Y’all are scaring the liver outta me! I have absolutely no medical aptitude. When I see all these pharmaceutical terms being bandied about, my head is swimming. My girls don’t seem to react unfavorably to HeartGuard or their flea treatment (Advantage II). The wasp spray is the only trigger I’ve been able to pinpoint.
If it weren’t for the feral cats (grrrrr-r-r-r), I wouldn’t need to bother with the flea treatment. That’s the only time fleas show up on my dogs. But living on the Texas Gulf Coast, I’m scared not to have a heartworm regimen.
Don’t be scared. But we do have to be proactive. (I haven’t got any, either & was having to read PubMed & Scribd articles 3 or 4 times & still had to ask my vet to verify what I thought it said)
The red flag I got from your post was that you suspected that it could be Heartgard. Now, I AM biased against it- and some of my dogs are still on it. But henceforth, if my gut tells me something, I will heed it, just to be on the safe side. It sounds like you’re pretty tuned in to your pups, so you’re more than halfway there.
Advantage II is what we use with no apparent ill effects. When our Dimmitrol runs out- and our Heartgard, everybody is going back on Interceptor, just for convenience, and at the Safeheart dose. Imho, it’s the safest thing you can use out of what’s available in the US.
You probably do need to give HW prevention being where you are. Whether you can skip the Winter months depends on whether the low temps there fit with the protocol. This is “off label” dosing & your vet will probably give you the business.
We’ve got a gazillion ferals, too. And wildlife, Fleas are gonna happen- especially when it’s warm & wet. If you stay warm & wet OR in drought, it’s not that hard to treat the grounds. It’s when it’s mixed that it’s difficult. That’s why we use a growth regulator. When fleas get bad, you have to attack them on every front- topical on the dogs, vacuum vacuum vacuum in the house, & treat the yard.