Best Heartworm Medicine For Dogs

Heartworm is a parasite that is spread between animals through the mosquito bites. The heartworm is a tiny worm about the size of a thread that primarily infects dogs, but has also been known to infect coyotes, cats, foxes and wolves among a number of other animals. The parasite acquired the nickname "heartworm" because during the adult stage of its life, it primarily lives and reproduces in the pulmonary artery of its host's heart. It is important to make sure your dog takes medicine to prevent heartworm as the tiny parasites can cause serious health problems for your dog or even cause death.

Virtually all veterinarians agree that the best defense against heartworm disease is monthly application of a preventive heartworm medicine. Prevention of heartworm infection can be obtained through a variety of different drugs and can be prescribed by your dog's veterinarian. Heartworm drugs approved for use in the U.S. include ivermectin (this includes the brand name drug Heartgard among several other generic versions), moxidectin (known by the brand name ProHeart), and milbemycin (including brand names Interceptor and Sentinel). Most of these treatments are administered in pill or chewable tablet form every month during mosquito season.

Make sure your dog gets his monthly heartworm prevention within a month of the beginning of the mosquito season and continue application until a full month after the season. In warm climates where mosquitoes are prevalent through all seasons, heartworm prevention must be administered year round. Many pet owners treat their dogs with heartworm medication year round regardless of climate just to be safe.

There are a couple other ways your dog can get his heartworm medicine. Moxidectin, also known as ProHeart, can be administered in six or twelve month time release injections, but is not available in the U.S. due to safety concerns. Advantage Multi Topical Solution, a treatment including both imidacloprid and moxidectin, is administered by application to the dog's skin. The moxidectin stops roundworms, hookworms, heartworms, whipworms, and the imidocloprid kills adult fleas. Selamectin, under the brand name Revolution, is another topical preventive heartworm medicine administered on a monthly basis.

Preventive drugs for heartworm are important because treatment for dogs who contract heartworm disease can be very dangerous. Sometimes, after treatment, dead heartworms break loose and travel to the lungs, leading to respiratory failure and death. Preventive heartworm disease medicines are highly effective and when regularly administered will protect almost all dogs from being infected. Failures of protection do occur, but most are a result of irregular or incorrect administration of the heartworm drugs. No pet owner is perfect, so most monthly preventives are formulated so that if a single month's dose is missed, the dog will be protected as long as the next months' doses are not missed.

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