Current guidelines from the Companion Animal Parasite Council and the American Heartworm Society recommend giving heartworm
prevention year round in all areas of the country, including Michigan and other northern states.
Recent studies have shown that, for some strains of heartworm, multiple doses of preventative medication is required to eliminate all of the heartworm larva after a bite from an infected mosquito. This means that giving heartworm preventative only during the mosquito season may not completely guarantee that your dog will be free of heartworm.
Some intestinal parasites common to dogs are also contagious to people. While human infestations are rare, children and immune compromised adults are most at risk. Heartworm preventatives provide protection against intestinal parasites, and some also protect against fleas.
Giving heartworm preventative year round not only provides optimal protection against heartworms, but also provides year round protection against other parasites. We also recommend using a flea preventative during flea season.
All dogs should have a heartworm test and a fecal analysis for intestinal parasites once a year.
The parasite prevention products we carry are displayed below.
Products With External Parasite Protection Only
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOG PRODUCTS | Fleas | Ticks | Biting Lice | Mosquitoes |
| Comfortis | X | |||
| Advantix | X | X | X | |
| Frontline Plus | X | X | X | |
| CAT PRODUCTS | ||||
| Advantage | X | |||
| Frontline Plus | X | X | X | |
| Products With Combined Internal and External Parasite Protection | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOG PRODUCTS | Heartworms | Roundworms | Hookworms | Whipworms | Fleas | Ticks | Ear Mites | Sarcoptes |
| Heartgard Plus | X | X | X | |||||
| Revolution | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Interceptor | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Sentinal | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Trifexis | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| CAT PRODUCTS | ||||||||
| Heartgard Plus | X | X | ||||||
| Revolution | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Interceptor | X | X | X | |||||
We recommend the following websites for more information about parasites and your pet: