question about heartworm preventative

Annie just took her last heartworm preventative today, as the vet only gave us a 6 month supply last time. Since it has gotten colder, is it still necessary to keep her on it through the fall and winter months? I know back in Texas we kept dogs on it year round because it never got cold enough to kill all the mosquitoes. I think it's a bit of overkill to keep her on it if it's not neccessary, but I certainly wouldn't want her to get heartworms either. What are your thoughts on this?

 

well I was under the same assumption as you, and would take mine off like december January, my vet would say dont do that they can get it in the winter, well this January, I saw mosquitos so I am on it year round now oh and our winters are cold wet rainy, highly normally only in the 40s and 50s

 

Back when we did heartworm preventive, we stopped using it in the winter months. Our vet required yearly tests if you did not use it year-round, but you could go longer without testing if you always used it.

 

I think some mosquitos are adapting to survive much colder weather than ever before. Here in Houston when it drops into the 50's people break out ski jackets but wearing a ski jacket and gloves only makes it harder to swat at the mosquitos. :lol:
I do know that eggs can lay dormant then with just a few days of warmer weather they hatch, develop, and attack. Preventative meds are expensive but not as much as having to treat for heartworms.
Check out the distribution map on this site. Pretty wide spread now.
http://www.wuvcd.org/disease/canine.html

 

Here's some info about the heartworm cycle and temperature (from http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/gpage.html):

 

Jimiya, we are right now consistantly in the 40s at night and 80s in they day and we have mozsquitos. and when we had thme in the winter, we were in the 30s at night and 50s durng the day so that doenst make sense

 

The quote is talking about the heartworm larvae. It doesn't matter if there are mosquitos if the heartworm larvae cannot develop within them due to low temperatures.

 

thanks I misread, thought it was the mosquito larvae very good reading, my vet has told me I can go 45 days between pills

 

You can go 45 days for Frontline as well. I'm thinking I may have been told 60 days once.