Combining Flea Control With Heartworm Medicine

With more and more of us, heeding the advice of the American Heartworm Society and offering our pets year round protection from the disease, sales of heartworm medicine are on the rise. But, buying multiple types of dog meds and then remembering when to use them all, can make life a little tiresome for both you and your pet.

Thankfully there are now a number of choices if you would like to combine flea prevention with heartworm medicine. Both oral heartworm pills and topical spot on treatments are available which include reliable flea prevention.

All products labelled as heartworm preventatives are equally good at destroying heartworm larvae, and so if used correctly will prevent your dog contracting the disease. The addition of flea killing abilities, in no way diminishes the effectiveness of heartworm medicine.

Oral Heartworm Medicine with Flea Control

There is currently one type of oral heartworm medicine which also combines flea control. These are Sentinel Flavor Tabs which contain milbemycin oxime and lufenuron. Sentinel Flavor Tabs are only available for use in dogs and there is no similar alternative suitable for use in cats.

The first ingredient destroys larval stage heartworms and adult hookworm, roundworm and whipworms. The second active ingredient is an insect development inhibitor which prevents flea eggs maturing. This effectively breaks the flea life-cycle in your home. But, as it does not kill adult fleas it does not offer immediate relief from these external parasites for your pet.

If your pet already has fleas, or regularly encounters them, Sentinel Flavor Tabs won't be enough to alleviate the problems they cause. Most dog owners use these in conjunction with Capstar flea tablets which destroy adult fleas immediately.

Topical Heartworm Medicine with Flea Control

Topical or spot on heartworm medicines are preferred by pet owners who find administering tablets difficult. Two such products are available which incorporate total heartworm prevention with effective flea control. These are Advantage Multi and Revolution. Both products offer protection for both dogs and cats, and are sold in packs varying in dosage depending on the type and weight of your pet.

Advantage Multi is probably the most famous version of topical heartworm medicine because it's sister product 'Advantage Flea Medicine' is one of the biggest selling brands of flea drops on the market today.

This topical application contains the same ingredient; imidacloprid which kills fleas and flea larvae extremely quickly. Then the additional ingredient moxidectin, gets to work destroying larval heartworm, and adult hookworm, roundworm and whipworm. Advantage Multi is a remarkably mild product with very rare cases of side-affects and suitable for use on kittens and puppies as young as seven weeks of age.

Revolution also offers complete prevention of heartworm disease, with additional control of external parasites too. The versions of Revolution for dogs and cats both contain the active ingredient selamectin but they also offer protection from different parasites in the two sorts of pets.

Revolution for cats protects against heartworm disease and destroys the internal parasites, hookworm and roundworm. In addition both adult fleas are killed, and flea eggs are prevented from hatching, whilst ear-mites are destroyed.

Revolution for dogs gives the same protection against heartworms for dogs, whilst killing adult fleas and destroying flea eggs and ear mites. In addition dogs are given protection from ticks and sarcoptic mange.

Choosing a Combined Heartworm Medicine and Flea Treatment

Choosing which of the three combined heartworm and flea medicine to give, will depend on the extent of the external parasite problem for your pet. Sentinel Flavor Tabs are likely to be the cheapest option but are inadequate to deal with large adult flea populations. In addition they are only available with a veterinary prescription, even in Canada where the other products can be bought cheaply and prescription free.

If fleas are an ongoing concern the topical combined heartworm medicines are much more effective. Both Advantage Multi and Revolution offer complete flea control when used regularly. But, if ticks are a problem for your dogs, consider choosing Revolution, as using Advantage Multi flea drops would need the additional tick control of a tick collar. In addition, though Advantage Multi is extremely mild, only Revolution is sold as safe for use on breeding and nursing animals.