Looking to start my husky pup on heartworm and flea/tick preventative, would prefer one of the all in ones as it seems more economical. I've come across Revolution, Advantage Multi, Trifexis... any recommendations on the best brand to purchase?

I used Revolution last year. It only is labeled for 1 tick species, specifically does NOT work for the deer tick which carries lyme disease here in the northeast. Never a sign of fleas, had tons of ticks, even with the preventic collar but we have enormous tick pressure. I can't tell you how well it prevented heartworm as it was my impression that our misquito season was almost non-existant last year. I may try a different route this year. Ivermectin based products (for heart wormwill also control intestinal worms). I am looking at either the seresto collar or possible Canine Advantix II for tick control.

Trifexis is not for tick and tapeworm prevention(imho, for adult dogs most common worm is tape).
Revolution again no tapeworm and only one type of tick prevention(not the common tick that produces lyme disease).
Advantage Multi again does not cover for ticks and tape.

Yes it gets challenging. You really need to study your area, as far as how common ticks are and what type. You also need to determine how often and where your dog will be outside. Since every area is a little different as far as what is more common. Me personally I use Fiproguard for fleas and covers most ticks. I use the Iverhart for heartworm and tape worm preventive. I know of no medication that truly covers all. I do recommend you to read reviews on line of all the different meds to determine what will work best for you.

Everyone has their opinion on what works best. My vet recently recommended Nexgard for fleas and some tics(including the deer tick which causes Lyme), however I have personally stayed away from Nexgard, Comfortis, and Trifexis because of the potential for causing seizures in some dogs. In a perfect world i would learn to administer Ivomec myself to prevent heart worm and continue with the Fiproguard for fleas and ticks and administer Sentry wormx plus when ever my girl caught a rabbit to get rid of any potential tape worm issues.

Btw, the Fiproguard and the Iverhart are probably the cheapest route to cover all the above (unless you went with the Ivomec and administer yourself). Through my research the Fiproguard covers fleas and most ticks including the tick for Lyme, never have seen a flea or tick. Iverhart covers the heart worm and all worms and parasites including tape, where the others do not.

Amy, I have heard good things about Seresto, I believe it's effective for 8 months and fleas and most ticks are covered, I think though the downside was the cost. If you go that route please share with the rest of us, it may prove to be cost effective in the long run.

The downside for advantix ii, imho, not safe around cats, since it is administered down the length of dogs back, a bigger potential kitty could have it on her. (Where as Fipro, is administered in one spot between shoulder blades, less area to cover, and less of a chance for kitty to ingest). So also a good product, imho, if cats are not really around.

I'm not in the right mood to be posting, so take much of this with a grain of salt. As @MiyasMomma (Renee) said, it really helps if we have some idea of where you are to be able to provide a decent response. Alison, please give a little more in your profile.

It's odd for me since I went from the heart-worm capitol of the US (Houston / Gulf Coast) to the desert where we have no mosquitoes and few ticks - so my kids are not getting the "normal" medications. Our two local vets sell the products, but when asked really don't recommend anything - it's virtually a waste of money. All that being said, I don't think I can make a reasonable suggestion.

Hermetically sealed bubble.  It's not very realistic but it is the best.

Thanks everyone for your input so far. I live in Michigan so the climate is not very hospitable to mosquitoes, but I do live near some woods so I'm assuming ample tick protection would be necessary. I do have a cat in the household, and my husky pup Mavi is currently 13 weeks old.

Umm, the climate in Michigan not being hospitable to mosquitoes? I lived in SE MI for 24 years and mosquitoes are horrible...lol

Google Michigan heartworm incidence. I think you will want tho use a preventative.

I suppose I need to do this carefully.  Even though I've said that neither of my dogs are on heartworm / tic preventative because of the dearth of mosquitoes and tics in my area (extreme rural desert) I would suggest that anyone who doesn't consider them imperative in 90% (or more) of the US examine their situation carefully.

