Heartworm Preventative here?

[banjomike]

Really, I think it's all a calculated risk that only you can decide. In your case Misty, in your old place, your dogs were pretty safe because you didn't haul them around out of their territory much.

But it appears to me that when people move around, so do their dogs. Travelling outside any region a vet thinks is safe is a probable risk, and there's always the risk of someone else's infected dog coming here to live or just stay long enough to pass the infection on before it goes back home with its owners.

In the case of my dead dog, for sure she was infected during her dog jail sentence. Our pound is in a pretty good mosquito breeding spot, and that year was buggy, more than usual. Our Animal Control really controls, too, so strays don't ever stay out on the streets here for very long, and the pound does not innoculate.

But, like f5, if I ever take a buddy up on his standing offer to go to Orcas Island and hang out, my dog will get medicated for heartworm and the others, whether or not. Same goes if I take a cruise to Portland to visit my sons there.

He was free, but he's worth whatever it costs to keep him safe and healthy to me, and he is a most excellent co-pilot.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Wonder why Wyoming is such a hotspot for heartworm?

Our vet told us, in the days of our wonderful First Dog (that's her C-D alias when I talk about her in the dog forum! Yes, my dogs have aliases, too!) that even if heartworm was hardly present in SoCal she would still recommend it. Since then we've given our dogs Heartguard. And with our annual trek from southern to northern border I think it would be irresponsible if we didn't. So I'd agree with Mike, that if there's any travel involved, better be safe than sorry.

Mike, so sorry about your dog getting infected in dog jail. How heartbreaking. First Dog got infected with Parvo--at the vet's office, the day she got her first Parvo shot...(probably not from the shot, but from some other dog with Parvo). But she survived!

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Really, I think it's all a calculated risk that only you can decide. In your case Misty, in your old place, your dogs were pretty safe because you didn't haul them around out of their territory much.

But it appears to me that when people move around, so do their dogs. Travelling outside any region a vet thinks is safe is a probable risk, and there's always the risk of someone else's infected dog coming here to live or just stay long enough to pass the infection on before it goes back home with its owners.

In the case of my dead dog, for sure she was infected during her dog jail sentence. Our pound is in a pretty good mosquito breeding spot, and that year was buggy, more than usual. Our Animal Control really controls, too, so strays don't ever stay out on the streets here for very long, and the pound does not innoculate.

But, like f5, if I ever take a buddy up on his standing offer to go to Orcas Island and hang out, my dog will get medicated for heartworm and the others, whether or not. Same goes if I take a cruise to Portland to visit my sons there.

He was free, but he's worth whatever it costs to keep him safe and healthy to me, and he is a most excellent co-pilot.

Interestingly, the two vets in Anacortes (the gateway to the San Juans) don't recommend heartworm prevention either. And they were very careful and thorough vets. We had my beloved BC operated on to remove a cyst and he was very knowledgeable and careful about BCs and their potential issues with anesthesia, dewormers, etc.

We will definitely be putting him on it before we leave for our road trip back east late this summer.

[cleosmom]

I'm not a vet, but have spent more than half of my life in the animal industry in one facet or another. Having said that, rather than suggesting aye or nay, I'm simply going to post a few links, read as you wish.

Heartworm | Sunnyside Vet Clinic Idaho Falls clinic

http://www.capcvet.org/images/upload..._Map_Image.jpg There is a difference within our state

https://snakerivervet.wordpress.com/...tworm-disease/ Boise area 2014

Map of ticks and diseases ? dogs and ticks Interactive map, give or take, depends on reported incidences