Preventative measures include Ivermectin, Milbemycin, and Selamectin, and in every case it is most certainly better to use heart worm protection for dogs rather than try to cure the infestation once it is established.
Once your pet contracts heart worms the treatments used take a long time and also may involve surgery. Treating existing infections is very expensive, even if you carry insurance, so you’ll want to stay ahead of the chance of heartworm happening to your pet’s health by using some form of heartworm protection.
Fortunately for pet owners, there are a lot of heartworm protection choices on the market. It is important to note that there are medications used to treat an existing condition of heartworm, and there are different medications for prevention of heartworm.
Arsenic compounds are avoided in cat treatment for heartworm control once the infection had taken hold, because many cats and some dogs suffered from pulmonary problems for several days after the treatment, although arsenic compounds have been used traditionally for such treatments.
When using a weaker form of heartworm protection, you can expect the treatment to last 18 months, which is not acceptable except in a few cases.
Like any other medicine, heart worm medication can be difficult to administer, especially if you are dealing with another species who dont understand you are trying to help them. Often, heartworm pills are not one of dogs’ favorite tastes, so luckily companies such as Merial who make Heartgard canine heartworm prevention manufacture chewable Heartgard Plus in beef flavor.
Unfortunately for heartworms, Heartgard has been proven to be an effective treatment. In addition to preventing heartworm, this medicine also protects your pet from roundworms.
The Revolution program flea control tackles heart worm disease and many other parasites, but if your goal is simply to get rid of fleas, you may find Advantage for dogs to be a better option. Advantage flea control does not protect against heartworm, while Revolution does.
Sentinel is an all-in-one medication that handles roundworms, fleas, and many other parasites. Sentinel and Revolution are the only ones that offer both heartworm and flea protection. Since you have to protect your pets against heartworm you might as well get flea protection at the same time.