Heartworms are more common in the south where the mosquito population lives year round but there are cases from all 50 states. Unfortunately once a dog shows signs, bad heart sounds, lethargy and shortness of breath, the heartworms have reached an advanced stage from which a lot of dogs never recover. Some say that you can skip the monthly medication in the winter when the mosquitos are dormate but I find that very risky as the can still live inside or in protected areas, so I give the meds year round. Hope this helps.

They are definitely more common in some parts of the country than others. You would not be able to tell if another dog has HW just by observing it. Symptoms of HW are similar to a lot of other common symptoms and as has been said before, by the time they start showing outward signs of HW they are very far along.

The American Heartworm Society has a really nice map giving you a general idea of heartworm incidence over the years. You can see via the following link how much the incidence of HW cases have increased over the years: http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary-resources/slide.html

There are some areas in the US where the incidence of HW is so low that they don't really prescribe HW prevention at all. Take the PNW area of WA state for example, up in the Seattle area the vets don't even give HW meds or test for it since it really isn't a problem out there. Back when we lived in Mukilteo, WA I couldn't believe the vets wouldn't give me a HW preventative and did some research on it. Turns out they only have maybe 1 or 2 cases of HW out there in a year and from what I hear even those rare cases are from transplants (dogs moving into the area from a different location).

amykmac wrote:

I used Heartgard for a long time for all my dogs. Then the vet suggested Revolution, which is a heartworm, flea & tick preventer. We've used for about 3 years now, and so far, so good. The behaviorist there, Kay, also said it was good. Rleatively well-priced at $17.

I've been using Heartgard since I got Mya (and was old enough to take it), but my mom and a co-worker of mine both introduced me to Revolution about 2 months ago. I'm so used to giving her the Heartgard that I'm not 100% confident in the Rev yet. I've looked it up online and the reviews are good. I called my vet yesterday to ask if I should still give her the Heargard just to be safe? Or if that would be an over does of the meds (which were my suspicious). The girl at the front desk put me on hold and went to ask the vet and he said that Revolution is more for cats and really doesn't work on dogs. Now I'm confused

MelissaI wrote:

I've been using Heartgard since I got Mya (and was old enough to take it), but my mom and a co-worker of mine both introduced me to Revolution about 2 months ago. I'm so used to giving her the Heartgard that I'm not 100% confident in the Rev yet. I've looked it up online and the reviews are good. I called my vet yesterday to ask if I should still give her the Heargard just to be safe? Or if that would be an over does of the meds (which were my suspicious). The girl at the front desk put me on hold and went to ask the vet and he said that Revolution is more for cats and really doesn't work on dogs. Now I'm confused

I would stick with Heartgard if I were you. Revolution does work for the majority of dogs that use it but it does have its drawbacks. It does work for dogs so I would disregard the front desk person's comment about that. I also would not give two doses of HW prevention in one month. If you're going to do Heartgard and Revolution then you might as well stick with what you're already doing with Heartgard and a flea preventative. At the end of the day it's a dose of poison and the less poison you need to give your precious pet the better.

Both of my adopted chi girls were on Revolution before they came to me. Both tested HW negative however Faith did have fleas even though Revolution is supposed to protect against fleas. The other major drawback to Revolution is that it is a topical solution. Like most flea products it is applied to the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream to be effective. The problem with this is that sometimes not all of the product is absorbed into the bloodstream and if that is the case then your dog can still contract HW because if not enough poison is introduced the larvae will not be killed. Sometimes some of the product stays on the fur or does not get absorbed properly and because of this you can find plenty of people who have had their dogs on Revolution and still gotten heartworm. I would not leave it up to chance personally and will never use or recommend Revolution. That's just my personal choice and I'm not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn't use it yourself but just know that there are risks and decide if they are worth it to you. A monthly HW pill like Heartgard doesn't carry the risk that Revolution does.

Huskyluv wrote:

The problem with this is that sometimes not all of the product is absorbed into the bloodstream and if that is the case then your dog can still contract HW because if not enough poison is introduced the larvae will not be killed. Sometimes some of the product stays on the fur or does not get absorbed properly and because of this you can find plenty of people who have had their dogs on Revolution and still gotten heartworm.

