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There seems to be some confusion in the general public between heartworms and intestinals worms. This is easy to set clear:
Heartworms are a totally different parasite from intestinal worms.
Heartworms affect the lungs, heart, and blood vessels instead of the intestinal tract and liver.
Heartworms are spread through mosquito bites where as intestinal worms invade the body from ingesting microscopic eggs in the soil, from microscopic larvae that brore throught the skin, and also from mother's milk during nursing.
Part of this confusion arises because there are several products available that kill or prevent both heartworms and intestinal worms. We'll be talking about these products in just a moment.
Some parts of our country don't have much heartworm disease and other parts of our country don't have a mosquito problem in winter, but we in the wonderful SouthEast United States have year long mosquitos and a very high incidence of heartworm disease in dogs and a fairly high incidence in cats. And surprisingly, a fairly high incidence of heartworm disease in indoor cats !
We treat several pets a month for heartworm disease and we strongly recommend that every pet be protected. If you don't, your pet has better than a 90-95% chance of not getting this terrible disease. But that means at least a 5% chance that you will have to watch your pet hack, and wheeze, and cough itself to death or end up paying hundreds of dollars in treatments.
Prevention is simple. There are several preventive products to choose from. They are all nearly 100% effective if you remember to give them and they are all meant to be used once a month. Some are chewable tablets and some are drops to be applied to the back of the neck. The least expensive generic brands work fine at preventing heartworms but that's all they do well. The more expensive choices also control intestinal worms well and fleas and ticks to different degrees.
Let's sort them out:
Revolution: This is my favorite recommendation for cats and also a great choice for most dogs. Revolution is super safe and convenient and pretty much solves all your pet's parasite's problems with a few qualifications:
In cats it does a near perfect job of preventing heartworms, intestinal worms, fleas, flea larvae, flea eggs, ear mites, and mange. It does a fair jobs on ticks.
In dogs, Revolution usually does a great job too and it's what I use on my dogs. It doesn't matter that they get frequent baths or are in lake all the time. It prevents heartworms and ear mites and does a great job of killing flea larvae and eggs. It does a good job of killing adult fleas. It does a fair job of killing ticks. It's super safe, convenient and for most dogs it's enough.
But. But it does a poor job on dog intestinal worms, only a fair job on ticks, and while it does a super job of preventing fleas from multipying in your home and yard, it only does a good job of actually killing and repelling adult fleas. If your pet has a flea allergy or if you have a huge flea problem, you should use a more aggressive flea control product.
Advantage Multi for Dogs: This is a new product that, like Revolution, does multiple things. It prevents heartworms perfectly and does an excellent job of killing all the important intestinal worms. It claims to do a better job than Revolution on killing and repelling fleas. Not good for ticks.
Sentinel: This is a monthly tablet for dogs and does a great job of heartworm prevention, intestinal worm control, and while it doesn't kill any adult fleas or ticks, Sentinel does a great job of sterilizing fleas so that you don't get a flea problem in your home or yard (as long as all the pets that hang out at your place are being treated)
This is often an adequate choice for many dogs and less expensive than other choices.
Inteceptor for Dogs: This is the same as Sentinel made by the same company but without the flea control. It just prevents heartworm and intestinal worms. It's cheaper and a good choice if you're using another product for fleas or don't have a flea problem.
TriHeart Generic Heartworm for Dogs & Cats: There are several different brand names of generic heartworm products now available since the original HeartGuard's patent ran out recently. TriHeart Plus is one of those and made by the very major and reputable company of Schering Plough famous for their vaccines and microchips. That's the brand we sell.
This product is very inexpensive and very effective at preventing heartworms. And like HeartGuardPlus, it also helps to control intestinal worms but the more, but be advised that it's not too reliable at killing hook and whip worms anymore... they have become somewhat resistant.
Those are all the choices. Prices range quite a bit depending on the product and the size of your pet. The least expensive TriHeart for dogs under 25 lbs is less than $2.50 a month and the most expensive Advantage Multi for extra large dogs is about $15 a month.
All our prices, by the way are usually less expensive or within a dollar of Pet Med and other internet pharmacies. We simply don't mark them up much and we appreciate your patronage.
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Heartworm Prevention in Dogs & Cats
The FoxNest Veterinary Hospital & The Animal Rescue Fund of South Carolina
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We offer 5 different products that protect your dogs and cats from heartworm disease.
All of them are once a month products
All of them work well against heartworms but some of them also work well for other parasite problems which explains the price difference
Here's a quick summary of the 5 products below. More comments are at your right.
Revolution for Cats: simple, safe, and effective control of just about all common parasites; fleas, flea larvae, flea eggs, ticks, heartworm, intestinal worms, ear mites, and mange. About $12/month
Revolution for Dogs:
Same as for cats except not adequate for intestinal worm control and may not give adequate enough control of ticks.
$12-15/month
Advantage Multi for Dogs:
A new competitor to Revolution, Advantage Multi does a fairly good job on fleas (not ticks) and a great job on heartworms and intestinal worms
About $13-16/month
Sentinel: a monthly chewable tablet that works well on heartworms and intestinal worms and while it doesn't kill adult fleas, it sterilizes the eggs which keeps flea numbers very low.
About
Inteceptor: same as Sentinel but without the flea control.
About
TriHeart Plus: Our least expensive, generic, once a month chewable tablet. Works really well at heartworm prevention and helps a little with intestinal worms. To be used in conjunction with other products for flea, tick, and worm control as needed.
About $2.50-6/month
