Prevention kills only early stage larvae and microfilariae. This is why it is important to give your dog heartworm prevention every month. It kills the larvae before they develop into a stage that is immune to the medication in heartworm prevention.
The monthly heartworm preventative we prescribe only lasts in a dog's or cat's body for one to two days, not 30 days, due to the lifestyle of the heartworm, it is only necessary for the pet to take the heartworm preventative every 30 days.
Many products are FDA-approved to prevent heartworms in dogs. All require a veterinarian's prescription. Most products are given monthly, either as a topical liquid applied on the skin or as an oral tablet. Both chewable and non-chewable oral tablets are available.
Use heartworm prevention medication year-round
Pets must have the proper amount of heartworm prevention medication in their blood for it to work correctly. If mosquitoes emerge early in the year, pets that haven't received heartworm prevention medication during the winter run the risk of getting heartworms.
If you miss a dose of your heartworm prevention for your dog, get them back on prevention ASAP—speak to your veterinarian. Six months from that time that you missed is really the only time that we're going to be able to detect whether or not your dog was infected during that period.
The simplest answer to pet parents who forget a month of heartworm prevention is to simply give the pill or administer the application and restart their monthly preventative schedule.
If you forget a month of preventative, make sure to give the next 2 doses on time to "catch up" for that missed month. If you miss several months in a row, you should give your vet a call for advice on when to plan for the next heartworm test and how to get started back on preventatives.
Heartworm disease is a very serious parasitic disease that has the potential to be fatal for your dog if he is not treated quickly. This parasite is a worm that can grow up to a foot long and lives inside the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels of an infected animal where it will reproduce over and over.
Most of the monthly heartworm medicines have a safety factor of at least 15 days of protection if a dose is missed. This means that if you're just a week or two late, your pet is likely still within that window of protection and would be unlikely to become infected during that time.
Yes, your dog can get heartworms multiple times. For this reason, lifetime heartworm disease prevention can be important. It is highly recommended that you talk with your veterinarian about heartworm disease prevention before making a determination about what is best for your dog.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
Heartworm prevention
Puppies can begin heartworm preventative medication from as young as 6/8 weeks old. If your pup is a little older (age 6 months plus) it is important that she is given a heartworm test before preventative medication is given.
The American Heartworm Society recommends that you start heartworm prevention for puppies at 8 weeks of age and keep them on it year-round. Heartworm disease has been diagnosed in all 50 states, and there is growing concern about resistance to some preventatives—mostly due to inconsistent dosing by owners.
A dog who has missed just two monthly doses of preventative or is late for a heartworm injection can become infected with heartworms.
Generic Ivermectin
You can prevent heartworm disease by using the same medication sold by drug companies for a fraction of the price. If you have a large dog, you can order the generic ivermectin from Amazon.com. (I have large dogs, so this is the form of ivermectin that I give them to prevent heartworm disease.)
Heartworm treatment is expensive due to several factors: Heartworm medications are relatively new, and their high price is attributed to research and development costs. Moreover, the medication is often imported, making it more expensive to obtain.
Heartworm Prevention? Your pet may have become infected with heartworm larva during the unprotected months. If you missed less than 6 months of prevention we suggest you start giving the heartworm preventative immediately. Bring your dog in for a heartworm test 6 months from the first missed dose.
Many flea and tick medications are manufactured in a once-monthly topical application or pill. If you miss that monthly dose, your pet is at risk of getting flea or tick bites.
One of the most common questions heard by our veterinarians during an annual wellness exam is, “Does my pet really need heartworm prevention?” To put it simply: yes! Even if your pet is considered “indoors-only,” all cats and dogs should be on a heartworm prevention medication.
NexGard protects dogs against brown dog ticks, bush ticks and the potentially deadly paralysis tick. NexGard should be given monthly, all year round in areas where paralysis ticks are found.
However, if you do miss a dose, give it as soon as you remember. Then, adjust the dosing schedule so that the next dose is 30 days after the new dose. Never administer two doses at once or give extra doses.
6 months after the 2nd & 3rd treatments we retest for heartworms to make they were all terminated. Continuous heartworm prevention is highly recommended to insure the patient will test negative.
A: Give the dose you missed immediately, then continue giving the medication on the day you've always given it. If the missed dose is more than 2 weeks late, your dog should be tested for heartworm again in six months (click here to learn why).
Heartworm preventive medicine is especially important to keep on schedule for your pet. If you miss a dose and your pet is bitten by an infected mosquito, it puts them at risk. Heartworm disease is devastating for pets – it's costly to treat for dogs, and in the case of cats, there aren't any treatment options.
April is Heartworm Prevention Month, and there are important reasons veterinarians across the United States promote heartworm prevention this month and throughout the year. While the risk of heartworm is more prevalent in spring and summer when there are more mosquitos, a pet can get heartworm any time of year.