i have known many good young dogs who have died in the past year. I am rethinking heartowrm and flea treatments
Think long and hard about dropping the heartworm treatment. That’ll kill a dog, too. If you’re in a heartworm endemic area and your dog spends any large amount of time outdoors, a mosquito carrying the parasite will eventually bite your dog, and then heartworm will develop. The treatment for a dog with heartworm isn’t pretty, and many do not survive it. If you’re not in an endemic area, it’s something to consider, but only if you’re not.
Fleas and ticks can be controlled in other ways. Diatomaceous earth (not the swimming pool kind but the kind that is safe for human and animal contact) kills fleas indoors and out. Nematodes deliberately introduced into the exterior yard areas that the dog frequents will eat the flea larvae in the ground, breaking the reproduction cycle. Any number of herbal preparations can be used to repel fleas and ticks from the dog as well. It’s more work and it’s more expensive, but if you’ve had a beloved dog go through cancer, and I have, it’s something you’re willing to do, to remove a potential source of the disease.
All the vaccinations are problematic, according to a number of credible sources. I only vaccinate mine as required by law, and once they’re older, I’ve been known to get a titer test to see if a particular vaccination can be bypassed for another year. It really throws their immune system for a loop, and an older dog doesn’t take it nearly as well.