Agreed! That's my main concern. Sometimes it's so hard to get all of the solution onto the skin because their fur is so thick. My husband holds her and I part her hair as much as I can, but sometimes I feel that it doesn't all get on the skin. I'll stick to the HG and get another form of flea/tick preventive. Any suggestions? We used to use Frontline, but the vet said that it's stopped working well. They did suggest another one, but I don't recall the name. I think it starts with a V.

MelissaI wrote:

I'll stick to the HG and get another form of flea/tick preventive. Any suggestions? We used to use Frontline, but the vet said that it's stopped working well. They did suggest another one, but I don't recall the name. I think it starts with a V.

If the product that starts with a "V" is Vectra then I would cross that off your list right now. I would highly advise you not to even consider Vectra, it has been linked to so many pet deaths that I cannot believe it is still on the market. Please please please do your research on Vectra if you are going to consider it.

How long have you been using Frontline? It is normal to have to rotate flea preventatives because with long term use the fleas in the area build up a resistance to the product...much like bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics and then we end up with superbugs. I think if you're lucky you might get 2-3 years out of a product before it's time to switch.

I don't use chemical flea/tick products anymore however I used to use K-9 Advantix before switching to natural remedies. Again, even with Advantix fleas eventually became resistant.

Frontline and Advantage/Advantix are good products that are well known. There are other products like Comfortis and Sentinel which are taken orally. All of them are pretty effective but they are not all equal. Some of them only kill adult fleas, others kill adult fleas and larvae, others kill adult fleas and eggs. The coverage varies from product to product so I would advise looking into what each product covers and decide what works best for you and your dog.

I've been off chemical flea/tick products since June and haven't had a single flea or tick on any of my dogs and I love it. Not only is it safer for my pets but it is way cheaper too. We use a combination of essential oils, apple cider vinegar, and garlic and it was worked wonderfully well even living in a heavy flea/tick area and having our house back to woods.

Huskyluv wrote:

I've been off chemical flea/tick products since June and haven't had a single flea or tick on any of my dogs and I love it. Not only is it safer for my pets but it is way cheaper too. We use a combination of essential oils, apple cider vinegar, and garlic and it was worked wonderfully well even living in a heavy flea/tick area and having our house back to woods.

I might want to steal that recipe from you when the next batch of Frontline wears out... it worked well in the summer?

Koda wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

I've been off chemical flea/tick products since June and haven't had a single flea or tick on any of my dogs and I love it. Not only is it safer for my pets but it is way cheaper too. We use a combination of essential oils, apple cider vinegar, and garlic and it was worked wonderfully well even living in a heavy flea/tick area and having our house back to woods.

I might want to steal that recipe from you when the next batch of Frontline wears out... it worked well in the summer?

I'd love to try this also! You apply the mixture once a month? Do you bathe them in it?

Koda wrote:

I might want to steal that recipe from you when the next batch of Frontline wears out... it worked well in the summer?

Yes, we had a really bad flea and tick year both in FL and SC. Glory and Faith both picked up fleas and Faith also picked up a lot of ticks too. I was fed up with it so I did some research on natural alternatives and came up with my own combo for flea/tick repellent. I have been off chemical flea/tick prevention for the heaviest portion of flea/tick season this summer. I started this in June of this year and have been pest free since day one and we have gone 5 months without a single flea or tick. What's even more impressive is that before the switch my chi girls had gotten fleas and Faith was picking up ticks at least once a week if not more.

MelissaI wrote:

I'd love to try this also! You apply the mixture once a month? Do you bathe them in it?

Some people do make a mix but I don't. I did a lot of research on the different oils and supplements that help repel fleas and ticks and picked and chose what products I wanted to use. I figured it would be a work in progress and might need tweaking but I tried it out and have seen great results so far.

First off I will say that I use essential oils and essential oils are toxic to cats, so if you have felines present in the household essential oils are NOT an option.

What I use:
Weekly - 1 drop of Cedarwood oil and 1 drop of Rose Geranium oil on the collar (and/or harness)
Daily- I alternate adding garlic and apple cider vinegar in their food. So one day I add a small amount of garlic to their food the next day I add apple cider vinegar and rotate daily.

