Tackling parasites with year-round control
Susan E. Little, DVM, PhD, DACVM, shares the most important control strategy for protecting dogs against parasites
In an interview on her lectures from the 2025 Veterinary Meeting & Expo, Susan E. Little, DVM, PhD, DACVM, Krull-Ewing professor of parasitology at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, stresses the importance of attention to monthly parasite control in dogs. As Little explains, the growing resilience of parasites in recent years calls for veterinarians to have a plan in place for protecting their patients.
Below is a partial transcript:
Susan E. Little, DVM, PhD, DACVM: The most important control strategy for protecting dogs from parasites is going to be diligent attention to monthly parasite control. So, we've got to have protection in place, whether we're worried about fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites, heartworm, tapeworms—for all of those infections, we have to be doing something because otherwise nature will intervene.
If we don't have tick control in place, then the ticks will have their way. And we know that there's year-round tick activity in most places in North America now, or in the United States and so we know that we have to have year-round tick control.
The parasites have really upped their game in recent years. And so we as veterinarians have to come in with a plan in place to make sure that the patients are protected.
