Heartworm Prevention Help

[RiverStar-Aura]

Just wanted to start asking for advice before the time arises mid-year for me to have come to a decision.

Both Kirah and Zeus are on the yearly heartworm injection and after much thought (and after reading lots on DOL about it) I've decided to not give it to my guys again. I've had no problems with the injection so far and my old dog Poochie lived 16 and a half years without heartworm prevention, but I'd just prefer to not dose them with so many chemicals in one hit.

I've been looking into both Panoramis and Heartgard and I think I'm leaning towards Heartgard as I treat both my guys fortnightly with Advantix for tick prevention (which is why I won't use Advocate as I don't want to double dose for fleas).

My question is this:

When it says to treat monthly do they mean every 4 weeks or on the same date each month (eg their first treatment was on Jan 1st so next month's dose is Feb 1st)?

The reason I ask is because I'd like to know that my guys are getting the best protection possible and after having the yearly injections, monthly treatment has not concerned me.

[nowstarin]

Firstly Advantix, advocate and advantage are not "Chemicals" as such. They were derived from the human edible crop divisions that use the same active ingredient of the Advantage family range - Imidicloprid. This product is used on food crops that you and I EAT.

It is safe and has an extremely wide safety margin. It is absorbed into the Lipid layer of skin (on animals) and is absorbed into the whole edible areas on crops. it is not like your Active ingredients of other products ie Frontline sentinel, interceptor ect that use chemically derived actives.

Re worming: Advocate is used monthly and has the active Imidicloprid and an additional additive of moxidectin which separates upon application and goes to the differing organs that are affected by the myriad or worms that animals are afflicted by. The major difference and UNIQUE properties of advocate as opposed to other preps are:

Advocate kills and evacuates worms, hatchlings and larvae that have accumulated and then PROTECTS against getting ANY new worms as opposed to ALL other worming preps that just evacuate accumulated worms. ie NO PROTECTION.

This unique property of Advocate is called "steady state" whereby the plasma holds a level of protection that DOES NOT ALLOW WORMS to enter, migrate or procreate at any time. the worms are killed immediately upon coming to the treated animal AT ALL TIMES.

Compliance of use (CONTINUITY) is extremely important for complete protection against getting any new worms or new fleas or new ticks. Use monthly (or fortnighly) to maintain Steady state.

Advantix is the ONLY registered product available that not only KILLS but REPELS all biting insects ie ticks fleas flies mosquitos horse flies ect ect etc. Sarcoptic mange mites and demodex are not immuno deficient nor auto immune related issues. The are parasites and advocate treats and PROTECTS the animal from reinfestations.

Re Permoxin. This is a PERMETHRIN and as such is TOXIC to cats. It must never be applied to cats and should NEVER be sprayed on dogs that live with cats as the direct contact may lead to serious issues for the cat including death. CATS cannot metabolize Permethrins. With regard to ADVANTIX it has Imidicloprid and the additive of Permethrin. It should NEVER be applied to cats - HOWEVER at the time of APPLICATION ONLY you need to separate the dog and cat for approx 6 hours until the actives have spread throughout the lipid layer of the dogs skin. From this time forward there is ABSOLUTELY no issue of a cat and dog together. The can lick cuddle sleep ect till their little heart is content.

The Advantage range of products is unique in that Imidicloprid kills parasites on contact within 1 - 3 minutes 100% efficacy for the full 1 month. All other products including frontline, comfortis, sentinel ect ect ect require the flea, tick mossie ect to BITE TO GET A DOSE of their actives from the bloodstream of the dog/cat because their active ingredients cross through and remain in the bloodstreams. Also Parasites cannot become "immune" to Imidicloprid like they do to the other products ie fipronil (frontline) ect.

Permoxin has a low efficacy hence the requirement to apply frequently.

Imidicloprid kills on contact so where ever your pet lays or goes it is killing parasites environmentally too. Oh and one more thing, You may still see fleas or ticks on your pet (that is wearing advantage family products) at any time, HOWEVER, those fleas will be in the process of dying and will appear slow and partly paralysed. The will be dead within 1 - 5 minutes of coming into contact with a protected pet. The are immediatly paralysed so cannot bite your pet but will die off. The new fleas in the environment will jump on your pet but will be killed on contact with either a hair shaft or skin that is wearing the product.

The fleas cycle is only 5 % of the environment are live adult fleas, 50% are larvae the rest eggs and hatchlings. Advantage family kills live, and larval.

Fleas need a blood feed to be able to lay eggs. eggs do not cause animals greif, LARVAE hatches to become Adult fleas HENCE killing adult fleas and larvae will acheive a flea free environment.

