Interceptor

   Dyan; thanks for the heads up concerning Novartis; I had some Interceptor left over from the fall and was going to use it. After reading your thread, I've decided to give her Heartgard instead.

dyan

but problem for me is I don't even want to really give him HW meds

    As you know, I live in Indiana, which has similar weather to Ohio, and I always give Jessie heart worm medication from spring through fall. According to my vet, Indiana is 7th in the country for the number of heart worm cases. I don't know why that's the case, but with those kind of statistics, I'm not taking any chances.

 I know it's hard to make the choice to give our pet these chemicals, but sometimes the alternative is much worse and harder on them.  My Vet seems to think that because of the warm winter, the flea and mosquito populations will be booming this year.

marty_ga

 I know it's hard to make the choice to give our pet these chemicals, but sometimes the alternative is much worse and harder on them.  My Vet seems to think that because of the warm winter, the flea and mosquito populations will be booming this year.

I know,,,, their probably will be more.  BUT for me, I've never ever had a dog that had fleas....and I used to lay in the sun for months in the summer with my dog laying under my chair.....   Now Gibby....hardly ever even outside except for walks and some playing time and all...so to add the flea chemicals is not for me.   

Actually...I hate to say this but I beileve vets are bought and sold by the drug companies just like a lot of human doctors.  That said..hope Gibby doesn't get fleas this year.

Janice...I know what you mean...... kind of tough reading that and then turn around and give your dog a pill made by them.

Just talked to my vet office..they do not have the 100 Lb Interceptor and is offering  Iverhart which they said does the same as Interceptor except it doesn't kill whip worms.

Any thoughts on this product?

Thanks Erica....I saw it there.

Honestly I have never had a flea problem with any of my dogs...even the ones that used to be outside a lot laying around...which Gibson never is.

I think I better add:  Knock on wood!  LOL!

Dyan, we've never had a flea issue and I didn't always keep Sam on any flea stuff.  We dog sat a dog for a friend, and that dog brought us fleas, and the fallout from that has me keeping Sam on a flea med now.  It was a terrible, awful, no good time to deal with that, particularly while pregnant.  We didn't even have anything I would call an infestation but I could count a handful of fleas on Sam at a time and always got some when I vacuumed.  Knowing how they reproduce, we treated the entire house but it was a disaster.  I don't care anymore, the chemicals used to get rid of fleas from your house HAVE to be at least as bad as treating the dog monthly.  I don't like topicals since he gets them all over my furniture so we used a combo of capstar and program to get rid of them and soon I need to get to the vet to figure out what we want to use long term (probably something like trifexis or sentinel or one of the pills).

Just my two cents.  Once you get a house full of fleas (or know someone with a heartworm pos dog for that matter) you might feel differently about the preventatives. Oh, and here in PA apparently we have a lot of heartworm issues so I'm surprised that OH wouldn't be similar due to the weather patterns.  It just takes one mosquito bite, and really, I'm not willing to gamble that even though Sam doesn't spend a ton of time outdoors. Just something to chew on while you make your decision about if you want to treat Gibby.

NicoleS

Just my two cents.  Once you get a house full of fleas (or know someone with a heartworm pos dog for that matter) you might feel differently about the preventatives. Oh, and here in PA apparently we have a lot of heartworm issues so I'm surprised that OH wouldn't be similar due to the weather patterns.  It just takes one mosquito bite, and really, I'm not willing to gamble that even though Sam doesn't spend a ton of time outdoors. Just something to chew on while you make your decision about if you want to treat Gibby.

Thanks Nicole, I understand and appreciate what you are saying...I just don't agree in that I am NOT willing to gamble my dogs health on something he more than likely won't get.  I fight with myself on HW meds every year.  When I give it to them, I am mad at myself.  But I worry if I don't.  Many many of my friends will not give HW meds to their dogs...and most only give flea meds if they are in a situation that they feel might necessary such as camping or such.   I take Gibby to day care where they suggest flea meds..... but only once did I put it on Gibby.

I worked at a vet and yes, we had a couple of HW positive dogs that we succesfully treated probably becuase they were caught early enough ( by the way, they were all adopted from down south )  and I sold flea meds and I have heard tons and tons of flea stories and how they did treat and which didn't work and why they got them etc etc.  Perhaps I have been lucky.... ( well I KNOW I have been lucky ) But no, I'm not willing to sacrifice Gibbys health on putting pesticides in him, any more than I would be willing to give them to my kids.

That said..............if I didn't live in Ohio or a state up north.......I might be thinking differently.  When ever I am in Florida on a golf vacation, seeing dogs outside of houses around the course I think of HW and consider myself lucky to not have to worry like they do there about HW mosquitoes and horrible fleas.

Again, thanks for your thoughts and may I say I sure hope I never have to " eat my words!"  LOL!

marty_ga

My Vet seems to think that because of the warm winter, the flea and mosquito populations will be booming this year.

It already is in Florida -- the fleas are crazy and I'm already chasing mosquitos and we haven't even had any rain.

If Novartis doesn't get their act together, I'm going to buy ivermectin and dose it myself since I don't have any herding dogs currently.  Heartguard and Iverheart fail way too often (I've had friends with positive dogs as a result) and I won't use anything with spinosad -- so if I have to dose it myself I will.  I'm already using Advantage or Advantage II (if I can't find plain Advantage) for fleas and it's really doing a good job. 

calliecritturs

and I won't use anything with spinosad

Not familiar Callie...what is spinosad?

It's what's in Comfortis and Trifexas -- this is simply something I disagree with some other forum members on (and they are entirely ENTIRELY entitled to their opinion).  Spinosad works by giving the fleas seizures -- it's been linked to seizures in dogs.  It's systemic (meaning it stays in the body system to continue to work all month). 

I have a dog who already has problems with petit mal seizures (Tink).  Just not something I'd use.

calliecritturs

I have a dog who already has problems with petit mal seizures (Tink).  Just not something I'd use.

I dont' blame you...I am not comfortable with anything that stays in the system...dont' even like timed realease vitamins!