Year round Heartworm prevention?

Sorry but your post started out with my name.  Oops on me!

Yeah, you're right it did, and I assumed that you had read that earlier post so were responding to THAT or in some way connecting to that.  That's why I addressed to you that I wouldn't use that either.  I just flat out need more coffee...........

Yeah, I need more caffeine too, LOL.  Some mornings are heck to get out of the cloudy sleepy mind.

My vet use to have a dog's heart in a jar of "pickle juice" on the front desk.  There werea lot heartworms hanging out, looked like angle hair pasta and it was one of the most sickening things I ever saw.  He said many people who had never considered giving HWP to their dogs changed their mind after seeing that horrible thing.
 
There was a lady whose dog developed AIHA several years ago.  It kills about 80% of the dogs it strikes, and those that do survive can have a relapse at any time.  Anything can set off a relapse.  So Meisha never got another vax and she got the milder every day fliabits.  She finally had a relaspe like 7 or 8 years after being struck down with AIHA and this time she didn't make it. 
 
The lady works with Morris Animal Foundation, and she has set up what is called Meisha's Fund and every penny that comes into that fund goes into the study of AIHA to try to find a way to cure it or control it. But the thing is, the dog was much safter on the daily HWP than on the monthly ane I would think that true of dogs with a severely compromised immune system.

Ya know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just because this vet told me they were not making them anymore,,,,, I hope they are not selling left overs.....is that possible??????  I mean, other than at the Online pet places,,, I never hear anyone talk about Filiraribits. That is was we used to give our dogs,,,years ago.     I don't see any statistics or anything about it.

My vet never carried this product.  Possibly it's not very popular because it's a daily pill.
 
For everyone's info., here is a link for all the different kinds of HW prevention meds available.
 
[linkhttp://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_heartworm_prevention.html]http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_heartworm_prevention.html[/link]

I worry cause there have been a lot of dogs being brought into NH shelters recently, primarily Katrina dogs, who are testing heartworm positive. Many of them.
Heartworm was getting fairly prominent in NH in recent year and add our warming winters to the mix, along with lots of heartworm + dogs being introduced, and I worry.
So I took Molly to the vet to run the customary heartworm test prior to being given HeartGuard and he had just been to a seminar regarind heartworm and New England states.
And he said the choice was mine - he wasn't going to make any suggestions either way...was leaving the decision up to me cause I'm smart [8|][:-][:'(]
HeartGard not only prevents heartworm but it also protects against other internal parasites. A dog that is on HeartGard all year only has to have the test every other year. I'm not thinking in terms of the money spent on the bloodtest cause I had Sadie done every year even after I stopped giving her Heartgard (liver disease). I'm also thinking in terms of the other parasites WHICH must also be treated with drugs.
So - HeartGard all year or possible internal parasites which also need to be treated....weighing all odds.
So here's my logic...we had a really really mild winter. Last fall was wet. We gonna have a LOT of mosquitoes. Molly will get Heartgard all year.
Now if next winter is cold again like New England winters should be I'll probably not do Heartgard all year next year.
I'm going to base my choice on weather and how I believe the mosquito population is going to be that spring/summer.
My vet has seen quite an increase in heartworm positive dogs in the past 2 years...and yes many of them are dogs adopted from shelters that brings dogs in from southern states. And if those dogs are bitten by a mosquito and that mosquito bites other dogs in the shelter - well good way to share heartworm in a shelter environment. If the dog is undiagnosed for awhile, gets adopted and goes home to a neighbor...it passes from there.
I'm paranoid about these things.

Mary, I won't disagree with your decision for Molly, but a HW infected dog can't pass hw to another dog.  Maybe I misunderstood your post, but it takes an infected skeeter to get HW.

And if those dogs are bitten by a mosquito and that mosquito bites other dogs in the shelter - well good way to share heartworm in a shelter environment

yup...that's why I typed above. I'm not sure how well the smaller shelters up here are at doing heartworm testing (something I should ask my shelter about). I know it was only within the last couple of years they started testing cats for feline leuk. So I often wonder how many heartworm+ dogs might get adopted without having been tested.

For everyone's info., here is a link for all the different kinds of HW prevention meds available.

[linkhttp://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_heartworm_prevention.html]http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_heartworm_prevention.html[/link]

 
Well this is scary, this link is STILL advertising ProHeart 6, a drug that many people right here on this board think killed their dog!!!
 
Mary, you have a good point, there are a lot of Katrina dogs up north now, and probably many of them are bringing lots of diseases up here. I hope all the vets are on their toes on this, not only with HW.
But if you read the life cycle of the hw larva, they can't live in temps under fifty and even right now in ohio, it went into the 30s last night and will tonight, and they are also predicting 30s on Friday night!  The temps have to stay above that fifty ( I believe its 57) for the entire life cycle of the HW larva which is about 13 days. That just isn't going to happen here in Ohio until at least May.
 
 

Going back to the initial question, given that you are in NY, you should not need any heartworm prevention from about November through April. If it makes you feel safer however, just keep giving it. []

If you read the post about the HW positive dog, Hogan, here, you saw he is a Katrina dog..  On one of my golden boards, an adopted golden starts treatment today for heartworm and the lady was in a panic.  I am the only one on the board who ever had a dog treated for heartworm, our adopted golden mix, Honey.  I told Honey's story and now she is feeling much better--a 100% success story.  I was able to pass on some hints and ideas for keeping Tess still and entertained that I learned here as well.  I had always hated that my Honey had had the worms, but now it seems I am able to help others who will be going thru the same thing.
 
One infected dog can be bitten by dozens of mosquitoes, who go on to bite  dozens and dozens of other dogs.  Somewhere I saw a post, and it may have been on this forum, where something like 23 dogs were rescued and ONLY ONE turned out to be heartworm free. 
 
Down here on the Texas coast  I would just as soon stake my dogs out in the middle of the Corpus Christi freeway as go a month with heartworm pills.  And actaully that would go for anywhere down here in the south.  We do not get the luxary of being able to skip a few months.