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Types Of Heartworm Preventative Meds
It is important to choose the heartworm med that works best for your specific situation. Some are for dogs only and some for
felines offer more coverage than others. You also have the option of choosing between three types - pills, chewable flavor tabs or
spot ons. Some heartworm preventative meds offer multiple protection against fleas too.
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Oral Prevention - Flavor Tabs and Pills
Pill and flavor tab meds are the most common type of heartworm preventative. For dogs, most pet owners prefer the chewable flavor tab, however,
some dogs may be allergic to the ingredients so Heartgard makes a pill which can be taken instead. When food allergies
are an issue sometimes it is simply a matter of changing meds as some use pork and others beef. Different ingredients
can be significant with respect to what heartworm preventative they contain as well. The main meds difference is in what other
parasites the product treats and wether or not the ingredients are safe for cats.
Dogs and cats have different physiologies, consequently heartworm meds
prescribed for dogs only often contain ingredients that can be very dangerous when given to cats.
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Topical Spot On Heartworm Preventatives
Depending on what other parasites you want to target, there are a few
topical spot on heartworm preventatives to
choose from these days, including Revolution and
Advantage Multi. Just a drop or two between the shoulder blades once a month does the trick.
Both products also help control fleas and Revolution goes one step further to help control ticks.
Both help control their own specific group of other parasites too. Topicals spot ons can be a nice option when you are looking
for comprehensive coverage or simply when you have trouble getting your pets to take a pill.
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Heartworm Product Differences In Targeted Parasites
One of the biggest differences between heartworm meds lies in what ingredients they contain and what other parasites
that ingredient targets. For instance, both sentinel and
interceptor
heartworm products have the ingredient Milbemycin Oxime to prevent heartworms and help control
roundworm, whipworm and many hookworm infections as well. But sentinel has an additional ingredient,
Lufenuron, to help control flea infestation too. Iverhart
and heartgard plus also work to prevent
heartworms, however, they utilize different ingredients, ivermectin to prevent heartworms and
pyrantel to combat roundworms and hookworms.
Interceptor and sentinel help control whipworms, heartgard products do not, but,
heartgard meds control more species of hookworms than interceptor does.
Hence the confusion, if your trying to decide which product
would work best for your pet you'll want to determine
which issue is most important to you.
For instance, if your main concern
is hookworms, Heartgard Plus might be the preferential choice,
however, if whipworms are of concern,
only interceptor claims to help control those. Here is
a good example from our own experience; we've always liked the heartgard products but when we inherited a new
dog with whipworms we switched our crew over to Interceptor until we were confident the whipworm problem was resolved.
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Cats and Heartworms - A Special Concern
Cats can get heartworms just like dogs and they are just as dangerous for them, however the process is somewhat different
for cats than it is for dogs. When a dog is bitten heartworm larvae travels to the heart where they invade and grow into adults.
In cats, the larvae is often stopped by an immune reaction at the lungs before it reaches the heart. However, this immune
reaction that kills the larvae in the lungs can also damage the lungs themselves as well. On occasion, a larvae may make
it to the heart where just one adult heartworm can prove deadly to the feline physiology, often without warning.
Most heartworm pills for cats kill the heartworms in the cat at the time of administration, however, they are only given once a month,
this is enough to take care of the heartworm larvae before it reaches adulthood and the heart, but it
is still possible for new larvae to invade the cat between doses and subsequently cause lung irritation in the mean time.
Whereas the topical preventative Revolution
works continuously on the feline to kill larvae throughout the month rather than
just at the time of treatment. Consequently, we've chosen to use Revolution for our own cats.
Many heartworm meds are for dogs only, as they contain ingredients that can be harmful to cats,
be sure you choose one specifically made for felines such as Revolution or Heartgard feline
product varieties. You'll even want to be careful about using topicals on your dog if there is a
possibility that your cat may lick that dog.
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Why Prescriptions Are Required
Since heartworm prevention is not designed to kill adult worms in the heart, it is important to test your dog
or cat for heartworms before beginning preventative treatment, otherwise the adult infestation could be missed
entirely and continue to worsen while you are under the false impression that your pet is heartworm free.
Requiring a test for your dog before beginning treatment helps prevent this oversight. In addition to
this issue, if you give your dog a preventative when they already have heartworms,
it can actually lead to rare but possibly severe reactions that could be harmful or fatal.
Therefore, a prescription is important and required as a preventative measure to protect your pet.
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What We Use
For our dogs, we use Heartgard and
Interceptor depending upon the dog.,
We use both because one of our
dogs is allergic to beef and cannot have heartgard, the other is allergic to pork and cannot have
interceptor, so we need two different ingredients. We use
Frontline for our flea and tick control,
so a heartworms only preventative is all we need for them.
For our cats, we like Revolution, just a drop between the shoulder
blades means no struggling to take a pill.
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Revolution For Pets
Monthly Spot On
Both Fleas and Ticks
Heartworm Prevention
Some Ear Mites
Some Worms In Cats
Both Dogs & Cats
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Advantage Multi
Monthly Spot On
Heartworms & Fleas
Hookworms, Roundworms
Whipworms In Dogs
Both Dogs & Cats
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Heartgard Products
Monthly Tabs or Pills
Heartworm Prevention
Some Other Parasites
Dog & Cat Varieties
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Iverhart Products
Monthly Flavor Tab
Heartworm Prevention
Some Other Parasites
Max Tapeworm Option
For Dogs Only
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Interceptor Tabs
Monthly Flavor Tab
Heartworms
Round & Hook Worms
Some Whipworms
Both Canine & Feline
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Sentinel
Monthly Flea Pill
Both Fleas & Heartworms
Does Not Kill Adult Fleas
For Dogs Only
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Comparisons At A Glance
Compare Within Categories
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Heartworms Podcast
Interesting information
including different affects on dogs vs cats.
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COPYRIGHT © 2002 - 2009 OnTrack Professionals, Inc. All Rights Reserved Thank you Jesus for blessing us with the presence of our pets |
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