Heartworm, Flea, and Tick Preventative Medications

Heartworm, intestinal parasite, flea, and tick prevention and control is an important part of your pet’s total health and well being. The AHS and CAPC recommend year round dosing of medication to prevent and control heartworm and intestinal parasites and annual testing for all patients who are on year round prevention. If you miss a dose, have lapsed on your pet’s prevention, or stop prevention for any reason we typically recommend a heartworm test now and again in six months. You should start monthly heartworm prevention as soon as results are available. Some patients that are at higher risk for contracting intestinal parasites should have fecal examinations performed more frequently (typically every six months).

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HEARTWORM/INTESTINAL PARASITES
We routinely stock both Heartgard Plus and Interceptor Plus as our heartworm and intestinal parasite preventions. If your pet has a special requirement for heartworm prevention, we can approve orders on an as needed basis. Other types of prevention may be available via written prescription based on your pet’s needs and Dr. Riffice’s recommendations. Information about each of the preventions can be found by clicking on the product images above.

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FLEA/TICK
We routinely stock Nexgard for dogs and Credelio for cats as our recommended flea and tick prevention and control products. Talk to our staff to determine which product best fits your pet’s lifestyle. Benefits of using a chewable flea and tick medication include: no messy product on coat, no concern of decreased product efficacy with frequent bathing or swimming, and no risk to cats in your household. We also now carry Capstar, which is an oral product that begins killing live fleas within 30 minutes and continues to work for the following 4 hours, killing adult fleas. This is for use in conjunction with a flea and tick preventative.

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Combination Preventatives
Simparica Trio is a convenient canine all in one, once a month chewable tablet that prevents Heartworm disease, Fleas, Ticks and intestinal parasites. This preventative is strongly recommended and routinely stocked at our facility. For Felines we offer a combo preventative called Revolution Plus. This preventative is a topical solution that is applied monthly and protects against fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, ear mites, roundworms and hookworms.

If you miss a dose of heartworm prevention or find that your pet has a flea or tick problem, please call our office. Our staff can discuss the appropriate steps and recommended testing. Because of the complex life cycle of fleas and ticks, it is important to treat the pet and, for fleas, the environment at certain times. Our staff can educate you on environmental treatment, patient treatment, and testing recommendations.
Heartworm Life Cycle