Heartworm Medication/Flea Medication

[Barbara Korber]

Gussie just joined us at 3 months.  Am about to start him on Heartgard.  Has anyone had any bad side effects from that?  What kind of flea/tick protection do you use?  Any bad side effects from any of them?  I just put m 12-1/2 year old golden retriever down after dealing with 9 years of epilepsy.  Many on the epilepsy online group are very skeptical of all the chemicals we use on our pups and concerned they may contribute to all the epilepsy, cancers, etc. we are seeing these days, so I guess I'm hypersensitive with my new boy.  (I'm also concerned about giving the leptospirosis vaccine - has anybody had any problems with that?)

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

We use heartguard and Tenley (6 mos) had no reactions to it. I didn't want to use flea/tick on him (we don't live in a high flea area and we live in the city so there are few ticks), but since he goes to day care once or twice a week I had to cave and give him Frontline, I don't want him catching fleas from another dog. We never used Frontlne for Mel and he is fine. 

I have heard that you should not give the lepto vaccine until they're at least one year old, and even then only if your dog might be exposed to it. Many puppies can have a serious allergic reaction to it. 

[Susan and Sochi]

im interested in info on this too Barbara. thanks for asking!!

[Abby Christos]

I had to switch from HeartGuard to Sentinel. I tried HeartGuard and Vectra 3D for flea/tick for three months and each month Bob threw up 4-10 hours later. Looking back, I should have spread it out by a few days to see which was causing it. 

I have since switched to K9 Advantix II and Sentinel and haven't had a single issue.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

I would highly recommend discussing this with your Vet. Enzo has been on Trifexis from the start with no side effects. And it is very effective. We live on San Diego, so must give year around meds.

[Gem's Jewel]

All 3 of our dogs are on Trifexis and have not had any issues. We live in a rural area where fleas & mosquitos are a huge issue and cause many health problems for dogs in Central Texas

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

I am also very concerned about all the chemicals we put in/ on our dogs, especially when they're so tiny, but also wondering about the long term effects they might have. That's why I read a lot about what is really necessary and stuck with the minimum.

[Katie & Roo]

Thanks for asking this! I was going to post something similiar :)

Our breeder says if we use Frontline it violates the 2 year health guarantee for Roo. She gave a lengthy explanation about how bad it is for dogs which went over my head. She recommended Tickshield?

I'm not sure which route to take yet.

[Texas Doodle Mom and Molly Rose]

I am interested in this as well. Heartguard is one I avoid because I had one border collie develop seizures on it (and I never gave it to my shelties). We used Trifexis most recently with our sheltie, Frontline before that.

[Vicky loves Chachi]

I too feared putting those chemicals on my puppy. Chachi is almost 1 and the only things I have given him until today is food grade diatomaceous earth and geranium oil on his legs. He has never had fleas or ticks. Today because he was going to daycare for the first time, I applied Sentry Natural Defense. It is has natural non-toxic oils.

As for vaccines, I only give what's required and I will not be giving boosters and they r unnecessary from what I have read. I will get Titers done to prove immunity.

[Kelly & Zoe]

We live in Northern California, but our puppy was from Texas, so heartworm medicin was a must.  Zoe is a standard F1B and is currently 60 lbs (at 10 months).  Our vet put Zoe on Iverheart max for heartworm and Parastar Plus for flea/tick.  Since we do a lot of trail walking, in addition to lepto we did Lyme disease (i think it was a shot).  Zoe hasn't had any ill effects from any of the medications or inoculations.

Our vet said that he'll be switching us to Avantix for flea/tick and that it's good to switch out the flea and tick medicine every year or so.

[Kelly & Zoe]

Forgot to mention - we have friends who have a small pug the same age as Zoe so they were on roughly the same shots schedule.  Pico the pug had an adverse reaction to the lepto vaccine, which is not uncommon for small dogs, apparently.  Unfortunately in investigating kennels for boarding, many places would not take dogs without lepto.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

I also use Heartguard and neither of my doodles have had any issues.  We have not used any flea or tick prevention since prior to winter, but I am going to look into Tickshield.