Heart worm and Flea and Tick Preventatives

There USED to be a temperature chart for the US showing when to start heart worm meds in what areas. But I couldn’t find it. So I turned to a vet friend of mine for advice on when to start and stop Heartworm and flea and tick meds here in Massachusetts.

The “meds” kill microfillaria that are already in the dogs' systems. They do NOT “prevent” anything. They act like a wormer. I treat with Interceptor every 6 weeks (on the dot! If you think you might forget, do it monthly instead!) until November. If you can’t get Interceptor, Heartgard would be my second choice. Not “plus”, not with anything extra. Just the plain old regular of either one of these. DO NOT USE THE “PLUS” FORM OF ANYTHING!!!

https://www.opvmc.com/forms/heartworm.pdf

Here is what my vet friend wrote to me:

"Climate plays a key role in the transmission of heartworm disease. The larvae require an average daily temperature of at least 57 degrees Fahrenheit to mature within the mosquito. In addition, the length of time it takes for the larva to mature depends on the average daily temperature. Maturation can take as few as eight days at 86 degrees Fahrenheit or as many as twenty-nine days at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This means the occasional mosquito seen during a February thaw is not going to transmit heartworm disease. In fact, heartworm season in most areas of the United States generally lasts six months or less (except for the Southeastern and Gulf States). In the Buffalo area, transmission generally occurs from June to October "

NOW I know climate change is wreaking havoc with all the rules. I know my friends with large dogs who walk in the woods a lot are finding ticks daily and have started using Seresto collars. The problem with these collars on Havanese is that they must stay on the dog all the time to be effective, and they will mat them. They also contain known human carcinogens. So I don’t use them. You need to do your own due diligence on them. In the case of tick preventatives and tick born diseases, it is very much a case of “pick your poison”. We don’t have a great choice. For those who keep their Havanese in shorter coats and whose dogs spend a lot of time outdoors in the woods, I wouldn’t fault them if they chose to use them, in a bad tick year. I just want you to know the facts on both sides.

The reason that keeping dogs protected from tick born diseases has become even more critical, is that we have found that Bartonella, one of the tick born diseases prevalent in our area is implicated in most cases of Hemangiosarcoma in dogs. You do NOT want this. It is ALWAYS deadly.

Bartonella Bacteria Found in Hemangiosarcoma Tumors from Dogs - NC State Veterinary Medicine

Frontline seems not to be working for ticks any more, at least in our area. So I am sticking with my old Advantix II, which still seems to work relatively well, since it is a repellent as well as killing the ticks. That STILL means you will need to go over your dog daily and look for and remove ticks if you find them. You should be doing the same for all humans in your home! Keep you dogs out of tall grass and away from leaf piles, stone walls and the verge of woods. If you decide to take them on a walk in a suspect area, make sure you comb them out carefully when you get home. I have found a couple of ticks on my dogs this spring, but the Advantix II had done its job, and the ticks were tiny, dead and shriveled when I found them.

Know the signs of tick born diseases. Any sudden lameness that doesn’t have a known cause, especially if it seems to move from one leg to another is suspect. The same with fevers, even low grade ones (have a thermometer on hand and learn how to use it!), changes in disposition, or “just not feeling well”. One year, we were attributing a number of problems with Kodi to possibly being “age-related”, and a course of tick-disease-approprate antibiotics had him feeling FINE in 48 hours!!! The GOOD news is that the tick born diseases ARE very curable with antibiotics if the dog is treated promptly! (Unfortunately, it seems that Bartonella continues to "hide" in the body, even after treatment)

Please do NOT use “feed through” pill-type flea and tick preventatives. The problem with these is that once fed, if there is a problem, there is no way to get them back OUT of the dog. You need to live with the consequences until the toxins leave the dog's system 6 weeks or so later, and they have been known to cause neurological problems in a number of dogs, especially smaller ones.

I like to have my dogs titered for tick born diseases twice a year, spring and fall. They should at least be titered once a year. You want to know if they have been exposed to tick born diseases, and if so, whether they have a low titer (just exposure) or a high titer. (active disease) Even if they don’t have symptoms, if they have a high titer, they probably need treatment.

Finally, I have had a lot of success using Animal Away RTU drops, which you rub onto your hands and then stroke onto the dog’s coat. Unlike some other herbal products, this one does not make your dog all greasy!