Dog People--advice wanted!

Putcake

There are actually several generic formulas available for the heartworm and flea/tick meds. Tri-heart is the generic of Heartguard. We bought it from our vet and it was cheaper than Heartguard. I think the generic for Frontline is Pet Armour - that's available at Walmart, Sam's, PetSmart, etc.

There are deals - you just need to shop around. As echoed by others - it is worth the money. And both meds help with other things - like intestinal parasites and ear mites. Intestinal parasites can make dogs very sick as well.

A natural supplement that helps with fleas/ticks is Brewer's Yeast with Garlic. It's cheap - comes in a pill or powder form. Once it builds up in the dog's system, their blood actually tastes bad to the bugs. It's a neat concept. My mother-in-law gave it to her indoor/outdoor cat in lieu of meds, and the cat lived to be 20. I've used it as a supplement to the meds.

You're spending the money upfront now to save money treating these diseases later. And as echoed by the previous posters, Heartworm is a horrible disease and very hard to treat. Some dogs aren't even strong enough to get the treatment because it's very toxic to the system. And depending on what type of contact you have with your dog - intestinal parasites could be passed along to you - YUCK!

bumblebums

If your dog is mostly kept indoors and does not come in contact with other animals and you do not go hiking, you don't need all those meds. Otherwise, use them.

Lisa1971

yes, yes you do. because watching your beloved pet die from heartworm or some other disease is horrible.

now - getting the meds from the vet's office is stupid expensive - i agree. go online - there are online pet pharmacies that have it much cheaper - for instance, i buy a 6 month supply of a combo treatment for my dog, and it's $60US.

best of luck to you.

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hbrittingham

If your dog is mostly kept indoors and does not come in contact with other animals and you do not go hiking, you don't need all those meds. Otherwise, use them.

Not true with HW preventative. One mosquito bite is all it takes. It has absolutely nothing with being around other animals.

LMT2012

I have two little terriers that are primarily indoor/hand walked dogs. We use a monthly flea/tick/heartworm med. It IS an expense and a job to order, remember, etc. I accept it as part (albeit not my favorite part) of having doggies.

However...the part the annoys me is that the vet requires heartworm testing EACH year on both dogs in order to prescribe the heartworm med! Even though I have sworn that I've treated them monthly, year round. The danger is that if they have contracted heartworm, and you administer the preventative, it is guaranteed death. Does anyone else's vet cover his/her *kitten* like that? Since the disease it'self is deadly, I do not understand the point.

hbrittingham

I have two little terriers that are primarily indoor/hand walked dogs. We use a monthly flea/tick/heartworm med. It IS an expense and a job to order, remember, etc. I accept it as part (albeit not my favorite part) of having doggies.

However...the part the annoys me is that the vet requires heartworm testing EACH year on both dogs in order to prescribe the heartworm med! Even though I have sworn that I've treated them monthly, year round. The danger is that if they have contracted heartworm, and you administer the preventative, it is guaranteed death. Does anyone else's vet cover his/her *kitten* like that? Since the disease it'self is deadly, I do not understand the point.

It's not actually a death sentence and recently when there was a shortage of the meds used to treat HW, vets were giving HW positive dogs HW preventative until the meds were available. In the case of very old or sick dogs, HW preventative is used as a slow kill method to treat HW because it's not as hard on the dogs as the fast kill treatment.

Unknown

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