True Companion Animal Hospital / Canine Heartworms

HEARTWORM PREVENTATIVES

ALL dogs should receive heartworm preventative! Heartworms are prevalent, dangerous, and expensive and sometimes difficult to treat!

In our area, heartworm preventative must be given year round because of the prevalence of the mosquito population and lack of a true winter.

Remember, no dog is completely indoors. All go out at some time even in their owner’s arms. Likewise, mosquitoes easily get indoors.

All monthly heartworm preventatives essentially prevent heartworms in the same manner. Remember that the mosquito bites and injects a larval stage of heartworm into the dog. Once in the dog, the mosquito larva goes through several molts and migrations on the way to adulthood within the pulmonary artery. Each molt and migration lasts between seven days and two months eventually totaling up to five months.

True Companion considers Sentinel and Interceptor the best choices for your dog's heartworm preventative. You can trust that when we make a recommendation that we do because we truly believe it is the best product for your dog.

We recommend Sentinel for the following reasons:

Sentinel combines heartworm control with flea control which is not affected by bathing.
Sentinel controls the most intestinal parasites of any product available including whipworm control. Whipworms are a common adult dog parasite
Because Sentinel is not topical, there is no concern that misapplication

In many cases True Companion recommends the use of the product Comfortis for flea control. In these cases, Comfortis can be administered along with Sentinel or a client may choose to administer Interceptor with Comfortis for affordability.

ORAL MONTHLY PREVENTATIVES
These preventatives kill a larval stage that lasts 6-8 weeks. These heartworm preventatives do not remain in the pet’s system for four weeks, They are actually only there for 24 hours. It is the length of the larval stage that allows the product to be administered only once a month.
Interceptor (milbemycin) (available in the clinic)	Chewable tablet. Also controls three major intestinal parasites: Hookworms, Roundworms, and Whipworms	PROS Easy to administer Not affected by bathing Broad spectrum parasite control	CONS Must administer flea control as a separate product
Sentinel(milbemycin/lufenuron (available in the clinic)	The same product as Interceptor but also contains Program for flea control	PROS Easy to administer Not affected by bathing Broad spectrum parasite control Interrupts flea life cycle	CONS Does not kill fleas, only sterilizes them
Heartgard Chewable (ivermectin) (available of website)	Beef chewable. Controls two major intestinal parasites: Hookworms and Roundworms	PROS Dogs love chewable jerky	CONS Does not control whipworms!
Iverhart (ivermectin) (available on website)	Unflavored tablet. This is a generic, less expensive form of Heartgard.	PROS Non flavored tablet harder to administer	CONS Does not control whipworms!

TOPICAL MONTHLY PREVENTATIVES
These preventatives are applied to the external skin of the animal. The chemical remains in the body system for a full month after application
Revolution (selamectin)	Topically applied liquid. Also controls fleas, ticks, ear mites, some intestinal parasites and sarcoptic mange.	PROS Very broad spectrum including mange and ear mites	CONS Weak in flea control and intestinal parasite control
Advantage Multi (moxidectin/imidacloprid) (available on website)	Topically applied liquid. Also controls fleas, some intestinal parasites, ear mites, and sarcoptic mange.	PROS Very broad spectrum including mange and ear mites	CONS Flea control affected by bathing.