There are other oils and alternatives that you can use besides what I choose to use. For example, food grade diatomaceous earth is a safe flea repellent that can be spread in the yard, sprinkled on the carpet and vacuumed up and even put on the dogs coat. Other flea repelling oils include tea tree oil and lavender oil. I use cedarwood oil on my dogs' collars and harnesses which is a flea repellent and occasionally I use lavender oil around the house. I don't use tea tree oil because I'm not too fond of the smell but I do have tea tree oil dog shampoo that I use intermittently. The only reason I use Cedarwood oil on their collars instead of Lavender oil as a flea repellent is because the Cedar oil is cheaper for me to get. Otherwise I would use Lavender oil since it smells so much more appealing to me.

Rose Geranium oil is a natural tick repellent that has worked amazingly well. I had my doubts about its effectiveness when Faith was picking up a ton of ticks this year. Well seeing is believing and we've not seen a single tick since the day we started using the Rose geranium oil. The huge bonus with this is the smell, I LOVE it. The dogs literally smell like roses with that stuff on their collars.

Food supplements, garlic repels fleas and mosquitoes. Every other day I put just a tiny bit of garlic in their food, less than 1/8 tsp. Garlic is toxic to dogs in very large quantities but small quantities like what I do every other day are actually good for them. Apple cider vinegar is the best, you want to use the pure, unpasteurized product with the mother in it (you can find it at most health food stores). ACV really is such an amazing product and has so many benefits. ACV is antibacterial and anti fungal; it improves the immune system, liver, bladder and kidney function; helps with itchy skin and allergies; balances digestive enzymes; normalizes the pH of the body; repels both internal and external parasites like fleas and worms; provides potassium for tissue and joint health; makes a great ear cleaning solution; reduces inflammation...the list could go on and on! Don't take my word for it, look up more info on ACV yourself. It's benefits not only work for us but our dogs too. You can mix ACV directly into your dogs food or put it in their water. If you are trying to get rid of fleas or combating skin issues you can make a 50/50 mix of ACV and water in a spray bottle and spray it on their coat or you can give them a bath in the 50/50 mix. My sibe gets 1 tablespoon of ACV every other day mixed directly with his food.

Valerie, So with the garlic is there some links you could provide me to read up on this? I have a 16 lb pug, a 60 lb lab mix, and Loki my husky pup is around 17 lbs (he is currently underweight)

I have 4 cats and 3 dogs and we give them Iverheart for Heartworm prevention.

We typically use frontline and we buy the spray but I really hate using it. I typically use it for the cats because its cheaper and lasts longer.

If I could find a natural flea preventative for both the cats and dogs that would be amazing and save us soooo much money on buy prevention!

Any links, tips, and information are greatly appreciated!

Just wanted to do some clarifying about the heartworms... Seamus tested postive for heartworms when I got him. I noticed symptoms and took him in for a re-test at the actual vet and he tested positive. Panting, coughing, low stamina are all signs of a "more advanced" case of heartworms. Heartworm positive is NOT a death sentence. Many rescues (because of limited finds) cure heartworms by just using the heartguard (sometimes as much as twice a month, a vet is consulted.) The heartguard doesn't kill the adults but it DOES make them sterile so they can't reproduce. In time they do die off. Heartguard DOES kill the microfilaria.

Heartworms advance more quickly in active dogs. An active dog who tests positively for heartworms can be a tricky case as it really depends on how many adults there are living in the body as well as where they are. Sometimes it is necessary to surgically remove them, but not all the time. After the heartworms treatments for HW+ dogs, they must be on strict crate rest to avoid clotting arteries with dead adult HWs.

Lokipaws wrote:

Valerie, So with the garlic is there some links you could provide me to read up on this?

Google is definitely your friend on this topic as there are so many places with info on the good and bad of garlic in pets it's mind-boggling. I don't keep links saved but did a really quick google search just now and here are just a few that popped up:

Garlic for Dogs

The Healing Properties of Garlic

Garlic: A Long List of Benefits

A quick search will yield so much more, same goes for ACV. I use both garlic and ACV but if I were to use only one, it would definitely be ACV over garlic.

I'm going to also try Val's recipe when it starts to warm up. Some essential oils will set off my vertigo, so we'll see how we do.
Thanks Val!!

