At the risk of being redundant...!

[Gayle Miller]

I've been reading and learning about quality dog food, holistic flea powder., etc.  But in a nutshell, what do you all recommend using for heart worm and lyme disease?  Are you still of the mindset that these vaccinations are an essential part of health?  I thought I read somewhere about feeding raw and not needing some of the vaccinations due to good blood level results.  My 17 year old Westie that was laid to rest last summer surely had her share of Frontgaurd for ticks.  I stopped using in on her in her later years...just didn't feel right putting those chemicals onto her upper neck.  Thank God she did live a long life, but I'm just wondering what it the most popular and healthiest way that you're all following these days with vaccines and ticks.

 

Thanks!

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

There is no vaccination for heartworm but I use Interceptor monthly, prescribed by the vet. I vaccinate for Lyme and use topical Frontline monthly too. I as a medical professional, am a great believer in appropriate vaccines. The is a lot of hookum out there including some holistic methods and, in my opinion all homeopathic remedies. Feeding raw, while not my preference, does not eliminate the need for vaccinations. The is lots of good information in the Food Group.

[Adina P]

Heartworm is serious stuff.  Unless you got lucky and live in a place with NO heartworm on record...there's nothing proven to be effective at keeping heartworm out of your dog besides heartworm preventive meds.

 

Vaccines are another unrelated issue.  Learn what is indigenous or common in your area, what the effects of the disease are, what the risk of the vaccine is and decide what you're willing to risk.  I personally have seen VERY little evidence on the danger of vaccines.  The known risk is extremely small.  But you can get blood drawn for 'titers' to check immunity for things your dog has been vaccinated for...it costs more but you can skip a vaccine that way.

 

As far as fleas and ticks...in my opinion the jury is out on effective 'natural' meds.  I haven't seen any solid research to show that natural remedies help.  What you'd need is to take a group of dogs with NO flea medication, a group of dogs WITH traditional flea medication, and a group of dogs with "natural" flea meds and expose each group to the same fleas and see which groups got fleas that stayed and which didn't.  Then I'd believe the study.  But mostly what I've seen is 'personal testimonials' and other anecdotal stories.  There's no way to know if ONE person's dog would have gotten fleas with or without the flea medication (natural or not) without actually having some comparison groups. You can have a dog live many years with NO flea preventive stuff on him and get NO fleas.  It just depends on where you live and exposure.

 

So to me it's about finding out what products are actually proven to be EFFECTIVE and then finding out how safe they are.  Popular is not always right.  And healthy doesn't always prevent bugs.

 

And I agree that feeding raw wouldn't make a bit of difference.  Fleas don't care what you eat.  They just want blood.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Heartworm is not in our area so we don't use meds for that. We do use Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks.  It does seem to work for us.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I would always give monthly heartworm prevention. I panic if I am a day late giving Interceptor to the dogs.

I use Frontline too - just not worth the risk of tick disease, fleas, etc...

 

Peri and Taquito both get "titers" each year. They get tested for their immunity to parvo, distemper and a few others, I believe. Most years for Taquito (he is older), they come back saying he is immune and doesn't need the vaccine.  It is more expensive, but I don't believe in vaccinating unless necessary. 

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Rooney gets an oral medication for fleas (Comfortis) but it does not help with ticks - next month we will be moving him to the topical Advantix as we will be spending time up north.  Perhaps he should get the Lyme vaccine, doesn't seem to be offered to us in FL.   His heartworm med it Tri-Heart Blue.  I understand how you would not want to put any more chemicals into your pet than necessary but I feel the benefits out weigh the risks.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Both of my doodles get interceptor for heart worm prevention...all year.  Monthly, they get an application of Advandix for 

fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.  Regarding vaccines, my Vet has started doing the booster every three years after you get the one year booster shot.  They will do the titre for immunity levels but say there is a lot of controversy in the Vet community regarding what titre level (numbers) really means your dog is immune and safe.  It is also possible that your dog could have good, high titres at the time of the test, and then have them drop off.  Articles I have read on the internet (who knows how reliable) say that dogs have seven years of immunity after vaccines.  I want to be safe rather than sorry, and hate to give my doodles poison,  but  until research says they don't need these meds I am going to give them.

[Michael Gurley]

I don't know if it's just the region I'm in, but heartworm and fleas and ticks are very very common. I would not trust anything other than the scientifically proven medicines to protect my precious Sunny (and non-doodle Reba)!!

 

For fleas/ticks, I use Frontline during flea/tick season for Sunny and Reba, and I use Comfortis over the winter for Sunny and Frontline for Reba (dachshund).

 

For heartworm, I don't want to mess with homeopathic remedies or preventions because here in NC, heartworm is a common killer. In fact, I recently pulled a blonde doodle from a local kill shelter for the DRC, and she turned out to be heartworm positive.

I use Iverhart Max for both of my dogs, every month of the year.

[Gayle Miller]

Hi Michael,

Just curious....why the difference in meds for winter useage for both of your dogs?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I use Frontline Plus and Heartgard

[Connie & Bocelli]

When I had my 6 pound Yorkie, I applied Frontline on the back of her neck and she had a horrible seizure!  Within 2 minutes she was frothing at the mouth and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head.  I was TERRIFIED!  I called the vet and he told me to immediately get her in the tub and start running water over her to try and rinse off any medicine that had not penetrated her skin.  Needless to say, she survived but I never put that medicine on her again.  I know that a 6 pound dog is different than a Doodle but I am scared to use this stuff again.  I know I really NEED to, especially since my Dood will be outdoors more than my Yorkie was but I'm still apprehensive about it.

[Gayle Miller]

OMG....what a horrible scare!!  So what are you now using on your Doodle, if anything?  What does your vet recommend?  How old is your Doodle and do you use anything else on your  Yorkie?

[BG and Gavin]

We use Revolution.