[nh_greg]

With 3 large dogs now, I'm looking for an alternative to purchasing my Heartworm meds for the dogs. My vet gave me a prescription today for Heartguard Plus, 12 pack and didn't seem too thrilled to do so, but did anyway.

I've done a little research so far, and found a place in Canada that offers it with no prescription, and some a place in NE (www.entirelypets.com). The NE place advertises the 51-100# size for $55.99. Shipping is $4.95, and there's a $3.00 coupon to use.

Anyone ever heard of them, or can recommend any other place that's competitive in price.

Any other alternatives are welcome as well.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[debbiebrown]

i don't know, because i don't even like the stuff. to many possible side effects. i use an alternative.

its amazing what they charge for this stuff!
hope you find some at a decent price.

debbie

 

[AnnaRiley]

What is the alternative?

 

[debbiebrown]

one alternative is keeping a dogs immune system strong, feeding grain free diets. protecting against insect bites, etc. there are several holistice remedies for preventing heartworm. i use paratox, there is another product called the parasite dr. there are also several herbal mixtures. also using garlic in the diet helps create an unsavory inviroment for parasites.

debbie

 

[AnnaRiley]

May I PM you about this?

 

[GSDgirlAL]

I personally would be very careful purchasing heartworm preventative from a place that doesn't require a Rx. I get mine from Drs. Foster and Smith (online) it is much cheaper buying from them than buying from my Vet. My Vet wasn't too thrilled to give me the Rx to get it else where but if I can get 12 doses for the price of 6 - I'm going to get the 12 from Drs. Foster and Smith.

I know debbie mentioned some other ways of prevention but for me I use the monthly prevention b/c that is what I feel comfortable with.

Hope you are able to come up with something that works for you and your 3 pups.

 

[debbiebrown]

everybody has options, and as said above you have to do what you feel is right for you and your dog.

personally, i don't feel comfotable filling my dogs full of oral pestisides. ther are many other alternatives.

debbie

 

[debbiebrown]

Sorry Greg,
didn't mean to hyjack your thread.

debbie

 

[nh_greg]

Hey Debbie,

No problem. Shoot me an email about your findings....

Greg

 

[debbiebrown]

will do!

 

[ninhar]

I've purchased prescription meds from entirely pets in the past and didn't have any problems with them.

I currently (for the past 5 or so years) order Heartgard and Frontline from pets-megastore.au.com No script required. Have never had an issue with them either.

 

[BowWowMeow]

Stop the presses. I DO give heartworm preventative to my dogs. If you follow my posts on here you will probably be surprised because otherwise I treat them holistically. Here's what I do:

I use Heartguard once every 45 days. I do NOT use Heartguard Plus because it includes a dewormer and my dogs don't need to be dewormed repeatedly when they don't have worms. The medicine works backwards and it will protect your dog for 45 days (I have verified this with 4 different vets). I start 45 days after mosquito season begins. I am conservative in my start date to make sure they're protected. Then I give the next dose 45 days later. I stop 45 days after the mosquitoes disappear.

I get a prescription from my vet and buy the Heartgard from Fosters & Smith. I have read about copycat drugs out there and don't want to take that chance.

Why do I give this horrible stuff to my otherwise healthy dogs? Because heartworm is a horrible disease and even raw fed dogs taking herbal preventatives have gotten heartworm disease. Whole Dog Journal did an article on this and even they recommend giving it.

I give my dogs granulated garlic to repel ticks and that works. It might repel mosquitoes a bit but I haven't noticed a big difference. And Chama did get fleas and tapeworm one year when on a daily dose of granulated garlic so I don't believe it really helps with fleas or internal parasites.

 

[arycrest]

I've had good results with filling prescriptions at Entirely Pets, PharmNet RX, and KV Vets. I've also purchased health type items from Pets Megastore, Pets Truly and Pet Shed among other online stores and haven't had any complaints.

I'm not blaming the source for my recent experience with Frontline Plus's failure to control fleas on the Hooligans. I purchased it from my vet here in Florida and have read other reports that fleas are becoming resistant to the product.

 

[nh_greg]

Thanks everyone. I bought it last night from 1800petmeds.com, but before I did that, I found on their site that they'll do a price match. Took the price from another website, and called them. They gladly matched the price ($55.95), which was nice.

I too don't want to give my dogs anything that might harm them, but I do believe that heartworm would be more devestating if they got it than the hw pills, which I've given for years. We start out pills around June 1, and go through November anyway just to make sure. I also give them the pills every 35 days, as I read also that they'll last for 6 weeks.

Ruth, where do you get granulated garlic? Is the same stuff that we people eat? How much do they get, and is it at every meal? I'd like to give them some of that if it'll help repel any bugs at all. I eat garlic on a regular basis, so it'd just add to the pleasantness around the house here.

Thanks again everyone.
Greg

 

[Dogrunner]

Just wanted to point out that in most other countries, you do not need a prescription to purchase animal medications. I buy my Heartguard from Austrialia (no prescription) and it's actually manufactuered here in the US. It's half the price (including the shipping) that I would pay at the vet. I used to use 1800petmeds. They were great and very fast, but what I buy now is much cheaper.

 

[debbiebrown]

greg,
i know you take excellent care of your dogs, and want the best for them, etc. didn't mean to insinuate any different with my post.

the biggest problem i have with any of these products is only giving them to healthy animals. in other words if a dog has pre-existing health issues, its not a good idea. and i honestly don't think vets see the whole picture on that, so they dole it out yearly to some and the results could be devistating.

basically its a case of the owners being proactive and being aware of possible health concerns and these products.

debbie

 

[BowWowMeow]

The granulated garlic is from Springtime Inc. and it's called Bug Off Garlic. There was a thread on here recently about garlic and some people are not comfortable giving the doses recommended with this product because of the possibility of hepatic anemia. I have been using it for 5 years without any issues and continue to use it.

http://www.springtimeinc.com/product/148/2

 

[debbiebrown]

i think with anything its best to start slowly, and then add on from there.
some people just sprinkle garlic over the food, or you could try the product Ruth recommended.

 

[BowWowMeow]

This stuff is highly concentrated. You start out with a half tab and work up to 4 a day. Before this I used raw garlic in their food and they got ticks all of the time. They've had ONE tick in the 5 years I've been using this stuff.