During the summer (spring and fall) I normally sleep with my windows and doors open and the biggest problem I have is with moths! (( It's not a flame you silly thing, go away!! ))  If I got mosquito bit, they'd be on meds!

My dogs get their yearly physical (normally when I have to board them overnight) and show clear on any internal diseases.  If there were any indication that we had a problem, you can bet they'd be on preventative meds.

I'd be very leery of suggesting that anyone who lives in the desert around a city (Phoenix / Tuscon / El Paso for example) not have preventive meds - simply because with the larger population the prevalence of tics, fleas, etc is more of a problem.  Stagnant water in a swimming pool is a first rate home for mosquitoes in urban areas.  

Use common sense and err on the side of caution, the meds may cost a bit - but nowhere near the potential cost of a cure, hopefully a cure!

I give my boy Iverhart Max and Pet Naturals of Vermont..a natural oil spray for fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes.
I originally wanted to give him Trifexis from the start but the vet didn't have any at that time so they gave me Iverhart Max and since he didn't have any bad reaction to it, I decided to stick to it for his lifetime.

I'm in Michigan as well. Our vet gives us Iverhart and Frontline. It's really hard to find one single thing to do everything so I'd say it's in your best interest to do both. Iverhart only cost 9 dollars but frontline was 22. Ticks were HORRIBLE last year. We've never seen ticks in our yard but last year my cousins dog got 3 ticks in one week! So even with the preventive make sure you're checking them. Mosquitos really just depend on Michigan's bipolar weather but if you live by one of the great lakes I'd say you can count on them.

I grew up in N Ohio on Lake Erie near SE MI and if you have woods I would say you have a need for all of the medications. Ticks fleas mosquitoes for worms.......
We were on Heartguard or Iverhart with a flea drop for years but the ingredients changed and we have some allergies to some of the drop chemicals. So I have had my dogs on Trifexis for 3 years before the word on seizure problem came out but never switched as the have no indication of seizure issues. Also because we can not handle several of the "drop" forms of medication. Ticks were BAD last year in SW Ohio. However I also use Essential Oils (EO) on the collar with a natural EO and ACV mix to spray as a bug spray for ticks.

Thanks everyone! I am going to err on the side of caution and get him on a flea and tick preventative... For ticks, has anyone tried Nexgard chews?

I've been sitting back and just watching this thread until now. Over the years we've tried many different things from all in ones to separate flea/tick & heartworm chemical meds to natural flea/tick prevention and non-prescription heartworm meds. Of all the quick and easy "all in ones", the only one I would use is Trifexis which I openly recommend for people that want to go that route. Do I use Trifexis on my own dogs? No, because I prefer to use a little poison on my dogs as possible. I could probably write an essay on the pros and cons of so many different flea and tick products. But in the interest of brevity, I would not recommend a topical all in one.

I have also lost faith in the major topical flea/tick applications. Too much use has lead to resistance and they are failing in my experience and in those of the people I know personally (in my area and others).

I saw someone mention Seresto. I used Seresto on my sibe for 9 months (it claims to be effective for 8 months) and he never had a single flea or tick the entire time he wore the Seresto. Based on my experience it is highly effective and extremely economical and safer than topical alternatives. First, with Seresto you aren't sending insecticides into your dogs bloodstream every month. Second, Seresto only costs $45-$50 depending on where you get it which is way cheaper than topicals which run well over $100 for a year supply for the same size dog.

These days I go all natural. I used to use essential oils and no longer even use those. Now I simply treat my yard with diatomaceous earth and give a small amount of garlic in the dogs' food 3 times a week and my dogs have been flea/tick free. For heartworm prevention we dropped expensive prescriptions for dosing non-prescription cattle Ivomec at home.

