Dogs and heartworm (Phoenix: store, bill, farm)

[MalteseJane]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

I think you are confusing heartworm meds with flea and tick prevention. Heartworm meds are usually taken internally , like a monthly "treat" where the flea and tick stuff is applied topically to the skin. The topical stuff CAN hurt them if they have a bad reaction.

That's were you are wrong. Sorry. Some heartworm meds work for both. And the topical stuff is as harmful than the internally. Some dogs have died from using just topical.

Trifexis | Flea & Heartworm Control - 1800PetMeds

I WOULD NEVER EVER USE THIS PRODUCT AND WOULD NEVER EVER RECOMMEND IT TO ANYBODY.

Sentinel for Dogs | Flavor Tablets - 1800PetMeds

Heartworm & Flea Control for Pets- 1800PetMeds


"Sentinel is the only monthly oral preventive that guards against heartworms, adult roundworms, adult hookworms, whipworms, and prevents the development of flea eggs. Sentinel requires a prescription from your veterinarian. "

I have used Sentinel and Heartgard in the past. But no more.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by MalteseJane

That's were you are wrong. Sorry. Some heartworm meds work for both. And the topical stuff is as harmful than the internally. Some dogs have died from using just topical.

Trifexis | Flea & Heartworm Control - 1800PetMeds

I WOULD NEVER EVER USE THIS PRODUCT AND WOULD NEVER EVER RECOMMEND IT TO ANYBODY.

Sentinel for Dogs | Flavor Tablets - 1800PetMeds

Heartworm & Flea Control for Pets- 1800PetMeds


"Sentinel is the only monthly oral preventive that guards against heartworms, adult roundworms, adult hookworms, whipworms, and prevents the development of flea eggs. Sentinel requires a prescription from your veterinarian. "

I have used Sentinel and Heartgard in the past. But no more.

Actually I was not wrong. I said that heartworm meds are USUALLY taken internally (true) and that the topical stuff does serious damage if they have a bad reaction (also true)

I no longer use either, but flea and tick preventative (TOPICAL) was a MUST where I used to live as fleas were horrible. I lived through a major infestation in the house and wasn't about to do that again. Dogs AND cats got treated.

The topical is the one that is really dangerous, I have seen the reports of the burns and permanent damage they can do.

[AZgarden]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Fine, maybe I'm "mal informed" (LOL!), but if she's not vaccinating against other transmittable diseases, she surely shouldn't have her dogs out at dog parks.

Thanks for your opinion but I will continue to do what is best for my pets. There is nothing that says a dog cannot use the dog park unless they have a whole panel of poisonous innoculations. I do the rabies and that is all that is needed. This is Arizona folks, not the midwest. Do you see pools of standing water anywhere for more than a couple hours????? If you do, it's probably in your own backyard and you ought to dump it.

[Bungle]

I only bathe my dog in the tears of newborn babies and he also only drinks water condensed from Amazon rain clouds.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Thanks for your opinion but I will continue to do what is best for my pets. There is nothing that says a dog cannot use the dog park unless they have a whole panel of poisonous innoculations. I do the rabies and that is all that is needed. This is Arizona folks, not the midwest. Do you see pools of standing water anywhere for more than a couple hours????? If you do, it's probably in your own backyard and you ought to dump it.

my back yard is a vast (7,000+ sq ft) wasteland of nothing but rocks. No water, no plants, my neighbors are ~5 ft below me, and we have a 5ft wall between us, and they don't have pools. That said, if I go in my back yard for an hour before the temps climb too high, I'll get a half dozen welts on my legs from mosquitos. So no, this isn't Florida, but we do still have mosquitos, more than enough to transmit disease.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Thanks for your opinion but I will continue to do what is best for my pets. There is nothing that says a dog cannot use the dog park unless they have a whole panel of poisonous innoculations. I do the rabies and that is all that is needed. This is Arizona folks, not the midwest. Do you see pools of standing water anywhere for more than a couple hours????? If you do, it's probably in your own backyard and you ought to dump it.

If you think you are doing what's best for your pets by not giving them a once per month chewable that easily prevents a horrific illness and likely death, you are sorely mistaken.

