Flea, tick, heart worm prevention?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think the oral prevention is bad, but I have a larger property and my dogs are outside a lot. We use K9 Advantix topical ointment, plus Heartgard pills. Oral tick prevention will not keep ticks from hitching a ride inside! Topical repels and can kill without a bite. If your dog is mostly indoors and/or you aren’t near tall grass or woods, then I think Simparica is fine (it’s definitely easier than applying the ointment).

[Anonymous]

There is a very small risk of side effects from the preventatives, but your breeder is blowing it out of proportion. Honestly it seems awfully convenient for them that they get to just void their warranty for this bogus reason.

[Anonymous]

Pro heart 12 and bravecto quantum. 2 shots once a year and you don’t have to think about it for 12 months. I’ll never go back to pills.

[Anonymous]

Breeders are crazy with that bs and of course they want to void your warranty. You chose an unethical breeder, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Breeders are crazy with that bs and of course they want to void your warranty. You chose an unethical breeder, unfortunately.

Unfortunately agree. I am down with the spay and neuter timeliness as well as the proof of vax that a decent breeder will require but this is some RFK Jr. shenanigans they have no business prying into. Listen to your vet.

[Anonymous]

Well, whatever you do, do something. Pulled a tick off of my own body last night and pretty sure it came in on the dog. Still freaked out. Preventatives probably won’t stop that from happening, but I think it’s going to be a bad tick season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your breeder is not a vet. Please rely on the medically trained expert.

May be helpful to ask your breeder about their personal vaccine approach…

[Anonymous]

My dog had very adverse reactions to the topical treatments. Switched to oral and never had a problem again.

[Anonymous]

Taking veterinary medical advice from your breeder is like heeding human medical advice from your pimp.

[Anonymous]

We currently use Heartgard Plus for heartworm and Frontline Plus for ticks. They’ve both been around for years and have a long-standing safety record, even for pregnant and lactating dogs. We’ve considered switching to an oral tick preventative, but in our experience, they don't seem to kill ticks as fast as Frontline does.

​My sister actually used Bravecto, and her dog ended up testing positive for a tick-borne disease, so we're cautious about that. While Frontline isn't always 100% effective against fleas, it’s been incredibly reliable for ticks. We also stay away from K9 Advantix and Nexgard because our dogs have had reactions to them in the past. One thing I really like about topicals is the peace of mind, if a dog does have a reaction, you can just wash it off immediately with dish soap.

Since we live in a northern state, I prefer monthly options. It gives us the flexibility to hit 'pause' during the winter months when the ground is frozen and ticks and mosquitoes aren't active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taking veterinary medical advice from your breeder is like heeding human medical advice from your pimp.

I laughed at this, ha ha. Funny one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We currently use Heartgard Plus for heartworm and Frontline Plus for ticks. They’ve both been around for years and have a long-standing safety record, even for pregnant and lactating dogs. We’ve considered switching to an oral tick preventative, but in our experience, they don't seem to kill ticks as fast as Frontline does.

​My sister actually used Bravecto, and her dog ended up testing positive for a tick-borne disease, so we're cautious about that. While Frontline isn't always 100% effective against fleas, it’s been incredibly reliable for ticks. We also stay away from K9 Advantix and Nexgard because our dogs have had reactions to them in the past. One thing I really like about topicals is the peace of mind, if a dog does have a reaction, you can just wash it off immediately with dish soap.

Since we live in a northern state, I prefer monthly options. It gives us the flexibility to hit 'pause' during the winter months when the ground is frozen and ticks and mosquitoes aren't active.

Can you tell me about this? Do you put it on once per month? Is it repellant at all?

We've used Simparica trio, and it's worked just fine, but I don't use Simparica on me, lol, and we live in the woods and the darn ticks will crawl off the dog before they have attached and onto me.

[Anonymous]

I would trust the breeder who's not making money off big pharma.

I had a small dog that never had ANY and I mean ANY problems until I gave them prescribed flea/tick meds and heart worm preventive. Shortly there after the seizures started within days and they continued. The dog died. I have now spoke to a few vets who will tell you they give these things to your dog to prevent illnesses that aren't even prevalent. A dog getting bit by a mosquitoes that carries the infection and gives it to a dog is rare. A dog who lives outside 24/7 maybe a house dog out on a walk 1/2 day-not so much. Same with all the vaccine, sure they're needed but really when you ask your vet when the last time they saw an active case of rabies in a dog they will tell you never in their 30 year career. The lepto vaccine is get if your dog is lapping up a puddle of deer urine, it's not really a huge worry.

Do the research and decide wisely for your pet.

[Anonymous]

OP your concerns are valid.

We live in the DC area which, for those of you who are not here, had an extremely cold winter. That reduces the population of fleas and ticks substantially in the summer months.

I give our sweet dog the Trio preventative but only in the spring/ summer/ early fall months. I'll start him on it around April 1 and will give it to him throughout the summer, stopping when the weather gets cold again.

No matter how you slice it, it is poison designed to kill insects. There is no way that ingesting that substance more than is absolutely necessary is good for a dog.

[Anonymous]

We had our dog on oral preventatives (maybe Bravecto and Nexguard?) when she was a puppy until she was between 2 and 3 and she had her first seizure. I feel like we switched to topicals after she had a few more and I did some research. She had one seizure 6 years later and then never again, so I do think there is some connection. My understanding is that it lowers the threshold for pets already prone to seizures or other neurological conditions but not that it causes seizures in otherwise healthy animals. This was a Great Dane, so not a breed prone to seizures. All that to say that I still would consider oral preventatives for an otherwise healthy dog.