 6
As per Dermoscent above, a good option if wanting to find a skin supplement for dry, itchy skin.
Nutrigel
For recovering patients not yet eating well, or unwell patients that are not eating ell, but not vomiting, this can be used daily to help keep up their nutrition whist convalescing. However, only under veterinary advice. Never use this in unwell pets without at least talking to your vet over the phone first. Our clinic is only phone call away for our clients which costs you nothing!
Lectade Oral Hydration
For patients with diarrhoea this is reasonable to use, but often not really necessary. Again seek advice from your vet, our clinic is only phone call away for our clients which costs you nothing!
Protexin Probiotic
Extremely over rated with gastrointestinal disease! Most vomiting and diarrhoea cases recover well without the need for these. However, for stubborn cases or diarrhoea, and specific cases where advised (including extended anti biotic use) this is a good choice. Again work with your vet on the phone, we will advise our clients even without seeing the patient.
An extremely over analysed and misunderstood area. With skin, keep it simple and seek veterinary advice if ongoing concerns.
For general shampooing, no more than fortnightly, and use only gently hypo allergenic quality shampoo. The two we really like are listed here.
For medicated shampoo, only as advised by your veterinarians. We give advice to our clients over the phone on how and when to use these. Overuse of medicated shampoos can often cause problems, not solve them.
For an education on skin conditions go to our website under medicine: skin allergies. Also look at General Pet Health: Skin care
Aloveen Shampoo and Conditioner:
This, along with the PAW range of shampoo’s and conditioners are our recommended 2. Try either and see which you (and your dog) are happier with over time.
PAW Range:
Nutriderm Shampoo and Conditioner is our first choice for long term care for skin sensitive pets.
Mediderm gentle medicated shampoo only as directed by your veterinarian.
The other general PAW shampoos and conditioners are also worth trying for long term care, again seeing which of their range best suits you and your pet.
The most important advice we can give here is go to our website under medicine: arthritis.
We cannot overstate enough the incorrect way dog owners go about managing the onset of arthritis. Do nothing without asking for our advice first, then choose the correct plan for your dog.
The biggest mistake we see are people using pain killers rather than treatments (to our astonishment often prescribed by their vet!)
Here we list a number of treatments that are reasonable to try, but only after discussion with your vet, as far more effective injectable treatments are the mainstay and first choice for treatment (and prevention) with these home supplements often complimenting these treatments at home.
The idea is to avoid the need for pain killers and anti inflammatories.
Glyde Oral Powder
Supposedly the most expensive but most effective. We are unconvinced by this, but still believe it an excellent first choice if cost is of no concern. Our first choice cost effective supplement at this stage is probably PAW Osteocare chews.
However, as per our advice in our arthritis section of our website, whatever product you choose, use it in isolation to other products for at least 8 weeks and make sure you feel there is a significant improvement.
Always feel free to try a 2 month trial of a different product to see what works best for your pet.
PAW Osteocare chews for dogs:
Our favourite and first choice. A high percentage of good results and a cost effective log term choice for joint health once arthritis is evident.
PAW Osteosupport powder and capsules:
These differ from the Osteosupport chews in that these are green lipped muscle based rather than glucosamine/chondroitin based. As such they provide a more natural pain relief via
anti-inflammatory effect, which is great, however, they provide less of an actual treatment for prevention compared o the Osteocare. Hence use Osteocare first and add these if needed down the line.
Fly repalla cream
Our second choice after muscoban for ear fly bite dermatitis but can try it and see how it works. A cheaper option.
FlitaBac antibacterial sunscreen
A good choice for sun baking dogs!
Ilium Fungacite Cream
Our choice for suspect nd confirmed ringworm infections,. Also consider Malaseb shampoo as directed by your veterinarian.
Muscaban insecticide and insect repellent spray
This is an excellent choice for ear fly bite dermatitis.
Paw Manuka wound gel:
Consider this product for managing wounds, but always seek veterinary advice over the phone regarding any wounds. Too often people treat wounds incorrectly, just to end up with a much larger problem down the line.
Paw Triderm calming gel:
Try this for mild skin concerns.