heartworm medication? yes or no?

Heartworms scare me.  So, my dogs get Heartguard every month, and they get tested annually.  In fact, the vet won't sell it to me unless they are checked annually, which is fine with me.

The Frontline Plus I am more lenient (sp?) on and feel that I can leave more time in between.  In the fall/winter months, I may go every 3 months...unless of course I see fleas.

We have so many mosquitos in  my neck of the woods, I just don't want to take the chance with heartworms.

I try to minimize the amount of "pesticides" or vaccines put in or on the dogs in general.  I prefer to use more natural ways of prevention if possible.  I'll use Skin So Soft to deter bugs, and I've just recently started putting garlic in their daily meals.  Call  me crazy, but they seem less itchy since I've been doing that.

     I give Interceptor to the dogs every month during bug season. When winter sets in I stop, but do retest for heartworm in early spring before giving them their first dose. We don't have much problem here, yet. Ask your vet what the minimum dose your girl came have, since the tablets have a fairly big weight range. Several of my dogs get the 50-100 lb. tablets, but they only weigh 60 lbs. Maybe you could get good protection with half a dose.

I give my girls Heartguard Plus every month and they get checked yearly.  We have tons of mosquitoes and I am a really afraid of them getting heartworms.   Now with the Frontline, I am much more lenient.  Usually they don't get any in the winter.  They get a dose in Spring and probably one or two more doses during the summer.  I don't like to use it, but ticks are really bad, so I use it mainly for ticks.  We haven't had any problems with fleas.  I agree, I hate the pesticides. 

I give my dogs Interceptor every forty days, year round.

I give interceptor every month, and frontline only when the bugs are out in full force. I've recently been using skin so soft before our walks and that seems to help. I dislike the pesticides, but heart worms scare me so I do give the interceptor religiously.

Heartguard is being known to fail more and more ... they dose it SO small because herding dogs are unbelievably sensitive to it but they want to sell it to ALL dogs.  The problem is they are beginning to find heartworm who are resistant to the ivermectin (that's in Heartguard).

Interceptor uses milbemycin -- overall it's better tolerated so it's dosed a bit higher, BUT it's also going to deal with a wider range of parasites (like hooks, whips, and other lethal things). 

IF you used Interceptor you could go 45 days and you could break a 20 pound pill for a 10 pound dog.  I wouldn't break Heartguard - it's already very dilute. 

I give it all year round because I'm in Florida and that's a no-brainer.  But the risk is too great otherwise -- having to TREAT a dog for heartworm is unbelievably hard on them.  It's better to prevent. 

depends on where you live- the risk of heatworms varies wildly by geography. I dose every six weeks during the summer only because we have a quite low risk here. If I lived in florida it would be every 4 weeks all year round.

Mine are on Interceptor now b/c we have whips in the yard.  They get it once a month, April - November I think.  Many of the dogs in the shelter here are HW+. 

Given the cost of treatment for heartworms, I treat monthly.  I have toyed with the idea of switching to the SafeHeart dosage.  I had one vet vehemently opposed to the idea and a holistic vet who supported it.  But, given the internal parasite issue, I'm not completely decided on it, so I give the regular stated dosage.  I'm also thinking about stretching out to the 45 day schedule, but haven't decided on that one either.  So right now, I'm following the directions as recommended.

topical flea and tick treatment is a little more flexible.  I stop over the winter when I don't see flying and crawling insects anymore and there's been several nights of below freezing and then start it back up when the critters start to buzz around or if I see fleas, etc.  this year the boys had a couple fleas on them even after a few below freezing nights so I started up then.  I've been wanting to try diatamaceous earth as a topical treatment, but haven't gotten around to it  yet. 

They get Interceptor during the spring, summer and early fall (I live in NH, winters are long and harsh).  Heartworms aren't huge around here, but I prefer to be safe and I like that Interceptor takes care of other parasites.  Flea and Tick is also monthly, we now are using Vectra3D.  Fleas aren't a huge problem here, but ticks are and lyme disease is big (but I chose not to get the lyme vacc for various reasons).

Heartguard for us.  For me, not using it just isn't worth the risk.

Joyce

I'm with Joyce.  Read about heartworm treatment.  Once you understand how painful and risky HW treatment is, you won't skimp on HW meds.  Your dog can die from the treatment.

Here's a good site:  http://marvistavet.com/html/heartworm_treatment.html

Year 'round on the HW meds here (in Maryland).  I used to stop during the winter, but after I learned about the treatment, we are 12mos on the preventative.

I medicate monthly with ivermectin (plain, worming meds given seperately on a three-month schedule).  I have a  terrible memory and if I tried to go to the safeheart system I'd never remember the date.  I have a chart that I keep with all the dogs information, that even the kids understand, but still there are months I forget to update it.  When I do it the same day every month I know it's done. 

The day is the 5th, which is easy for me to remember because I often had to go do the dogs of a friend who was in the hospital frequently with CLL, and coincidentally he passed away on that date of the month, as well.  Doing my HW on that date is a kind of a weird memorial to him but also a strangely fitting one for a fellow dog lover.

Lynn is on Interceptor at the moment because we haven't done the MDR-1delta marker test on her yet.  I really need to get it done but it's been a very busy spring.   I don't do ivermectin on puppies anyway so I still have a few months to go but still, there's the other drug sensitivities to worry about.

There is a different HW treatment which consists of simply giving the HW meds and allowing it to kill all microfilaria/babies....the old worms die of old age...unprogenetated(sp) and the cycle is broken. Think this takes about 2 years....longer, cheaper....and in mildly affected dogs it is SAFER than the other method. Perhaps someone can find links on it...that describes it more fully.

ETA: BECCA! I demand new Lynn pics!