[kell490]

My wife was a dog groomer for 25 years and a vet tech part of that time she worked for our vet for 10 years she has only seen a few cases a year of heart worm. She did see lots of cases of parvovirus most were ended being fatal by the time they came in the door. Parvovirus is spread though feces dogs love to sniff feces they find in dog parks.

[stevek64]

When we were doing research on heart worm and its existence in the valley, the many vets who we talked to/read on their sites told us the incidence is low. Like anything in life, you'll get many different views on how to approach this low risk. Some suggested heartworm meds, some said it's up to you/the risk is low and everything in between. Even from the pros who deal with this day in/day out, our experience showed lots of different opinions on the topic.

Not sure what 4 year period is being referred to hear but here's an example from a vet's site in Tucson:

Heartworm in Arizona? | Wiseman Animal Hospital | Tucson, AZ

"YES!! While the incidence is low, we do have heartworm in Arizona. There were 641 reported cases of Heartworm in Arizona in the last four years. More and more of these cases are in dogs with no travel history to areas with more pronounced Heartworm problems."

Those numbers are for the entire state of Arizona, which include areas of course that get quite a bit more rain than the valley, have more woods, therefore more mosquitoes. 641/4 years = 160 cases a year in the entire state. Considering all the dogs in this state, that's a very low number. Indeed, low risk. We all have to do what we feel is right and like anything in life, and balance out the side effects of a medicine vs benefits. I've learned to rely on hard numbers/the best numbers we have and question the "you definitely need to get this or you're dog will die!" or a variation of this sales pitch that is sometimes used in the face of hard data. That's when bells/whistles start going off in my mind and when I start thinking the almighty dollar is the primary motivator.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by stevek64

When we were doing research on heart worm and its existence in the valley, the many vets who we talked to/read on their sites told us the incidence is low. Like anything in life, you'll get many different views on how to approach this low risk. Some suggested heartworm meds, some said it's up to you/the risk is low and everything in between. Even from the pros who deal with this day in/day out, our experience showed lots of different opinions on the topic.

Not sure what 4 year period is being referred to hear but here's an example from a vet's site in Tucson:

Heartworm in Arizona? | Wiseman Animal Hospital | Tucson, AZ

"YES!! While the incidence is low, we do have heartworm in Arizona. There were 641 reported cases of Heartworm in Arizona in the last four years. More and more of these cases are in dogs with no travel history to areas with more pronounced Heartworm problems."

Those numbers are for the entire state of Arizona, which include areas of course that get quite a bit more rain than the valley, have more woods, therefore more mosquitoes. 641/4 years = 160 cases a year in the entire state. Considering all the dogs in this state, that's a very low number. Indeed, low risk. We all have to do what we feel is right and like anything in life, and balance out the side effects of a medicine vs benefits. I've learned to rely on hard numbers/the best numbers we have and question the "you definitely need to get this or you're dog will die!" or a variation of this sales pitch that is sometimes used in the face of hard data. That's when bells/whistles start going off in my mind and when I start thinking the almighty dollar is the primary motivator.

And the reason your numbers theory might not be as convincing as you think it is might be that a lot of people are getting the meds for their dogs. If you read the anti-heartworm med propaganda in the worst light possible, I don't see any outbreak of dead dogs from the meds side effects. The "bad reaction" posts are often anecdotal, unverifiable & have disparate symptoms that don't even truly suggest a problem with the meds.

Further - the *most* convincing anti-heartworm site I've seen basically said that the meds are probably unnecessary, possibly too weak to do anything & suggested that you could buy the same active ingredients at the farm store & treat your animal yourself for only a few $ per year. It didn't say the meds were "risky".

As posted earlier - if you substitute "child" for "dog", and "measles" for "heartworm", all you're left with is pretty typical anti-vaxxer blather. "Nobody gets measles, so why take the "risk"". Nobody gets measles because most of us are vaccinated.

[Jkgourmet]

All I ever had to do was have a look at these to make a decision.

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=JN.z5uR...T0Lqg&pid=15.1

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=JN.z5uR...=174&W=160&P=0