It is waterfast and does not leave greasy marks. Apply to a dry dog and do not bath for at least 2-3 days after application. Safe on pregnant and lactating bitches and Advantage can be used from newborn age also suited for rabbits and ferrets Advantix from 7 weeks and Advocate from 7 weeks of age too. Advocate for Ferrets.

Re advocate not doing tapeworm - If you dont have fleas you dont get tapeworm. hence you dont need to tapeworm your dogs when using advocate.

Heartworm treament is in Advocate and does not require testing prior to use and maintains steady state also. Use both advocate and advantix together safely and have a completely covered and protected dog.with no fuss or vomiting (panoramis has very big side effects and has efficacy issues of tapering at month end for heartworm protection) Unsafe to use with ivermectin.

Hope this helps

[Baileys mum]

Firstly Advantix, advocate and advantage are not "Chemicals" as such. They were derived from the human edible crop divisions that use the same active ingredient of the Advantage family range - Imidicloprid. This product is used on food crops that you and I EAT.

It is safe and has an extremely wide safety margin. It is absorbed into the Lipid layer of skin (on animals) and is absorbed into the whole edible areas on crops. it is not like your Active ingredients of other products ie Frontline sentinel, interceptor ect that use chemically derived actives.

Re worming: Advocate is used monthly and has the active Imidicloprid and an additional additive of moxidectin which separates upon application and goes to the differing organs that are affected by the myriad or worms that animals are afflicted by. The major difference and UNIQUE properties of advocate as opposed to other preps are:

Advocate kills and evacuates worms, hatchlings and larvae that have accumulated and then PROTECTS against getting ANY new worms as opposed to ALL other worming preps that just evacuate accumulated worms. ie NO PROTECTION.

This unique property of Advocate is called "steady state" whereby the plasma holds a level of protection that DOES NOT ALLOW WORMS to enter, migrate or procreate at any time. the worms are killed immediately upon coming to the treated animal AT ALL TIMES.

Compliance of use (CONTINUITY) is extremely important for complete protection against getting any new worms or new fleas or new ticks. Use monthly (or fortnighly) to maintain Steady state.

Advantix is the ONLY registered product available that not only KILLS but REPELS all biting insects ie ticks fleas flies mosquitos horse flies ect ect etc. Sarcoptic mange mites and demodex are not immuno deficient nor auto immune related issues. The are parasites and advocate treats and PROTECTS the animal from reinfestations.

Re Permoxin. This is a PERMETHRIN and as such is TOXIC to cats. It must never be applied to cats and should NEVER be sprayed on dogs that live with cats as the direct contact may lead to serious issues for the cat including death. CATS cannot metabolize Permethrins. With regard to ADVANTIX it has Imidicloprid and the additive of Permethrin. It should NEVER be applied to cats - HOWEVER at the time of APPLICATION ONLY you need to separate the dog and cat for approx 6 hours until the actives have spread throughout the lipid layer of the dogs skin. From this time forward there is ABSOLUTELY no issue of a cat and dog together. The can lick cuddle sleep ect till their little heart is content.

The Advantage range of products is unique in that Imidicloprid kills parasites on contact within 1 - 3 minutes 100% efficacy for the full 1 month. All other products including frontline, comfortis, sentinel ect ect ect require the flea, tick mossie ect to BITE TO GET A DOSE of their actives from the bloodstream of the dog/cat because their active ingredients cross through and remain in the bloodstreams. Also Parasites cannot become "immune" to Imidicloprid like they do to the other products ie fipronil (frontline) ect.

Permoxin has a low efficacy hence the requirement to apply frequently.

Imidicloprid kills on contact so where ever your pet lays or goes it is killing parasites environmentally too. Oh and one more thing, You may still see fleas or ticks on your pet (that is wearing advantage family products) at any time, HOWEVER, those fleas will be in the process of dying and will appear slow and partly paralysed. The will be dead within 1 - 5 minutes of coming into contact with a protected pet. The are immediatly paralysed so cannot bite your pet but will die off. The new fleas in the environment will jump on your pet but will be killed on contact with either a hair shaft or skin that is wearing the product.

The fleas cycle is only 5 % of the environment are live adult fleas, 50% are larvae the rest eggs and hatchlings. Advantage family kills live, and larval.

Fleas need a blood feed to be able to lay eggs. eggs do not cause animals greif, LARVAE hatches to become Adult fleas HENCE killing adult fleas and larvae will acheive a flea free environment.

It is waterfast and does not leave greasy marks. Apply to a dry dog and do not bath for at least 2-3 days after application. Safe on pregnant and lactating bitches and Advantage can be used from newborn age also suited for rabbits and ferrets Advantix from 7 weeks and Advocate from 7 weeks of age too. Advocate for Ferrets.

