charlesmdodson

Hey,

I dont know much about heart worms but should I be doing something for him now, and how often should I be doing it? What should I be doing now and for the future? Thanks... I really have no idea and hear conflicting things.

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dobes4us

I would check with your vet. In Ohio we do yearly testing and I keep my guys on preventative meds year round. Some vets in my area only suggest keeping them on for 9 months, but you do see a stray mosquito here in winter. Hope that helps.

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reddobes

The other reason to use year-round heartworm preventative is to prevent intestinal parasites such as roundworms and hookworms. Most companies offer guarantees if the dog is on the preventative year-round. The CDC is also recommending year round.
More info:
www.cdc.gov/healthypets
www.capcvet.org
Your vet should be able to answer any questions you have.

BackInBlack

I keep mine on it year round, they also get a yearly test just in case. If your dog hasnt been on preventative you will need to test for HW before starting the preventative. I used to use heartguard, but have since switched to interceptor. Good Luck

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tjmom

We do preventative year round.

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Jenny

Isabelle is on heartguard year round and we live in Az where the mosquito population seems to be migrating. We never used to have mosquitos but in the last few years the horse gets west nile shot & Isabelle gets her heartguard.

dobebug

Depends on where you are. I'm in western Oregon and use Intercepter year around. I did the same thing when I was in Washinton. I spent about 10 months in Vermont in 1993/1994 and stopped giving Intercepter when all of the small creeks and rivers froze solid--that was November I think (bad winter) and I started giving it again as soon as the biggest creek on the farm where I lived started to run--March.

Oregon on the west side of the state and in the Willamette Valley doesn't have enough really long stretches of cold weather to kill of either fleas or mosquitos. Eastern Oregon does but in my neighborhood I see mosquitos year around.

Oregon isn't really a high risk state (didn't used to have any incidence of heartworm at all in the 50's and 60's) so most of the clinics only require testing every two years. I start my dogs at six months and they are on Interceptor forever after. I've moved into two locations that turned out to have whipworm in the soil (and it's almost impossible to get rid of whip once the soil is contaminated) so year around Interceptor is a cheap sort of prevention for more than just heartworm for me.

hbwright

Here heartworm is very common and I just would not take the risk. I have the reminder set up on my PDA for every month as a back-up reminder. I've known 3 dogs in the same neighborhood that came up positive, one didn't survive treatment.

Like dobebug mentioned I also make sure that the preventative they are on protects against whipworm. We have it around here and the one they were on didn't protect against it and though Cleo never got it, Summer did. I think maybe it was from one of the new residents to the neighborhood that moved in after Cleo died. We've switched to Interceptor since.

Burns

I use Advantage Multi monthly for my dog and two cats year round. I like it because it covers for heartworm disease, fleas, intestinal parasites, and ear mites (in cats). Doesn't cover for ticks though, but that is not a huge concern in my area.

Every dog should be tested yearly for heartworm disease and be on a preventative monthly. Most places are recommending year-round treatment nowadays. Talk to your vet to see what product would be the best for you and Sherman.

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natdobe

We have always used Heartgard all year.