Cost of Panacur for small vs. large animals: what on earth?!

[Lazy_Palomino_Hunter]

Singel Panacur dose for a 1,100lb horse: $7.99

Single Panacur doses for my two cats and two dogs (<100lbs combined): $43.56

Is this honestly just a supply and demand/“it costs what the market will bear” kind of thing?!

I found a bit of flea dirt and two fleas on one of my dogs and so we’re in panic mode at my house - all four animals have Seresto collars arriving today, we’re scrubbing everyone down with Dawn, and flea bombing/washing every washable item in the house this weekend.

The plan was to do a three day round of Panacur to kick any potential tapeworm problems before they’re an issue, but $150 seems really steep! Is the small animal stuff coated in gold or something?!

[McVillesMom]

Except Panacur only kills Taenia species, which are not the tapeworms transmitted by fleas. For Dipylidium, you need praziquantel.

[hoopoe]

why would you assume that the animals have tapeworm because you found a bit of flea evidence

Invest in more effective flea control than collars and wait for tapeworm evidence.

and yes, praziquantal is the medication of choice not panacur

[Canaqua]

I don’t know that I’d treat for worms that may very well not exist. Personally, I’d just watch the stools, but if you are really worried, bring a sample to the vet and have them take a look.

Yes, praziquantal for the most common tapes, not Panacur (fenbendazole).

If you ever DO need Panacur, goat wormer seems to be the most cost effective way to worm dogs. Same active ingredient as Panacur. I haven’t had to worm in a long time, but when we had a wormy rescue puppy and several dogs, I used the Safeguard Goat Dewormer, 1cc per 5lbs of bodyweight. Works fine and is MUCH cheaper than buying dog specific Panacur. About $20 for a bottle that will do 625lbs of dog in one day. So, divide by 3 to get the three day in a row dose and your talking deworming over 200lbs of dog for $20. I don’t know the cat dose, so ask your vet about that or consult a cat breeder who probably has lots of cats to deworm and needs to save money.

Dogs are more expensive to worm than horses for two reasons, 1) the pet pricing 2) dogs need a MUCH higher dose per pound of bodyweight than a horse…they have much shorter digestive tracts, so the med doesn’t spend much time in there.

[Marshfield]

I think the pre-measured packets are only available as a brand name product

[Lazy_Palomino_Hunter]

[QUOTE=hoopoe;7851443]
Invest in more effective flea control than collars and wait for tapeworm evidence.[/QUOTE]

We’ve never had a flea problem before; I spoke with two different vets in my area earlier this year about ticks, both recommended the Seresto collar as the “newest and best” thing in flea and tick prevention. It isn’t a “regular” Hartz-type $15 flea collar, it’s a $50 time-release imidacloprid/flumethrin collar (the former being the main ingredient in Advantage). It’s just like a topical, except that it lasts 8 months without needing reapplication.

@Canaqua;7851473

Yes, praziquantal for the most common tapes, not Panacur (fenbendazole).

I’m glad I posted here because I do really appreciate this information. I had no plans to deworm prior to talking to my vet, so hopefully they would have told me that.

@Canaqua;7851473

If you ever DO need Panacur, goat wormer seems to be the most cost effective way to worm dogs. Same active ingredient as Panacur. I haven’t had to worm in a long time, but when we had a wormy rescue puppy and several dogs, I used the Safeguard Goat Dewormer, 1cc per 5lbs of bodyweight. Works fine and is MUCH cheaper than buying dog specific Panacur. About $20 for a bottle that will do 625lbs of dog in one day. So, divide by 3 to get the three day in a row dose and your talking deworming over 200lbs of dog for $20. I don’t know the cat dose, so ask your vet about that or consult a cat breeder who probably has lots of cats to deworm and needs to save money.

Also good information. Thank you.

@Canaqua;7851473

Dogs are more expensive to worm than horses for two reasons, 1) the pet pricing 2) dogs need a MUCH higher dose per pound of bodyweight than a horse…they have much shorter digestive tracts, so the med doesn’t spend much time in there.

The pet pricing part makes sense from a business perspective, but the “higher dose for body weight” doesn’t. The price of the small animal Panacur is literally 60x the price of the horse version, so unless a dog requires an exponentially larger dose than a horse I can’t see that being a reasonable justification for the price.

