Pet Health Heartworm Prevention

By Jaime Smoot Speed

Have you ever been overwhelmed with all the lingo out there regarding your pets? “Heartworm prevention, heartworm treatment, de-wormers, flea preventions, flea killers, flea sterilizers”? I would like to take a few minutes to break down the lingo, simplify the science, and try to help you, along with your regular Veterinarian, decide on the right product for your pet.

Let’s start with heartworm prevention. Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitos – yes, we DO have mosquitoes in the Georgia Mountains, particularly around bodies of water (like Lake Burton or Rabun). They take a little snack on your pet (particularly dogs and cats) and transmit a microscopic “worm” that grows up into an adult inside your pet. This worm goes to live in its heart. If your pet is not on heartworm prevention, then the boy and the girl worms have babies and make more worms. The more worms = the more damage to the heart and lungs. In Veterinary medicine our goal is to stop the worm breeding first, then to kill the adult worms if present.

Heartworm prevention is how we kill the baby heartworms, heartworm treatment is how we kill the adult heartworms. If we don’t kill the adults, then we just wait for them to die, which can take 5-10 years……meanwhile they are causing damage to the cardiovascular system. Heartworm prevention is ONLY available at a pharmacy that sells Veterinary products and REQUIRES a prescription, which means you must have a physical exam by a veterinarian and a heartworm test in order to get a prescription. These products are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most are given by mouth once monthly. There is also an injection that you give once yearly, and there are a few topical products given once every 1-3 months, mostly marketed for cats. Products that are eaten are generally more reliable than products that are placed on the skin. Prevention over the life of a dog is more cost effective and 100 times safer than having to treat a pet with heartworms (this treatment generally costs around $1000-2000 if done safely). It is also important to remember no product is 100%.

Fleas are teeny-tiny annoying black jumping specks that carry disease (ever heard of the plague? Or Cat Scratch Fever?) and bite our pets (their #1 preference) and then humans. Products that are applied to the skin to kill fleas are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. Products that are given by mouth (a pill) are regulated by the FDA, meaning again, you must have a prescription, which in this case only requires a physical exam once yearly.

So let’s get into some of the most popular products. Starting with internal parasite prevention only, Heartgard has been around the

Jaime Smoot Speed was born in West Virginia, went to James Madison University with a BS in molecular biology, then worked at Johns Hopkins doing research until attending UGA for Vet School. She graduated in 2010 and moved to Clayton with her husband, who is a native, five years ago. She works part time at Rabun Animal Hospital. She opened Claws & Paws in December 2020. You can reach Claws & Paws at 706-212-7322 or visit their website: claytonpawsandclaws.com or on facebook and instagram: @claytonclawsandpaws longest. It has a VERY low dose of medicine that kills the heartworm babies, which prevents infection. It also has medicines that treat some intestinal parasites (worms that live in the gut). There are a few “generic” heartgard products that go by different names, but are ultimately the same medication made by different companies. Then there are the “newer products” like Interceptor and Sentinel. These cover a couple more intestinal parasites than heartgard. These do NOT include medicine to kill fleas.

Next, I’ll name the flea killing products: Nexgard, Bravecto, Advantage, Frontline, Credelio, and Vectra. Finally, these are what we call the “combination products” which contain heartworm AND flea +/- tick prevention. These include Trifexis, Bravecto PLUS, Simparica Trio, Revolution, and Advantage multi. According to the American Heartworm Society, compounded products (so products that are mixed up by pharmacists) are NOT recommended.

So, clear as mud? Yes, it IS complicated, and it IS confusing. That’s why you should have a personalized conversation with your Veterinarian and Veterinary staff. We are constantly having continued education on new knowledge we find out about these parasites and changes to medication recommendations. What might be true one year may change a few years later. Parasites are AMAZING at replicating, surviving, and adapting to their environment….your Veterinarian should be keeping up with the latest information and products.