Frontline & Heartgard

eilenej1

My 8+ week old puppy went to the vet this morning. He gave us a free Heartgard Plus pill and an offer for a free Frontline Plus application after the purchase of 6.

As an indoor cat owner and first time dog owner - I know NOTHING about either of these. Are these recommended by the general dog owner population? What are other alternatives to cover these problems?

Thanks for any info!
Eilene

nrhareiner

Those really are the norm. I have uses Frontline for years with farly good results. I am using Advantage with my Salukie as the Frontline really dose not seem to work very well. However I live in the country and am very close to the State Forest so we get a bunch of wild animals and the like around here. The dogs and horses keep most of them run off but not all.

There are other things that you can use and are cheeper however for a first time dog owner I would not recomend them.

Heidi

Curbside Prophet

In most areas, flea and tick prevention is recommended year round by vets. And some preventatives can only be obtained with a vet's prescription. I don't believe Frontline or Heartguard require a prescription, but even preventatives that require a prescription can be obtained without one if you buy from outside the country. I use Revolution, and I order it online from a reliable Canadian source. I save about 1/3 of the total cost by doing this if I purchased directly from my vet. I would assume that Frontline and Heartguard would be slightly more expensive from your vet, but most pet supply stores carry this brand if you want to price compare.

Dulce

Frontline is water proof, and Advantage is not.

Heart Guard comes in a treat form, and I'd highly recommend that, as it is important that dogs are on a worm control.

Also, ask your vet about "Sentinal". My vet recently recommended that to me, and it covers both flea & tick, and heart guard protection. One pill, covers everything. I'm switching to that once I finish all my flea stuff.

animalcraker

Sentinal does not prevent all fleas. At our office we still recomend frontline along with Sentinal. Sentinal is also more expensive than Heartguard, so you may want to consult with you vet to find out what is best for you and your dog.

Also Heartgaurd and Sentinal require a prescription. No preventitive or vaccine for that matter is a 100% gaurentee that your pet will not get ill. If your pet happens to have heartworm and you give it a heartworm medication(i.e. Heartguard, Sentinal, etc.) you could kill your pet.

You should definetly consult with your vet about medications and vaccines that your pet is receving and become educated about those medicines.

opokki

I use Heartguard plus May-October and I use Advantage on my dogs and cats.

Advantage IS also water-proof.

drfong

Hi, just wanted to add that we use both products with our dogs and are happy with them. Heart Guard is a treat so the dogs take it much easier than a pill. It also is not very expensive and I sugest keeping your dog on it year round. The frontline is expensive but we find it works pretty good. I think the flee issue gives you more lattitude to just fighure out what works best for you but once you start the heart worm meds I would stick with one and not go on and off.

Dulce

Hmm, well I'm glad everyone likes to correct me. Thanks guys

eilenej1

Thank you all for your help! I'll try both of these products and may even stick with both - especially the Heartgard Plus.

Eilene