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Originally Posted by Lawman  Thanks guys..We plan to keep him on the Heartguard but will likely skip the blood test..What I read about heartworms and my real life experience differs greatly..I raise sheep and have 5 Great Pyrs that protect them..They are not on heartworm prevention except about once a year I will give them a horse wormer that will also kill heartworms..I realize there is risk doing that but I've never had a problem and furthermore I have friends who have had their old Great Pyrs tested who have never had preventative and tested clean..In fact a vet told one of my friends he has never known a Great Pyr to have heartworms..Not sure what to think of this..I'm well aware there are all kinds of risks in life and life itself is all about risk assessment..I would like to hear if any of you have ever had a dog contract heartworms while on a properly administered regiment of heartworm prevention. |
I am pretty sure all dogs are susceptible to heart worms. It takes 6 months from the bite for the microflara to become an adult heart worm. What heartworm prevention actually is, is a dewormer to kill the microflara. If your dogs that aren't on the medication do get heart worms and you give them whatever wormer your giving them and they were to have adult worms that it killed and continued there normal duties it would kill your dog because when their heart would beat faster it would shoot all the dead worms through from the heart and clog the arteries therefore killing your dog just something to keep in mind. Yearly blood work that checks out everything like a CBC and such is really important to make sure their are no issues you can't see. It is really dangerous for small dogs to get heart worms because the way you kill them when they are adults is by poison that is actually harder to get then you think and can often is on back order. It also can leave your dog with lasting effects such as a heart issues. It is much easier and cheaper to do yearly blood work and give a monthly pill.