Pete the Vet: How to control parasites and protect your pet's health

What you need to know about the five main groups of parasites affecting pets in Ireland

Parasite control is important to protect the health of your pet, and to protect human health. It isn’t difficult to achieve these goals, but many people don’t understand what they need to do, and they end up buying inappropriate, unnecessary or inadequate products. So what parasites really need to be controlled, and how can this be done effectively and economically?

It’s impossible to make one general rule for all pets. It’s all about risk: first, identifying the individual risk of your pet picking up specific parasites, and second, working out the level of risk you are prepared to accept. Do you want to remove all risk by giving a once-monthly premium medication? Or are you prepared to accept a small risk of issues with parasites by allowing bigger gaps between treatments?