Are flea meds that prevent heartworms truly enough for my dog?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Revolution is excellent. That is actually what I use for my own dogs. Heartworm prevention is indeed needed in all stages and I would highly recommend heartworm prevention which is included in the revolution. However, it is important to make sure that Maggie does not have heartworms before you start it so I recommend that you have her evaluated by your veterinarian for a heartworm test first if she was not on heartworm prevention previously. Good luck and have a great day!

According to the FDA prescribing information Revolution does prevent Heart worm infection. Therefore you can use it instead of Heartgard: Selamectin, the active ingredient in Revolution, is a macrocyclic lactone compound. These compounds effectively prevent the development of adult heartworms when administered to dogs and cats within one month of exposure to infective (L3) Dirofilaria immitis larvae. Source: Revolution Topical - FDA prescribing information, side effects and uses https://www.drugs.com/pro/revolution-topical.html

Congratulations on your new dog! I like Revolution if you are looking for a topical product. It consistently works well and is well tolerated. If you like the idea of an oral product better, I like Trifexis (it’s another all in one product). Sometimes though the pets can smell the Trifexis and they won’t eat it. In that instance, I like Simparica and Interceptor. My personal preference is oral products. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello, and thanks for your question about Mazie. This is a great question, and it really comes down to a question of how significant is the risk of disease exposure to Mazie, vs the cost of preventative. I see you live in Georgia - given how prevalent heartworm disease is in your area, as well as intestinal parasites, my advice would be to stick with Revolution in order to have a more broad-spectrum product to address heartworm disease and intestinal parasites in addition to external parasites like fleas and ticks. That's to cover your bases in case the rare mosquito finds its way into your home, or in case Mazie sneaks out. But, again it comes down to risk and cost. If you feel that you live in a home that's pretty mosquito-proof, and if Mazie is not prone to sneaking outside once in awhile, then her heartworm and intestinal parasite risk is probably low enough that a flea/tick product would suffice. Hope that helps!

Hi yes you can use both treatments on Daphne but i suggest separating the application by two weeks. You can also consider using a product like Proheart6 - an injectable heartworm prevention given at the vet hospital that lasts for 6mths. I find that revolution works well for fleas, but doesn't cover all types of ticks. Hope this helps!

Hi there. While there's technically no reason that these two medications can't be used together, they are both heartworm preventatives - so there's quite a bit over overlap in what they do, and both should not be needed at the same time. If your pup is currently on Interceptor and you want to add a second medication to cover fleas, I would recommend using something like Nexgard or Bravecto - these are flea/tick meds only, so you wouldn't be treating her unnecessarily for heartworms with two different meds.

I have attached more information on roundworms in dogs and cats below because it is a little different for each species. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=476 https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=498 Keeping your dogs on regular heartworm preventative should prevent them from having problems with roundworms. Here is a comparison of heartworm prevention products. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=488 Most flea preventatives do not have a dewormer in them, but here is a listing of current flea control products and what they treat/prevent. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2858 The Revolution dose for Oscar would cover 5-15 pounds, so I would not expect a problem with his weight since he is right in the middle of that. It is possible to see worms passed after deworming, so just because you see a worm does not mean the Revolution is not working. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.