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Posted by Lynn on March 06, 2003 at 17:01:53:
In Reply to: Heartguard posted by kjc on March 05, 2003 at 18:56:41:
(Not a vet)
Yes, yes and yes. HW prevention and testing is very cost effective and easy on the dog compared to the treatment. The treatment is at best painful and difficult and at worst lethal. The disease itself (heartworm infestation) leads to a slow and painful death. So, yes, you need to give preventative every month. Technically you may not "need" to during the winter months, depending on your climate, but it may be best for you to just get in the habit. Additionally, Heartguard will take care of other species of worms, so that is a benefit as well. Lastly, you don't have control over when the weather warms up (we'll blame it on El Nino, LOL), so it's quite imprecise as to when to start or stop.
As for testing, when using Heartguard, it is important to test before giving treatment. If they have heartworm disease, the dog can (though they don't always) have a pretty nasty allergic reaction. One other caveat: if you have a dog from the herding group, pick another heartworm preventative. Collies in particular are often very sensitive to the active ingredient in Heartguard.
In short, Heartworm is very preventable if you take a few precautions. The testing every year is a good idea because, well, nothing in life is 100%... the dog could have thrown up the dose or some other freak thing. I hope this helps a bit.
Lynn