Quick Question About HW

[wolfsoul]

Around here, no one tests for heartworm. The dog is either on a preventative or it's not.

[IRescue452]

I would love to find a place where you can just buy the preventative all year round. As far as I know about laws, dog medicine doesn't need a prescription here, so why do only vets carry this stuff?!! Its a freakin' monopoly so the vets can get money, but there is no legal reason that only vets can sell it. If your friends dogs has heartworms then I think you should test.

[lv4dogs]

I would love to find a place where you can just buy the preventative all year round. As far as I know about laws, dog medicine doesn't need a prescription here, so why do only vets carry this stuff?!! Its a freakin' monopoly so the vets can get money, but there is no legal reason that only vets can sell it.

Actually if a dog is heartworm positive and takes the preventative it can be deadly. Therefore I totally agree that only vets should carry the product and also make it mandatory to test before giving the preventative.

[bckrazy]

I agree with Sue.

If a dog that has heartworm is given preventative, it does more harm than good. People would just be sporatically giving their dogs preventative with no idea whether they were HW positive or not, which is very very bad.

[cyber-sibes]

Our vet suggests a test every year, but since mine are on it all year long, we only do it every couple years. Star's first vet, in Illinois, was very insistent on using heartworm prevention meds. He had this gross model of an infested heart that he kept in his office --- after seeing that, I don't want to risk my babies getting it!

Sue - don't know if you found the heartworm map yet, but there's a US tick infestation map out there too. Wish I had bookmarked it

[K9soul]

Sue - don't know if you found the heartworm map yet, but there's a US tick infestation map out there too. Wish I had bookmarked it

I found this earlier:

http://www.dogsandticks.com/maps/index.html

I was thinking about the same thing because my vet has talked about how high Lyme disease incidences were in MN and that's why I am very vigilant on frontline and a Lyme vaccine. Willie got Lyme's when I was younger and it was a scary experience, it is a good thing he got diagnosed before it progressed too badly. MN is one of the worst for ticks with Lyme's.

[Danegirl2208]

i once a year, heatworm is not a big problem here, but i test just to be safe.

[Aurie]

The adult worms live in the heart. If the dog is infested with heartworms and giving a medicine to kill the worms (the preventive), the worms can strangle the heart. It is a very bad situation. When I was a girl, my mother didn't understand this and got one dog tested and split the meds with our other dogs. Apparently one of the dogs was positive and died very painful. It was horrible to watch

When we were in Ohio, if the dog was on prevention year round they tested every two years. Here in Louisiana, they test every 6 months unless on prevention year round and then once a year. Our vet informed us that even on year round prevention, many dogs will still test positive here. It is extremely bad in this area. Those preventions are guarenteed. If your dog becomes positive, their treatment is paid for. Our dogs won't be missing any treatments

[IRescue452]

I didn't think of that. We do get our dogs tested yearly, I just wish I didn't have to buy so much direct from the vet.

[bckrazy]

You can buy HW meds online, along with flea/tick preventative. You do need a prescription, but you do not have to buy it directly from your Vet.

[IRescue452]

The local pick'n save sells the new hartz flea tick and mosquito drops for 33 cents a tube. It probably costs approx. 2 cents to manufacture each tube. The new active ingredient for hartz is phenothrin, which is non-toxic, so its much safer than their old pyrmethrin stuff. Hartz was quick with the changes and recalls they needed after the cat deaths from the old stuff.

[My Peanuts]

I didn't think of that. We do get our dogs tested yearly, I just wish I didn't have to buy so much direct from the vet.

You don't. You can go to www.1800petmeds.com, but there are a lot of other places too. You need a prescription from your vet. If your vet is like ours they are happy to give you the prescription.