We have Mosquitoes and lots of Ticks all year, even in winter. Our dogs get a Heartworm test in December and start Heartguard Jan 1st. We also have to use K9 Advantix II. Ticks are horrendous here.
Hi @Jade We don't have heartworm in Tasmana so I don't have any first-hand experience. It is my understanding that Proheart is also once a year treatment. If you have mosquitoes all year long, then you will need to give your preventive measures all year long. Some of the other preventives are monthly. One has a small window of residual treatment in case you miss one dose. But beyond that you have to get the dog tested because with some medications you can't give the medication if the dog is already infected.
No Heartworm , that's awesome. Yeah I don't take any chances with it. That's why I give year round. The treatment for Heartworm disease is very toxic . It could cost as much as $2000.00 and possibly kill the dog as well. Not good.
Hi @Jade Yeah I've looked at photographs of an infected heart. Truly horrific. We are fortunate, at least in that regard. The snakes in Tasmania have stronger poison than the snakes on the mainland. To do with their poorer mechanism for injecting poison into their potential victims. So not all milk and honey.
Heartworm are a new thing in the UK but I read somewhere that snails carry them. Do I need to treat my puppy or is it rare in the UK. Willow has been treated for lungworm and taprtworm also the back of the neck stuff the vet did it according to weight so I didn't see what was used.
@WillowA, lungworm is a problem in the UK. It's also known as French heartworm. It is spread by slugs. https://www.dfordog.co.uk/blog/be-lungworm-aware.html In Australia vets fill in a health card. On the card they put a sticker of the vaccinations given to the dog. Perhaps UK vets follow a similar protocol.
Yes I have a vaccine record of what was given and when. I didn't know lung worm and French heart worm were the same thing. Its been a few years since we had a dog and things change quickly. Thank you for the clarification.