I hope they work for you. If the oils do not agree with you, you don't really NEED to use them. You could do just fine with the ACV and/or garlic. I use the cedarwood oil as an extra preventative measure, lavender and tea tree oils are both alternatives if you prefer also. Rose geranium is required for my dogs because of the number of ticks we had last year before using the oils.

The oils are so cheap too. I think I paid around $10 for a 1 ounce bottle of Rose Geranium oil back in May of last year. I've been doing a drop per week for all three of my dogs and the bottle is still almost full.

Yeah, hubby used to use essential oil when he would soak in the tub after playing a weekend of ultimate frisbee tournament and he would put 2 or 3 drops in the water to help with sore muscles and that would set off a headache (and eventually vertigo) and I'd have to close the door and then spray Febreeze to eliminate the odor. And sometimes even sleep in the other bedroom because it'd be on him. I went to get a massage once, and laying face down with my eyes closed, I didn't know she rubbed some essential oils on her hands and until she started massaging me and the next day violent vergito. So we'll see, otherwise, ACV and garlic may just do the trick.

Thanks for the links! I will do some research ^_^

If I didn't have 4 cats I would see about those oils. I am going to research some natural remedies for the kitties as well!

Lokipaws wrote:

Thanks for the links! I will do some research ^_^

If I didn't have 4 cats I would see about those oils. I am going to research some natural remedies for the kitties as well!

Yeah you will definitely need to stay away from the oils. However you can use ACV and garlic for both the dogs and the cats. My sister has two cats who had fleas so I recommended she try adding garlic to their food and making a 50/50 mix of ACV and water in a spray bottle and spraying that on their coats. She did and they were completely flea free in two days and they haven't been back since.

Huskyluv wrote:

Lokipaws wrote:

Thanks for the links! I will do some research ^_^

If I didn't have 4 cats I would see about those oils. I am going to research some natural remedies for the kitties as well!

Yeah you will definitely need to stay away from the oils. However you can use ACV and garlic for both the dogs and the cats. My sister has two cats who had fleas so I recommended she try adding garlic to their food and making a 50/50 mix of ACV and water in a spray bottle and spraying that on their coats. She did and they were completely flea free in two days and they haven't been back since.

Thank you!! Sounds like a plan! I would love some natural stuff because I really hate having to put chemicals on them especially the mix of the heartworm prevention and the flea/tick spray its a lot of chemicals! Always makes me nervous. I wouldn't want to eat that stuff or have bug repellent sprayed on me once a month! It is for their own good regardless but whatever I can do to make it better is definitely good!

How often do you spray the cats coats to prevent fleas? Just wondering because all 4 of my cats HATE water with a passion. Probably something about mommy using a spray bottle to keep them off my oven, kitchen cabinets, and dining table!

I've never used the spray so I'm not really sure, I would guess as needed but I can't really give you a good answer on that one. But that is a good question.

Well we had a bought where we didn't have to use flea control for around 6 months until we brought in a foster dog who had fleas and they spread to the house before I was able to capstar him. So the cats ofcourse got fleas and so did the dogs, and now we use the frontline every month just in case. I am planning on stopping fostering because of the addition of the 3rd dog it gets to be to many animals so hopefully with the natural remedies prevention for the dogs in combination with spraying the cats we can keep fleas out completely and I won't have to worry about doing it more than once a week which isn't too bad as long as its not icky smelling like frontline (the cats HATE it)

I don't know how Frontline smells but ACV is no bed of roses either!

Hi! The vet gave me a sample of puppy Interceptor for Kody and I'm already late on giving it to him, but I can't find puppy Interceptor anywhere online. I give Mya Heartgard and I went on their website and it doesn't say anywhere that puppies can't take it. I mean, he's 5 months and weights 35lbs. Do you guys think it's ok to give it to him?

MelissaI wrote:

Do you guys think it's ok to give it to him?

Both are fine to give to a puppy so you should be fine with either for Kody.

Interceptor is okay for puppies 4 weeks of age and older and at least 2 lbs and over.

Heartgard is okay for puppies 6 weeks of age and older.

Edited to add: I've never heard of puppy Interceptor, you'd just give the dose that corresponds with Kody's weight.

zoey got started on heartguard at 16 weeks old on the 25-50lb medication, i'd call your vet and see what they say.