Flea and Tick and Heart Guard?

Question

My dogs are on Advantex and Heart Guard to help protect them. I know i'm supposed to give them a diaose of each once a month after their bath but not all months are nesscery. The winter months don't need the flea and tick. What about the heart guard? What is the cut off for winter months?
Thanks!

Answer 1

It depends where you live..if you live in a state where you get deep frosts & snow then you don't need to give heartguard all year. In areas like Maine for example Heartguard only needs to be given May -November.

Answer 2

Heartgard is prevention for heartworm; you don't take your dog off of it, ever! Although there are fewer ticks and mosquitos in the winter months, they are by no means completely gone altogether! Say your dog was to be bitten by an infected mosquito... tests positive for heartworm... a "dog person" previously mentioned Ivitermican (heartworm prevention), which is basically low-dose arsenic, BUT... the treatment and potential health risks of treating an animal after it's been infected are SO MUCH worse and even deadly. It's like birth control... yes, it has side effects, but if you are trying to prevent something from happening (in this case, your dog dying a slow and painful death), an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure! Don't listen to crazy dog-breeder people anyways... they look at their animals as "investments," rather than lovable members of their family. Your dog trusts you-- you should do everything in your power to keep it safe.

Answer 3

There is no cutoff for Heart Guard - It's for prevention of Heart Worm and needs to be given once a month all year round.

Answer 4

There is NO good reason to leave your pet on a chemical ALL year round if it is not needed.

We do not believe in year round of putting chemicals on our dogs for their entire lives in the name of protection. If it is not broke, don't fix it. We do not put chemicals and drugs in our own bodies unless we have to and we feel that treating a dog for fleas and ticks for his whole life when he may not ever get them to start with is foolish and ridiculous.
We have not seen a flea or tick here for 5 years. None of my dogs have been on 'prevention'. I would much rather take care of the problem IF and when it arises then to have had them all on monthly doses of chemicals for the past 5 years for no reason. Those meds are said to be 'safe' but I do not believe they are for such long term use and I believe some animals suffer in health because of them. Frontline removes my fingernail polish and caused a friends dog to have seizures. I am not putting that on my dogs skin every month for the hell of it. http://www.apnm.org/publications/resources/fleachemfin.pdf

I have my dogs tested for heartworm twice a year. 8 years of negative results! Never had a positive result. We are surrounded by swampy land and the mosquitos could carry you away. I will not put a monthly chemical on my dogs for something they do not have an issue with. Testing every 6 months is safe even if one should come up positive and less harm will be done for a treatment if I ever get a positive result. We do not do things to our dogs just because we are told we should and everyone else is doing it. My dogs are healthy with out monthly regimen of drugs. I am not afraid of heartworm and feel confident that my dogs could handle a treatment if they ever needed one. 8 years of negative results and I could have by now given my 8 year old Dane 96 doses of drugs/chemicals she never needed in the first place.
http://healthydogs.org/2005/12/heartworm_meds.html

Heart gaurd contains Ivermectin..
Ivermectin has been proven to cause the following side effects: Vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, paralysis, jaundice and other liver problems, coughing, nose bleeds, high fevers, weakness, dizziness, nerve damage, bleeding disorders, loss of appetite, breathing difficulty, pneumonia, depression, lethargy, sudden aggressive behavior, skin eruptions, tremors, and sudden death. Though a minority of dogs experiences these reactions, they are seen in many breeds. Veterinarians also report that many dogs also get stomach and intestinal upsets, irritability, stiffness and just feel rotten for the first 2 weeks after each monthly dose of heart worm protection. An American Veterinary Association report on adverse drug reactions showed that 65% of all drug reactions reported and 48% percent of all reported deaths caused by drug reactions were from heart worm preventative medicine.

Keep in mind the stats at the bottom are from "reported" incidences and I believe that the reactions and deaths due to this drug are probably much higher. The reaction doesn’t have to be immediate either. A dog can be seemingly doing fine on heartgaurd or any other heart worm prevention containing Ivermectin (Ivomec) for months or years then all the sudden fall ill and neither the vet nor the owner would suspect the medicine. Just my honest opinion and with this knowledge I choose not to take the chances with my dogs health! There are better and safer ways to care for our dogs without drugging them on a regular basis and that only makes good sense!
We do not take drugs to prevent illnesses, we take vitamins and eat better foods to stay healthy but yet our animals are supposed to live on a monthly regimen of chemicals to stay healthy?? NO THANKS!

Answer 5

Heartguard is a year around prevention Im pretty sure. I would call your vet today just to make sure.