What is the best and least damaging heartworm preventive for dogs? - Page 1

There are many mosquitoes in my home state of Mississippi. If dogs don't receive heartworm preventives, the two alternatives for dogs that get heartworms are: (1) receiving very expensive heartworm treaments or (2) dying. In your opinions, what is the best and safest (least damaging) heartworm preventive for dogs? After reading some articles (was using Trifexis) on some of the current monthly treatments available, I have decided to change to something safer to use on my dogs.

I personally have used Heartgard Plus for my dogs for over 20 years and have had no ill effects what so ever.

Thank you Jyl as that says much that you haven't had any ill effects. Because of the area I live in I have to give my GS dogs a preventive.

I live in MS also...my vets see the most failures on Heartgard & Interceptor. There have been breakthrough infections on all of them, but they have had better luck with the ProHeart shot (they go through a lot & say that after the company made it clear it is NOT to be given with vacines they have seen zero reactions/side effects-they do it separately with no office visit charge) & I think Advantage Multi. I have a boarding/training kennel also & have multiple customers that have had problems with trifexis, but none have mentioned issues with Proheart, Advantage Multi, or Heartguard & Interceptor.
Candace

Thank you for the information Candace. I appreciate it.

I would research proheart before ever giving it to your dog. Never in a million years would I give it to any of mine.

I've been using ivomec 1% for 11 years, half of those in FL. Every 6 weeks during prime mosquito season. Never has a dog come up positive (many many dogs)

Melissa

If you *must* use something, of the things mentioned (besides Interceptor or Heartgard), I would use the Advantage Multi. Remember, there is NO SUCH THING as heartworm "preventive." ALL HW meds kill microfilariae. They don't prevent anything but the microfilariae from maturing.

There is definitely a resistance to ivermectin (heartgard, iverhart, etc.) in my area (southeast MO) and seems to be affecting the entire Mississippi valley region. This began quite some time ago, as I was working as a vet tech a little further north and dogs on heartgard were coming up positive. Merial also stopped guaranteeing their product in our area. I moved further south and the same was happening at the clinic I began working at there. They stopped carrying any ivermectin based products for Heartworm prevention. Moxidectin (proheart and Advantage multi) seems to be the most effective currently. We used a ridiculous amount of Proheart as everyone loved the efficacy and ease (only given every 6 months) and have had no complaints of any reactions. I was there for four years and we probably gave 10 proheart injections per day, often times more. I personally use Advantage multi, but I wouldn't have an issue with switching to proheart if I needed to. Just sharing my personal experience with them. The resistance did not seem to be the same with interceptor/sentinel, but since they were unavailable for a long period of time most owners had switched to other products, so that may not be the case any longer.

I've used Interceptor since a few years after it came on the market back in the early 1990's, changing over to Interceptor Plus a year or two after that came out. Over the course of those years, I've had five different GSDs on it, have been well satisfied with the products, and none of my dogs have had adverse reactions. All enjoyed normal, healthy lives to date, with the lifespans of the three who are now deceased running from 14 to 15.5 years. My present two dogs are a 5 year old female, and a 12 year old male ex-rescue who had discoid lupus prior to receiving his first-ever dose of heartworm preventative at the age of 7 years.

When the supply of Interceptor dried up several years ago, I was able to keep my dogs on it because I purchased a two year supply of it before the supplier's stock ran out, which afforded me the opportunity to decide what I was going to use if the product didn't return to the market. I opted to go with Sentinel, and have likewise not had any issues with it as well. When my supply of Sentinel is used up, I may go back to the Interceptor again, though now that the dogs and I have moved from NE Michigan [where the heartworm prevalence not high, though it does occur] to Central PA, I may find I'm better off keeping them on the insect growth regulator that's in Sentinel to aid in flea control [fleas were not an issue for my guys in MI].

I should note that my dogs are kept on HW preventative year-round, and always have been, even back when I had a kennel of 20 sled dogs and we were using daily HW preventatives, as well as later when the daily products disappeared and I started using liquid ivermectin on a monthly basis. I did this with the sled dogs because we traveled with them throughout the year, including in the Southern states; now, with the GSDs, I'm never sure if I'm going to need to travel somewhere else in the country for work and need to take my dogs with me if it's going to be an extended stay.

So there's my experience with heartworm preventative. I've never had a HW-infected dog, either, thank heavens.

The best and least damaging HEART WORM POISON is NOTHING when there are NO MOSQUITOES PRESENT THAT CAN CARRY THE HEART WORM CAUSING PATHOGEN.  There is presently no heart worm preventative on the market or labelled for use as a heart worm preventative. All heart worm treatments are systemic poisons that kill after the host is infected and that is not prevention.  The heart worm preventative BS is all marketing nonsense from those profiting from heart worm treatments.  Every scum bucket veterinarian and pesticide producer that  is trying to sell year round heart worm poisons is doing so because they make billions of dollars from those products not because they are needed year round except in less than 5% of the USA.  The lastest marketing BS is to combine heart worm poisons with flea control or tick control so that you can be lied to and told that you need year round products.  The safest products to use as a heartworm poison are those low dose single use products.  The most harmful and dangerous products are the combination with flea or tick products and especially the multiple month products such as the newest lie on the block Bravecto.  Bravecto is sold as a 3 month product but is in fact a two month product if used for tick control.  As far as resistance goes all of the heart worm products in use have the same exact mode of action and there is no reason to think resistance will not affect all of them.  The most effective way to combat resistance is to NOT overuse the products when they are not needed which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the companies and veterinarians selling year round heart worm control are doing.  When night time temperatures are falling below 56 degrees farenheit ONCE within a two week period there is no need for heart worm poisons being in your dog's blood.  When night time temperatures are above 56 degrees farenheit continuously for more than two weeks heart worm poisons MAY be needed.  I do not combine heart worm poisons with other products and allow 7 days or more between giving heart worm poisons and vaccinations, other products, or other medical procedures whenever possible.  Dogs without a healthy and fully functioning blood brain barrier will be sickened by heart worm poisons and that includes dogs with a genetic predisposition such as some herding breeds as well as older, diseased, or sick dogs.  For those dogs becoming sickened after receiving a heart worm poison this is a sign of poisoning.  Throwing up and a whole list of possible adverse effects are indicators that your dog has been poisoned by these nerve poisons and are not either normal or of no concern as vets will tell you.  There are several other posts with maps and specific product discussion. Also links below ..

In summation, a particular species of mosquito must bite a dog infected with circulating L1 heartworm babies, must carry the babies to stage L3 and then must bite your dog . The adult worms and babies will eventually die off in the dog unless your dog is bitten again!  Oh, and one more thing.

Heartworms Development Requires Sustained Day & Night Weather Above 57˚F

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-1-truths-omissions-and-profits/

http://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/dogs-blood-brain-barrier/

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-2/