Heartworm disease is any dog owner's nightmare. By the time your dog has symptoms, treating her will be far costlier than preventing the infection would have been. Heartgard is an inexpensive monthly prescription heartworm preventive.
Fleas may not be as dangerous as heartworms, but they can make your pet miserable. A dog with flea allergies can get dermatitis, itching to the point that she scratches herself bald. Fleas can also cause anemia in young puppies. Once-monthly prescription Advantage protects dogs against fleas.
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Heartgard
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Heartgard (ivermectin) chewables and tablets are capable of defending dogs against heartworms and several other parasites, including roundworms hookworms and mites.
According to Dr. Wendy C. Brooks, DVM, ivermectin kills both microfilariae (newly hatched larvae) circulating in your dog's blood and immature mosquito-transmitted larvae migrating from his skin to his lungs to reproduce. Heartgard doesn't kill adult heartworms.
Administering Heartgard
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Heartgard chewables and tablets (for dogs allergic to the flavoring in chewables) come in color-coded packages containing weight-appropriate dosages. For a dog weighing more than 100 pounds, buy two packages that provide the correct combination. Merial, the company that produces Heartgard, says it is safe for puppies older than six weeks.
Remove a chewable from the card and return the card to the light-protective package. Merial says the chewable is more effective when not swallowed whole. Watch your dog to make sure she gets all of it. If she doesn't, give her a second one.
Start treating your dog within a month after mosquitoes arrive in your area. Give the final yearly dose within a month after the mosquito season ends.
Give your dog his first yearly within a month after mosquitoes arrive in your area and his last one within a month after the mosquito season ends.
Advantage
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Use Bayer's Advantage (imidacloprid) to kill existing fleas and flea larvae and prevent re-infestation for a month. Adult fleas stop biting within 5 minutes. Flea larvae die within 12 hours.
Advantage also kills chewing lice within a week and protects your dog against the tapeworms that fleas transmit.
Administering Advantage
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Advantage comes in vials containing a month's dose appropriate for your pet's weight from under 10 pounds to over 55 pounds. According to Bayer, Advantage is safe for puppies older than seven weeks.
For her monthly treatment, have your dog standing so you can apply Advantage evenly. If she's under 20 pounds, spread the fur where she can't lick it between her shoulder blades just behind her head. Release the vial's contents directly onto the exposed skin.
Use a single vial on a dogs over 20 pounds, dividing its contents in three or four places along his spine. The medication kills his fleas more quickly when not concentrated in one spot.
Warnings
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Heartgard's side effects, though rare, include fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, excessive salivation and convulsions. Contact your veterinarian if your dog experiences any of them.
Bayer warns against getting Advantage in your dog's eyes or mouth but does not explain why.
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