Heartworm prev.

Nola goes in for her heartworm test next month, and I need to make up my mind on what to give her as far as prevention goes. Currently, she's on Heartgard Plus. I'd also like to find some kind of pill for flea control, as pretty much every topical on the market is failing down here. I'm considering:

Heartgard + Comfortis: $121 every six months :yikes:
Most expensive option, but I really like having the option of spacing out giving them to her. Currently she gets flea drops on the first of each month and heartworm prev. on the 15th. I really like spacing it out, so if she every had a reaction I could pinpoint which thing was causing it.

Sentinel: $56 a year
I'm unsure of how well this would work, as it only kills flea eggs.

Trifexis: $89 every six months
Seems like the best choice financially, but I've heard a few horror stories about it.

I am not interested in putting on a topical heartworm prev.

Let me know your thoughts/opinions!

We use Trifexis and Preventic collars. Pretty happy with it thus far. The Trifexis costs us $180/month (we have too many dogs) and I replace the Preventic collars once every three months.

ETA: My dogs all vomited on Trifexis the first couple of months so I cut it in half and fed it in two meals and that seemed to solve the problem.

I use oral liquid ivermectin (about $1/month for five dogs) and Frontline Plus (or Advantix II). I split up the large dog vial between the dogs, so about $12.50/month for that.

I LOVE Trifexis, but it's cost prohibitive with three large breeds and two medium breeds. I never had any issues with vomiting when I used it (or Comfortis either, for that matter). I made sure to give the pills with a full meal.

Personally, I use liquid ivermectin for HW prevention and bug off garlic for fleas/ticks. I've heard they are terrible around here this year ( a member found 12 on his beagle after an hour walk in the city! :O ) and I still have never seen a flea or tick on any of my dogs.

She's so small I'm really not comfortable using ivermectin like that with her!

Take into consideration that the same dose is used to treat dogs from 0-25# if you use Heartgard/Iverheart/etc, and that ivermectin has an incredibly broad dosing range for various ailments.

That being said, I do understand your concerns.

My littlest guy is about 18# and his actual dose is like 0.005ml, which is impossible to dose. He gets 0.01ml and I call it a day. My biggest dog is a around 105#. His actual dose is 0.03ml, and he gets... 0.03ml.

It did feel really weird giving ivermectin the first time. I put it in the center of a Pill Pocket and pretended it was Heartgard.

I love Trifexis. If I could afford to give it all the time, I would. That being said, I just use the free products I get from work. Trifexis, heartguard, sentinel, parastar, activyl, frontline...my dogs are on a hodge podge of whatever I have at the time. I've never had an issue with anything.

Currently Abrams is on Sentinel and Cynder is on a Heartguard/Frontline combo. Abrams will be going to a Sentinel/Activyl combo next month, most likely. Because although I like having an oral flea prevention, ticks are also a worry right now.

Alright, I'm switching to this. I edit my answer to Ivermectin

I am planning on doing the dilution, I also bought a 0.5 cc syringe to hopefully get the girls/Snitch right. I think I'm going to test both red boys (Border Collie and Australian Kelpie) with the DNA test as well...just in case. I bought EVERYTHING I need for however long before the bottles expire, for $60. FTW!

I split whatever topical flea/tick stuff we can the cheapest and split it between the dogs, and when I stop forgetting to pick it up we'll be using Noromectin for heartworms.

Oh, yeah... another good point. The MDR1 dogs.

A long time ago, we used to say "white feet, don't treat" in regards to using ivermectin use in collies, etc. I understand that's expanded now to collies, shelties, border collies, Aussies, etc.

So those with the above listed dogs, or mixes thereof, should consider other heartworm preventatives, or talk to your veterinarian about whether the minuscule amount of ivermectin could cause problems in your dog. Official disclaimer.

My first choice is Trifexis.

However, I get Heartgard for both dogs and Frontline for Gavroche free from work, and Advantix for Logan free through IAADP. So I use those.

For those giving Ivermectin, any info on it you can share? Links for reading, etc? I've been wanting to switch over for a long time now but been scared. I'm not even sure I know how to do it.

We had Ivermectin at the shelter that we used for tapeworms and ear mites but not really heartworms.

I use heart guard and activyl tic plus.

I don't have any links handy, but it's given the same way as when it's used for mites, etc. Pull the amount necessary into the syringe via needle, twist the needle off and inject into mouth of dog or squirt onto food to feed.

Good info. I was reading the other thread about dosage. Was talking to my pups breeder last night and that's what she uses too.

With Hudson we did a Pro Heart injection in April and he wears a Seresto collar.

We do Heartguard and a Flea/Tick spray from Adams every once in a while. The spray does smell very strong, so we normally put it on before a big outdoor outing so it kind of take the edge off.