Need help from dog people!

[Joker]

I need reccomendations for heartworm preventatives. We're out of Sentinel and can't get anymore due to the shortage. My vet offers Heartgard, Trifexis, and ProHeart 6.

 

The reviews for ProHeart 6 scare me a bit since my dog has allergies and takes Atopica every other day. Trifexis seems relatively new and some of the things I've seen online bother me. I know Heartgard has been around a while but don't really know how effective it is or anything about side effects. I also really wanted to keep something with flea protection since my dog picks up a stray one here and there.

 

Is there something else I don't know about that is good? Which of the above would you/do you give your doggie? Thanks!

[ktgrok]

Trifexis, in a heartbeat. (I'm a certified vet tech). Love that stuff. The flea med is really effective. I would NOT NOT NOT do proheart. NOt in a million years. WAY too many side effects, AND it is really painful as far as injections go. No way. Heartgaurd is really safe, if you don't need that flea prevention, and dogs love the taste.

[Mama Geek]

We did heartgard for years with out a problem. We switched to trifexis and certifect for fleas when we had resistant flea problems. Trifexis works for fleas also not just heartworm. It has only been a year that he has been on it but no problems from it yet.

[jeninok]

Another vote for trifexis. The flea Med in it is a miracle and no side effects with any of ours so far.

 

[Joker]

We could try Trifexis but I see it's the same flea med that's in Comfortis. Our dog had that once a few years ago and threw up all over the place.

[jeninok]

I always make sure to give it with a full meal and keep them quiet afterwards. I know a friend who splits the dose in half and give it with food a few hours apart.

[RoughCollie]

We use Heartgard Plus and Frontline Plus. I prefer Interceptor for heartworms because my collie never had any kind of worms for 8.5 years. The Heartgard Plus doesn't work as advertised for roundworms and hookworms, at least not for Aidan.

 

Interceptor won't be available for 3-4 months.

[Pawz4me]

I wouldn't use Proheart 6. Never ever. I think I'd take a chance on my dogs getting heartworms first.

 

Any of the others should be fine, but I'd go with Heartgard. I've used it with one or more dogs for years w/o a problem. My very trusted vet also carries the generic Iverhart, which he says is as good a choice as Heartgard.

 

I personally don't care for the combo pills that take care of heartworms, intestinal worms and fleas. I worry that it's way too much "stuff" to dose the dog with at one time. Many years ago, before the combo pills were available, my vet always recommended NOT giving heartworm preventative and applying flea/tick preventative like Frontline on the same day. Instead, he recommended waiting at least a few days between each one because he thought it might be too much all at once. That advice is something that's always stuck with me, and made me leery of the super duper combo pills. Plus if a dog reacts you have no idea which component he's reacting to. The convenience simply isn't worth it to me.