Heart worm and fleas, etc. Hi all, Just had to write you all and ask about all of the above. The reason for this is that Cassie had been a strictly indoor dog and only went out very occasionally to wee and poo in our back yard. Mostly she went, or I was trying to train her to go, on pads in the house. When we went to the back yard which has an extremely small patch of short cut grass, I would stand there with her for about 5 min until potty time was over and that was it!!! The same with my other baby Merlin, before I lost him. I think she is ready to walk on a leash and I think it is good that she gets some exercise, so today for the first time I took her to the park for about 5 minutes and she walked almost a whole block. Then I got to thinking about all the bad stuff out there that she could pick up and I became worried. I never wanted to use commercial heart worm medicine or flea or worming medicine on my baby. It all seems so harsh and unhealthy. Now that I want to walk her everyday, do you advise that I should give her something for heart worm and fleas? Are there preventative treatments out there for fleas? Does every one who walks their baby give heart worm medicine? I know absolutely nothing about this, but am afraid something bad will happen if I don't give her heart worm medicine. Are there any natural gentle safe organic products out there for this? What about fleas? How do you prevent them rather than treat them? Is there a natural safe organic method to prevention? If I have to treat her for these things-what products are best to use? Thanks in advance to all who answer. Shellie |
For intestinal parasites, I wouldn't treat for those (although most heartworm meds do anyway) unless a fecal samples comes back positive. You should have the vet check 1-2 times a year or anytime you are concerned about it. I don't use flea products because Ellie rarely gets them and it just isn't healthy. For as often as she gets fleas, Dawn dish soap will probably work just fine for her. If I had to use something that wasn't natural to control them, I'd probably go with Frontline or Advantage (not Advantix). Advantix does help control mosquitos and ticks but they add permethrin to do this and it can make the dog feel like something is crawling on them. Frontline Vectra something or other I think it is also helps with ticks. I do use and I highly recommend using something for heartworms. I have not read anything about preventing this naturally because I just would not trust that method. There are lots of threads about heartworm that you can search for to get everyone's opinion. I personally would only use one of these: Interceptor (Milbemycin Oxime) Sentinel (Milbemycin Oxime and Program) Heartgard (Ivermectin) Heartgard Plus (Ivermectin and Pyrantel) Advantage Multi is very new and I haven't seen much on it so far. I think I'd avoid it. ProHeart 6 is an injection that was pulled and is now back on the market. This, in my opinion, is extremely dangerous and I wouldn't even consider giving it. Revolution has its good points but if you search Google, you will come across a site showing annual death rate from these drugs. It says Revolution is responsible for 36 annually while Interceptor is for 9 and Heartgard for 6, so is appears to be quite a bit more dangerous. There is also some question about whether it really is good heartworm protection, so I would really hesitate to go this way also. |
It is possible for a strictly indoor animal to still get infected with Heartworms. Even many holistic vets recommend regular heartworm treatment as treating once they have heartworm is very difficult and extremely hard on the pup. There are several natural flea repellents, from shampoos with essential oils that serve as a repellent to a spray you can make on your own to commercial products. |
Ask your vet about Revolution - it's an all in one preventative. Given monthly, but it is kinda expensive... But it allows you to take your baby out and about and enjoy the outdoors without the worry. |
I do not give heartworm med, only at vet visits when they check the stool and IF he needs it. They check at all the checkups. I do give flea/tick topical on his back only from about May to Sept. he doesn't need it in the winter |
We give Heartgard and Frontline. I would highly recommend the Heartguard even though she is not out much, I would hold off on the Frontline or flea medicine unless you end up with a problem. The main reason we give it is because we are on an acreage and the babies like to go out and run around, and we know there are fleas in the yard. Plus dogs can get tapeworms from fleas so I would like to prevent both.:) We only give the Frontline during the warm months since fleas are not an issue when the ground is covered in snow and the babies even want to go for a walk. |
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That's great your dog gets checked for heartworm, which they all do once a year. But if the test ever comes back positive he's in trouble. Heartguard is a preventive and should be given once a month to prevent heartworms. One misquito bite from an infected misquito and your dog can get very sick. It's not an easy fix either. Just to let you know. |
Ellie May, Which heart worm medicine do You use? |
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