RE: Seresto collar that I mentioned earlier (and preventic as well). I spoke to Virbac re the preventic last year and was told that the collar had to have good skin contact to be effective. Reason being, the acaracide is distributied in the lipid layer of the skin. Having not had good tick control with that collar, I called the Seresto manufacturer. Unfortunately for me (Ami) the Seresto, too, has to have good skin contact as its ingredient is also distributed in the lipid layer. As most know, Ami is a wooly and to get these collars tight enough for "good skin contact" is problematic so I am back to square one Others on here have had good results with the preventic so I would assess the thickness of neck fur before arbitrarily rejecting these collars.

As far as the nexgaurd chew, I am leary. My husband is a physician and one of his general rules is to NOT use a new drug if at all possible, until it has been on the market for 5-10 years. Studies are always time limited and post marketing experience frequently turns up unknown adverse reactions. The nexguard chew is not only different delivery system but is touted as revolutionary new active ingredient.

Have yet to come up with a strategy - capellalayla abandonded the essential oils for advantix II with success. I suspect that will be my route. Virbac also has a topical with supposed good results for ticks called Effitix but it does not have an insect growth regulator for fleas, just kills adult fleas. Archer lives with indoor/outdoor cats and I'm afraid he could bring fleas over so I want to get rid of those suckers at all stages of development.

Val - I'm lazy - could you direct me to the use of generic ivomec? And does ivomec prevent ear mites, sarcoptic mange like revolution (we have foxes in the area, one died in my composter a couple of years ago and those mange mite eggs live forever in the soil )

Hmm, didn't know about the skin contact thing with Seresto. But in Dakota's 9 months of wearing his, I can promise you it never touched his skin directly. I mean really, he's a husky, it's next to impossible for anything to maintain contact with the skin directly. And in all that time he was pest free...so I am going to say it works just fine without direct contact with the skin.

Ivomec is ivermectin, basically it's a cattle wormer. If you do a search on this forum you can find a thread (possibly threads?) discussing Ivomec use and dosage info. Being ivermectin, it is the same ingredient used in major heartworm preventatives and also the same ingredient used to treat mange.

Here you go: Ivomec question

Edit: Nevermind, that wasn't the thread I was thinking of and I can't find the one I am thinking of while browsing on my phone.

Val - how's your tick pressure down there? Up here in the northeast it is phenomenal. We do a lot of hiking in the woods and even here at home, Ami is in and out of the woods daily.

It's pretty heavy and we have lived with woods directly behind our house since 2010. So there's been plenty of ticks and deer and other native wildlife that carry them. In fact, us humans have picked up plenty of ticks while the dogs who spend far more time in the yard haven't picked up any. Go figure! For a hike in the woods I do prefer to add a drop of rose geranium oil to both their collars and harnesses. However the handful that my 2 toddlers are, we have not taken the dogs on a real hike for at least a year. I cannot handle 2 toddlers and 2 dogs on a hike in the woods...that's just asking for trouble!

Huskyluv wrote:

It's pretty heavy and we have lived with woods directly behind our house since 2010. So there's been plenty of ticks and deer and other native wildlife that carry them. In fact, us humans have picked up plenty of ticks while the dogs who spend far more time in the yard haven't picked up any. Go figure! For a hike in the woods I do prefer to add a drop of rose geranium oil to both their collars and harnesses. However the handful that my 2 toddlers are, we have not taken the dogs on a real hike for at least a year. I cannot handle 2 toddlers and 2 dogs on a hike in the woods...that's just asking for trouble!

No? Gee...cannot understand why not

Wow - when you put it like that, you really do have your hands FULL! Sometimes, when I watch young mothers, I wonder how I ever got anything done.

You get things done...just at a totally different pace from the rest of the world! Somehow it took us 25 minutes just to get shoes put on and kids loaded into the car yesterday. What?! As a result, we were 15 minutes late to story time at the library. I really do have the utmost respect for moms who work full time and take care of their kids at the end of the day. I struggle just being a full time mom!