@Canaqua;7851473

I don’t know that I’d treat for worms that may very well not exist. Personally, I’d just watch the stools, but if you are really worried, bring a sample to the vet and have them take a look.

A genuine question for everyone who has suggested this: do you deworm your horses regularly, or only after a positive fecal? As opposed to regularly, with a rotation of dewormers as a preventative?

FWIW, I don’t deworm my dogs with any frequency at all - they ordinarily get dewormed only if a fecal comes back positive (which has only been once with one dog). In this situation, though, I know they’ve had exposure to fleas, which are absolutely intermediate hosts for any number of internal parasites.

I’ll definitely chat with my vet about this, but I’m just a little confused about the disparity in approach to parasite control across species…

[Canaqua]

I don’t manage horses myself, as horses have been on full board. One barn wormed only as necessary…tested and then wormed for what shows up, like I do with dogs. The other worms everyone, proactively, on a regular schedule.

For the dogs, I don’t worm proactively because 1) the cost of the wormer 2) I don’t think it’s necessary as they so rarely get worms (barring a brand new, wormy, rescue dog!). Horses are out eating grass, and whatever might be on it all day, much higher risk for picking up worm eggs than a house pet dog. My dogs eat kibble and canned food and not much off the ground outside.

We had a long term flea problem a few years ago at our old house…it was the cleaning ladies! They’d vacuum a house down the street, infested with fleas, and then come vacuum ours :(. It took me a while to figure it out, when I did I made them use my vacuum instead of theirs. It took months and months to get those fleas off our pets and out of our house. Partly because I wouldn’t “bomb” due to a young child. Elbow grease with several times a day vacuuming mostly and daily laundry, ugh. Capstar if we visited anyone else, so we didn’t bring live fleas with us, and Advantix II on all pets. Only one dog got tapes, only once, though, so I don’t think fleas are a guarantee of tape worms. The worms were very obvious, they are easy to see, unlike hooks or something. When I saw the tapes from the one dog in her stool, I took fecals in for everyone, she was the only one. Go figure.

Unless there are symptoms of parasites, I only bring a fecal in once a year for each dog. Adult dogs have pretty much NEVER had worms, other than that one tape incident. Puppies sometimes do. Puppies come with some from Mom sometimes, and they eat weird stuff off the ground that adult dogs are too smart to eat ;). And, immature immune system leaves them open to all kinds of stuff.

I did worm everyone, several times, when we had a young puppy from a hoarder’s yard…she was infested with EVERYTHING and it took a while to clean her up. Because she wasn’t house trained and was having accidents for a while (plus loose stools from worms), I figured that the chances were high enough that the other pets could pick it up off the floor, that I’d worm everyone when I wormed her.

[Simkie]

If you’re doing heartworm preventative, you ARE worming your dogs with regularity It’s sort of a side effect, I suppose.

When I had a dog pop with …whipworms, I think it was? we switched her heartworm stuff to Interceptor, specifically so she was dosed monthly with something that would kill that species of intestinal parasite.

[Canaqua]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7855983]
If you’re doing heartworm preventative, you ARE worming your dogs with regularity It’s sort of a side effect, I suppose.

When I had a dog pop with …whipworms, I think it was? we switched her heartworm stuff to Interceptor, specifically so she was dosed monthly with something that would kill that species of intestinal parasite.[/QUOTE]

Right you are! Duh, on my behalf…that would be why my adult dogs never get worms…they are on year round heartworm meds ;).

[arapaloosa_lady]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7855983]
If you’re doing heartworm preventative, you ARE worming your dogs with regularity It’s sort of a side effect, I suppose. [/QUOTE]

All of the heartworm preventatives I’ve used are also bundled with flea control, which is convenient. I probably wouldn’t bother with year-round flea control otherwise.

Finding a few fleas definitely isn’t worth flying into a panic, OP! It’s just annoying more than anything unless you have a flea-allergic pet. Get all your animals on something that will kill fleas (check), clean your house thoroughly (check), & check for any wildlife intruders. Then have a nice glass of wine

And if you can make head or tail of the pricing schemes from pharmaceutical companies, you’ll be far ahead of anyone else :winkgrin:. They are for-profit companies, and set the prices for their products at a level they think the market will bear.