Hi!!!
and welcome to the thread!
You should join our little club as you've been feeding like this for a while, you can add valuable experience for the newbies!
I don't like to give a pesticide on the premise of prevention! Those heart worm pills alongside the flea/tick preventions are the flagship of any veterinary clinic ($$$$$). Aside form prescription k*bble and annual vaccinations, of course. It's like cutting off an arm, in case I break it! My senior Toy is 12 years old and never even took this stuff until my *then* vet convinced me to do so by making feel like I'd be a bad mom if I didn't. He took Heartguard for about a year and during that time his health dramatically declined! Never before or after that has he had a heartworm infestation. We lived in Germany all of our lives until 1999 where mosquitos as just as rampant as they are here stateside- never a problem.
I stay away from stagnant waters and that's about it. As far as prevention- you can make your own spritz to apply on your dog's fur just before an outing; parts citronella oil, cedar oil and water. You can repel mosquitos in your own yard by planting marigold flowers and catnip which is something "they" don't like and stay away from. Apparently, Avon's Skin-So-Soft bath oil works well, too. It truly is a judgement call for many. I'll rather take my chances.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by omega  I saw someone mention this a while back. Can't remember who - sorry. So if you don't give heartworm preventative, do you do anything to prevent it? I am on the fence right now trying to decide and my vet isn't very happy with me. She seemed quite exasperated. 
I really don't want them to get it - it's miserable for them to have and deadly, also. |
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