Re advocate not doing tapeworm - If you dont have fleas you dont get tapeworm. hence you dont need to tapeworm your dogs when using advocate.

Heartworm treament is in Advocate and does not require testing prior to use and maintains steady state also. Use both advocate and advantix together safely and have a completely covered and protected dog.with no fuss or vomiting (panoramis has very big side effects and has efficacy issues of tapering at month end for heartworm protection) Unsafe to use with ivermectin.

Hope this helps

Great post nowstarin....very informative

I myself have been using Advocate on my dogs for years now,& I have never had a problem with it.I love the no fuss of one treatment that covers nearlly everything, without having to buy separate products. We don't have issues with ticks here, so I don't need to give Advantix too.

I also send 2 doses of it home with my new puppy owners in their puppy packs, & most of my owners have continued to use it & are very happy with it :)

R-A I have read alot of negative feedback about the heart worm injection, & would never give it to my dogs.

ETA: I treat my dogs with the Advocate every 4 weeks (not calendar month ) if I treat them on a Monday, I will count 4 weeks from then & treat them on a Monday again. :)

Edited February 19, 2012 by Baileys mum

[aussielover]

Are you a Bayer rep nowstarin?

If you use panoramis you're still doubling for fleas.

Personally I use heartguard and advantix.

For me it is the most economical.

edit to answer original question !

In reagrds to giving every 4 weeks. It is best to aim to give every four weeks but a few days out here or there won't make a difference. In fact I think they say you can miss up to 3 months of heartworm prevention before you have do a heartworm test before resuming prevention.

Edited February 19, 2012 by aussielover

[Rebanne]

Over the summer months I give my guys valuheart heartworm tablets (ivermectin) on the first of each month, after the 1st March they go back to every 6 weeks. I mark the calendar. I never use a heartworm tablet that does "everything". All other flea, worming treatment is done seperately.

[Sandra777]

Over the summer months I give my guys valuheart heartworm tablets (ivermectin) on the first of each month, after the 1st March they go back to every 6 weeks. I mark the calendar. I never use a heartworm tablet that does "everything". All other flea, worming treatment is done seperately.

+1

[Guest lavendergirl]

Over the summer months I give my guys valuheart heartworm tablets (ivermectin) on the first of each month, after the 1st March they go back to every 6 weeks. I mark the calendar. I never use a heartworm tablet that does "everything". All other flea, worming treatment is done seperately.

+1

Me too - too much overload on the dog's system otherwise IMO.

[piper]

Over the summer months I give my guys valuheart heartworm tablets (ivermectin) on the first of each month, after the 1st March they go back to every 6 weeks. I mark the calendar. I never use a heartworm tablet that does "everything". All other flea, worming treatment is done seperately.

+1

Me too - too much overload on the dog's system otherwise IMO.

I do the same - and flea treatments are only given when there are actually signs of fleas, not as an every month thing.

[Guest lavendergirl]

Over the summer months I give my guys valuheart heartworm tablets (ivermectin) on the first of each month, after the 1st March they go back to every 6 weeks. I mark the calendar. I never use a heartworm tablet that does "everything". All other flea, worming treatment is done seperately.

+1

Me too - too much overload on the dog's system otherwise IMO.

I do the same - and flea treatments are only given when there are actually signs of fleas, not as an every month thing.

I still give the flea/tick treatment once a month though cos fleas are so hard to get rid of once they are in your house :) I only give an all-wormer every 3 months.

Edited February 20, 2012 by lavendergirl

[cavNrott]

My dogs have Sentinel Spectrum. I learned that 10 fleas can create 25,000 fleas/eggs in just two weeks so I don't take chances. As fleas don't live on the dog but in the carpet etc., it's difficult to know if they've picked up a couple of hitch hiker fleas on our walks. Fleas jump on the dog to feed and lay eggs around the house. Once flea eggs are in the carpet it's difficult to get rid of the infestation because the eggs keep hatching.

In the 3 cold months of June, July and August when fleas are not an issue I use Interceptor Spectrum. Like Sentinel it covers all intestinal worms including tape worm and it also does heartworm but doesn't contain a flea contraceptive like Sentinel does.

On this regime none of my dogs have ever had worms or fleas so I'll stick with it.

[RiverStar-Aura]

The more I look into all the hundreds of different products I'm leaning towards Heartgard -- especially since my guys already have tick treatment every 2 weeks and Drontal all-wormer every 3 months.

I'm happy giving them everything separately because over winter I usually stop the flea/tick treatment and I don't see that worming every 3 months is a problem.