Health care for the midwest

Hey! I just recently moved to the Midwest (Oklahoma). I quickly realized that I may need to update Oakley's health care plan when the vet that I registered with had never even heard of the brand of heartworm medication that I use. It's a generic brand of Heartguard; they apparently don't use it because it doesn't offer much protection other than heartworm. I'm hoping that I could get some advice on the health care that is appropriate for the midwest. What vaccinations do you give? How often? Do you give the lyme disease vaccination? What brand of heartworm/flea/tick prevention do you give? Do you deworm your dog? How often? Etc. I would really appreciate any help you can give me! I'm going to take Oakley to the vet shortly, but I would like to know what others in this area do. Thanks so much! Kate and Oakley

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Permalink Reply by Monica Seebode on April 21, 2008 at 4:02pm

My vet recommends Triheart and says it's just as good as Heartguard. My dogs have been using Triheart for a few years now with no problems. I use Frontline for flea/tick prevention. Being originally from upstate NY, we were very careful about ticks. Also, I had a corgi who was allergic to fleas, so we had to keep them flea free. Frontline is great for ticks and fleas! I hate Advantage. It may work fine, but it leaves a greasy black mark down the back of the dog and is a pain to apply. I only had to deworm Nunzio when I first got him. No worms since then in 8 years. Glory never had worms. I don't think they had a lyme disease vaccination when we were still in NY. If they did, my brother probably wouldn't have gotten the disease. Here in southwest Ohio, it's not really a big issue.

My dogs get tested for heartworm every year, and they get the rabies shot. They have a combo shot, but I can't remember what is covered with that. I think that's about it.

M

Permalink Reply by Julie on April 28, 2008 at 9:38pm

I'm a certified vet tech, so here's my opinion: Your Corgi should be on heartworm preventative, the best that I recommend is Heartgard, but there are other generics out there. Iverheart is the Heartgard generic. Use flea/tick preventatives as well. I also recommend Frontline. I just don't believe that the other products work as well. I would only give the Lyme vaccination if your pet is at risk for Lyme disease. Usually just using Frontline is enough protection, as the Lyme vaccine is just a vaccine, not a guarantee that your pet won't get Lyme disease. Without tick prevention, your pet can still get other tick borne diseases. Always vaccinate for Distemper (as a combination vaccination) and Rabies. Legally, you need to vaccinate for Rabies. Have a fecal sample checked every 6 months to a year for internal parasites. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) actually recommends ever 6 months, but most clinics require them just annually. Hope this helps and you were able to get your questions answered before you went to the vet. Take care!

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