Which brands are best for Heartworm/Flea preventative?

Naturally · Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 17

I have been using Heartguard and Advantage/Advantix, but am curious if any of you have found other products to be as good and possibly less toxic?

gboysmom · Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 8 Location: Fort Worth

We have two basset hounds and have never used anything on them. They have DE in their dog food (Muensters Natural) and we dust the backyard with it as well. We've never had a flea or tick on either one of the girls. For mosquitos we spray them with CedarCide. I get it and the food at a local feed store. We also put beneficial nematodes down on the yard. They take care of things in the soil.

I hope that helps a tad... :)

northwesterner · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 138 Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS

I have been happy with Revolution and have used it on my cats for a number of years. We live near a creek and have more than the average number of mosquitoes to carry diseases, so it seems a necessary expense.

We now (very recently) have a dog and are learning what will work in conjunction with the Revolution. It is expensive--about $15 a month for the dog, slightly less than that per cat. The dog was stray and turned up with several ticks and the vet found several more. Tick collars are very expensive, and though Revolution is supposed to discourage them, the vet isn't convinced that is the case.

northwesterner

Tomatoman · Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Mead,OKLAHOMA

Naturally wrote: I have been using Heartguard and Advantage/Advantix, but am curious if any of you have found other products to be as good and possibly less toxic?

I don't know about hearworm, but regarding fleas, I have receintly started sprinkleing garlic powder on my dogs food. I have 12 dogs, all but one is a stray or the pups of strays, so I can't afford the exotic brands of dog food such as "Munster". However, my dogs all appear to be in good health, and I am seeing some positive results from the garlic powder. Also, the dogs love it! And by the way, one of my dogs (the only non-stray) is a 15 year old Golden Retriever.

northwesterner · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 138 Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS

Garlic breath in dogs can't be any worse than the usual doggie-breath. :)

Tomatoman · Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Mead,OKLAHOMA

northwesterner wrote: Garlic breath in dogs can't be any worse than the usual doggie-breath. :)

:lol: Since I don't kiss my dogs their breath doesn't really bother me. :lol: On the serious side, even when one of my dogs get close, I do not smell garlic. Also, I forgot to mention that I feed dry dog food and sprinkle garlic powder on top. Besides no fleas there are no ticks. However I think that may have more to do with the fire ants, because the they ceased to be a problem before I started using the Garlec powder. I have noticed for the past couple of years that the tick population has been decreasing, so maybe fire ants are good for something. Since it is impossible to eliminate them, I just try to keep the number of mounds under control. I'm not an expert, but is it just possible that as bad as garlic smells, it could countrol the various kinds of worms dogs are subject to????