Greetings,
Does anyone have a suggestion for an effective alternative to Frontline, Heartguard, etc? These products seem so toxic. We have a big Lyme-disease risk in this part of the country due to the large deer tick population, so we have to use SOMETHING. Any help would be appreciated.

I agree, I hate to put this stuff on my dogs too but the risk of tick borne disease is not something I mess with. I would use frontline when needed and I also use plain Heartgard for heartworm preventative.

I found a really interesting link about when to use heartworm preventative and when to stop..

http://www.citadeltm.com/Heartworm.html

That's what I've been doing for the last 5 years or so. My vet has always recommended starting on June 1st and stopping November 1st.
I don't follow the vet-recommended once-a-month dosage though. I give the pill once every 45-50 days, just as this article recommends.
I never did think the meds ran out exactly on the 30th or 31st of a month. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Like they have a little punch card and when the month is up they go....."OK boys we're outta here! Gotta wait till the next shift starts!" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I think it is important for people to understand that the "medicine" in HW preventative is not in the dogs system for the full 30 days. It goes in and then withing 24-48 hours is out of the system. it does not prevent HW its kills the micrcfilaria that the dog already has.

Hopefully I can explain this. A dog is bitten by a mosquito. The mosquito transfers the microfilaria to the blood stream of the dog, some dogs at this point can fight it off ont heir own. Some dont. Those that dont are infected with HW until a dose of preventative is given. Once this is given the HW preventative kills those microfilaria and then leaves the system. You are not preventing infection, you are preventing them from growing up and settling in the heart and causing damage.

Now it take between 6-7 months for the adult HWs to do damage to the heart. Has anyone ever forgetton to give the HW prevent and gone to the vet after 3 months off and told him/her, and been told to just go ahead as normal? Thats because the pill will safely and effectivly kill HW even after 3 months up to about 6 months.

If you dont use preventative at all, you can safely test the dog every 6 months, if one of those tests comes back positive, a pill will usually suffice in taking care of the problem.

I personally dont do this, my dogs get the pills ever 2 months and tested once a year. I guess even with this knowledge I am too much of chicken to stop all together.

As for the Frontline, I use it, cause I am always covered in ticks as are my dogs due to SAR and hiking. I figure it gives us an extra line of protection.

Samantha, you missed a few vitally important points. The canine heartworm test ONLY detects female worms that are 6 months of age or older. It does not detect immature heartworms. This means that your dog could have adult heartworms for 6 months before you found out about it (with testing every 6 months), or the dog could have an all male infection indefinitely and you would never knnow about it. This is also why a good vet will not make you test your dog if you have forgotten the prevention for less than 6 months. They will ask you to give the prevention for 6 or 7 months and come back for a test so that the test doesn't give you a false negative result.

There is some work being done with Heartgard PLUS (not plain or interceptor) and young infections. The last I heard, there was an unpublished paper about heartgrd plus slowly killing off 3 month old heartworms. I think there is also research going on to see if it will work on infections that are slightly older, but I have not heard of any research to indicate that it can kill adult heartworms (a.k.a. those detected with the test). So really, by the time the dog tests positive it is too late. Heartworms live in the dog for 5 years, so we are not talking about a short term infection if the dog is started on prevention as soon as the infection is found.

Heartgard (regular or plus) can be given up to every 45 days. Interceptor can be given up to every 60 days, but with both of these you have to be SURE not to give it any later.

Heartgard is pretty safe. In most breeds (collies being the most notable exception since they are overly sensitive to ivermectin) you would have to give about 500 heartgard pills at once to cause side effects. That's over 41 years of heartworm prevention and more than any dog will get in their entire lifetime of monthly prevention.

Samantha is right that the medication only stays in the system for 24-48 hours. Frankly, I would be MUCH more worried about using advantage or frontline on my dog than heartworm prevention. I give heartgard plain to both my cat and dog every month (cats need it every 30 days, and giving it to them on different schedules might be a little to hard to remember) and it would take some very strong convincing to get me to do otherwise.

Thanks Lauren for straightening that out- it makes perfect sense. Sorry if I confused anyone.

No problem. Most vets don't explain it because it goes right over the average pet owner's head, but trying to find correct info on the internet can be even more difficult than prying it out of a vet.

The "feline" antibody test can detect younger (over 3 months I think) and all male infections, but I haven't looked into it to see if it has been used in dogs for early detection. That might be an option for an owner that was very concerned about giving prevention, but testing every few months to catch the infection before maturity would be a very expensive option, and using Heartgard plus to treat 4 and 5 month old infections isn't something that most vets have heard of or would be willing to try.

After seeing immiticide treatments, I would much rather risk giving my dog heartgard plain.

Lauren,
What is your concern about using Advantage or Frontline?

I do not have any large concerns with advantage or frontline, but you certainly can't pour 30+ tubes of it on your dog!

They stay on the dog for a month or more, so if your dog has a reaction that's very bad news. Advantage can be washed off with a harsh soap (dish detergent), but that also means that if your dog goes swimming frequently (esp. in salt water) you will have to re-apply more often. Frontline is much harder to remove, which is a bad thing for a dog that reacts but it isn't as much of a concern with swimming. I try to use both as little as possible just because I don't like the idea of a chemical that works it's way into the dog's hair follicles and slowly comes back out (frontline) or a chemical that severely limits my options for washing deer poop off of Auster (advantage).

In addition, Frontline doesn't do much for fleas in my area and Advantage does nothing for ticks. Biospot isn't an option because we have a cat.

With flea and tick season here I thought others might appreciate this link to really reasonable priced Frontline and other vet products. It saves me a lot of money. http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=23527436
He is a very reliable and prompt seller.