Heartworm prevention

Let’s talk Heartworm prevention! Have you ever heard of em? If not, it’s time too! Heartworms are exactly that, worms in the heart. They can also spread to other places in the body if left untreated. They are contracted through mosquitoes and even the best treated yards still have mosquitoes. And yes, even your indoor dog is at risk. Chances are you still take that indoor dog outside to use the bathroom and even that short amount of time they can contract heartworms. Mosquitoes can even get into your house just by you coming in and out as well. You would not believe the amount of times I’ve heard “Oh well we have a fenced in yard.” Mosquitoes can fly, a fence can’t stop them either. They best way to prevent your pet from getting heartworms is by prevention. By either monthly, oral prevention or a 6 or 12 month shot. All options though need a prescription from your veterinarian. You can not get adequate, correct Heartworm prevention anywhere without a prescription. Meaning your pet will need to have an updated veterinary exam and an updated heartworm test as well. Heartworm prevention can be fairly affordable, with some preventions be as little as $10 dollars a month. A 6 month supply costing anywhere from $27.99-$40.99 depending on your pets weight. They have options that also cover fleas and other parasites as well. Like roundworms, hookworms, whip worms and tapeworms. They even have a 6 or 12 month shot you can get through your veterinarian if you have trouble remembering to give something monthly. I started using a product called Sentinel. This isn’t an ad, I’m just telling you what I use. I bought a 6 month supply for about $60. It covered, heartworms, hookworms, roundworms, tapeworms and whip worms. It also prevents fleas and flea eggs. Now, it prevents fleas. So if you are having issues with fleas. This is not the best product for you. If your having issues with fleas, speak with your veterinarian and they can recommend whatever flea prevention they offer that works best for you. Flea prevention over the counter just doesn’t do what it used to anymore and lot are harmful to your pets. The best prevention is from your veterinary office. I do have to add though, the seresto collar is probably the only thing over the counter I would recommend. A lot of veterinarians actually recommend it as well because it does work really well and is water proof. They last anywhere from 6 to 8 months and cost $50-$60 making that around $10 a month. Personally I prefer the monthly chews. Remembering monthly is a challenge I couldn’t possibly remember anything longer. I chose an easy date to remember to give it on and saved a reminder in my phone. On the 15th of every month they get a little treat! Its so important to remember because trust me! It can happen to you! It happened to me! When I first met Bruce he had heartworms. He was 2 years old and had never been on prevention and I knew within seconds of meeting him he had heartworms. He was winded after running or playing for short periods of time. He would cough and hack as well and for no reason at times it seemed. I brought him in and with a quick 8 minute blood test we found out he was positive. The course of treatment is to do a series of inject with something called Immiticide. It kills the heartworms and has a series of 3 injections. Sounds easy, but no. These injections are into the spin. With a very thick l, large needle. And to add to that, the medicine is well essentially, poison. It’s thick, cold and it burns. Most of the time the dogs need to be sedated for it. And that needs to be done 3 times. So it’s expensive, it’s painful and it’s traumatizing for your dog. And before all this can start they need to be on a pretty strong antibiotic for 60 days prior. Along with starting and keeping them on heartworm prevention. Now this antibiotic is strong and can upset their stomach and it’s also expensive as well. For my 35lb dog it was around $90. Ive sold a 60 day supply for over $200 before. This dog was roughly 80lbs but...the bigger the dog the more money it’ll be. Either way, Heartworm treatment is NO joke. It can cost anywhere from $800 to well over $1,000 to treat. That being said, it was not in the books for us to go that route of treatment. Luckily there is another course you can take. Its the “Slow Kill” process. It is not the ideal course of treatment but it’s better then not treating. We started the course of antibiotics for 60 days and started him on Heartworm prevention but our doctor Instructed us to give it every 2 weeks instead of once a month. The prevention he was on was called tri-heart or hartgard which is totally safe to be given once a day let alone once every 2 weeks. So that was our plan and retest in 6 months to see where we were. We were told it could take a year to 2 years before he was negative but he tested positive in April and was negative that December! Unfortantly Heartworm treatment is only found in dogs. Cats are not able to be treated of heartworms. So it’s very important to treat your indoor and especially your outdoor kitties with Heartworm prevention as well. I use Revolution on Ella. It treats fleas as well as heartworms. It is a topical but it dries in less then 24 hours. It also needs a prescription from a veterinarian but most don’t require a test because it’s not treatable in cats. It is still safe to give them even if they do have them. Especially since it covers other parasite as well. And if you give Revolution it covers fleas too. I believe Revolution changed its name to Revolution plus so if your looking for it or ask your vet about it that is what they will give you.

Remember, Heartworm AND flea prevention ARE very important. Remember to ALWAYS speak to your veterinarian about any prevention you give to your pet. If you need any recommendations on a veterinarian and you live in the Columbia, SC or North Georgia area feel free to message me! I have worked with some really wonderful vets and would love to point you in the right direction. Stay safe and stay tuned for more!