I have never used any of these on any of my dogs, ever.

I use Interceptor on Buddy & Patches one because it covers more worms and that is what Kathy Engel recommended when I got my 1st Bouvier over 20 years ago.
Interceptor were very kind last year when I called them about one of the pills had turned into a powder in the package did not look like a whole pill. They asked if I would send the Invoice told them I did not have it.Told them I bought them at my vets so about a month later they sent me a new six pack.Thought that was very nice of the I did have to pick it up from my vets office.

I've never used a HW preventative with my current two... I didn't have any knowledge of it until my father got his first lab in 2006, and we took her to the vet where I now work. At this point in their lives (11 and 7 years of age) I just don't feel like I should be putting extra meds into their systems unless absolutely necessary (they're on Advantage year round due to Lizz's allergies).

We recommend Interceptor at work. I plan to start it with my next dog, for the worm protection (although I've never had much of an issue with parasites, knock on wood). My father's lab is on Interceptor.

Maybe alot it has to do with the locations of where we all live and the concentration of dogs in the area some areas you probably need to use preventatives more than other other areas may have a natrual preventative of some sorts.

Since I have Ibizans, I can't use anything like Frontline, even if I wanted to.

The only thing halfway safe to use around them [and most sight hounds] is Permethrin and that is only used in yard spraying.

Years ago, my dog's sister was flown from NY to MD.
The woman flea dipped her, flea sprayed her, flea powdered her and then put a flea collar on her.

During that 3 hour flight, ALL of her hair fell off and she died less than a year later from massive immunological problems.

Almost a year ago, my friend put Frontline on her Australian Cattle Dog [in spite of warnings not to use in a home with cats] and not only did his hair fall out his skin started to swell, ooze and slough off, even though she then saw the cat warning and bathed him repeatedly right after applying it.

He will have to be on Prednisone for the rest of his miserable life.

[and chunks of him literally still randomly drop off]


We keep the grass mowed, the leaves raked up, spray frequently, no longer feed the birds in the dog yard and check for ticks like obsessive-compulsives.

That's why it came as such a devastating shock that Odin turned up positive.

Considering that out of all ticks, generally a very small percentage are carrying Lyme, we figure he had to have had it already when he came here.

I saw -3- ticks last year and none of them were on him, nor had they been attached yet, to the other dogs.

I suspect his dam is infected and passing it to her pups.
[which would explain why she was robust while pregnant but went to hell after delivering her litter....too much stress and the dormant infection flared up?]

The way those people "keep" their dogs and the way I keep mine are world's apart.

That's a huge part of why the possibility of Lyme never entered the equation Sunday night.

My kids just don't get it, here.

I can only hope we caught it soon enough and can minimize the damage.



.

I have always used Heartgard and have no problems however, I am going to switch to Interceptor because it is less toxic to the liver.

The idiot on the ridge above not only feeds deer near my yard [thus the Lyme issue] he also does nothing about the wretched bog that is a mosquito breeding pool every summer.

I've even offered to buy the skeeter-floaters that get rid of them but he said no and would fish them out if I snuck them in.

So....I put a 4 feet deep fish pond in my backyard and enjoy watching the Koi and Comets just waiting for the stupid skeeters to "touch down" to lay their eggs.

We hardly ever see mosquitoes any more but I have no idea how long my yard will be an issue because of that wormy dog so we stick with the Interceptor.


.

Did I miss something here? How do we know Interceptor is less toxic on the liver?

Was their a study done by some Vet School? Please forward where you get this info. from? May cause me to change as well?

has any one tried this? Generic Alternative to Heartgard - Buy at PetShed and save $$$

I use Interceptor for my boys! And as far as flea and tick protection I use Shoo!TAG....it is completely all natural and protects them for 4 months at a time.

I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO PUT ANY CHEMICAL LIKE FRONTLINE ON MY BOYS NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL!!!!!!

****FDA is working on removing all flea collars and spot on treatments because of the dogs it has made very ill and killed.......just something to think about!

We haven't given any heartworm preventative to any of our dogs for years because of too many bad experiences. Sarah, my five year old doberman, got liver damage and died from Heartguard Plus. Gretchen got very ill after her 2nd dose of Heartguard and Wolfgang got terrible hives from head to toe from Advantage each time until we stopped after 3 months.

Out of 8 dobermans and 1 Golden Retriever, we have never had a problem with heartworms. So we would rather take the chance and not have to go through losing a pet because of something we were "told" they have to take for their health.

I thought interceptor is Sentinel?

Wonderful website for tracking actual prevalence of tick/mosquito borne diseases in your specific area:

U.S. Regional Map of Lyme disease, Canine Ehrlichiosis, Heartworm, Anaplasma

Lyme, we've got galore.
Heartworm, not so much.

I *do* like to keep my dogs wormed because of that "babysat" dog bringing whip and hookworms here so may just switch to a round of Panacur every 2 or 3 months, instead.



.

Our boy, Leo, just finished HW treatment a month or so ago (he is a rescue, came to us positive) and the third phase of the treatment is the 6 month shot. Vet says that we don't need to provide any further preventative for this time period. Concerned because I am sure this is the proheart and I have heard there are problems associated with this. Thoughts? Our girl, Julian, is on Sentinel. Leo was on heart guard biweekly until the new HW treatment drugs became available.

I know we have a lot of sticky threads but nominate this be one never allowed to die.

I'm in north TX and heartworms are a huge concern here. I use generic 1% ivermectin I buy in 50ml bottles. If you have a multiple dogs it's a huge money saver. Use caution if you're interested in this method and contact your vet for proper dosing information. It is very cost effective but if given incorrectly has the potential to be fatal. My dogs (Irish Red and White Setters, a French Brittany and a German Shepherd) have not ever reacted adversely; but I can't speak for all dogs.

Veterinarian Speaks Out about Heartworm Preventatives

Unknown Facts about Dog Heartworms

Interesting links and point of view, but not enough to sway me from giving my dogs their monthly preventative - year round. If I lived in a northern state then I would probably only give it to them during the spring/summer months. I work at a vet clinic and we've seen at least 5 dogs this year with heartworms that needed to be treated. It is definitely not uncommon around here.

It's not uncommon here either, and I live in Michigan. We have a lot of water and a high coyote population which is a reservoir for it. We also have unpredictable weather in which mosquitos could be dormant and active at weird times during the year.

It's not worth the risk to NOT give heartworm preventatives to my dog AND cats.

Are you sure it wasn't Advantix? Canine advantix is toxic to cats. Dog frontline is not toxic to cats. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to buy the large dog (I cleared this with merial representatives and a lot of cat rescues do this to save money) frontline and break the dose down to a small dose for cats (1/2 ml).

When I worked in an animal hospital it wasn't uncommon for people to come in and say the "frontline" they bought at Walmart wasn't working. After further questioning and sometimes we requested the packaging be brought in, it was found the "frontline" was really Biospot or a Hartz product.

Im glad to see all the positive responses for Interceptor, which is what I use, and is what the Vet recommended

I noticed some people do not use any heart medicine. If you do not use heartguard and the like is there something you do to make sure your dogs do not have heartworms etc? anything besides get them tested once a year? Just curious what the risk is if you do not use a heart medicine and then your dog does get heartworm.

Of course, "some people" are idiots. Just my $.02.

just curious, our breeder required it in the puppy contract so we've done it from day one.

Hmmm Anakin is on Heartguard....is there a heartguard and a heartguard plus?

But now I wonder if we should switch?