Did you know that even if your pets are inside most of the day, they are still vulnerable to mosquito bites when they go out for potty breaks and walks? Mosquitos are most active at dusk and dawn and are stealthy at getting into homes without humans detecting their whereabouts. With each bite from a mosquito, your pet runs the risk of becoming infected with heartworms.  

     Heartworm disease is all too common, very serious and potentially fatal. The parasitic worms actually live in the animal’s heart and lungs. It is not unusual to have 30 or more worms living in the pet’s heart and lung area. Sadly, the symptoms often do not present themselves until the heartworm disease is advanced.  

     Dog’s symptoms include a mild but persistent cough, reduced appetite, weight loss, and fatigue after moderate exercise. Cats can also get heartworms. The symptoms for cats may be very nonspecific, including gagging,vomiting, rapid or difficulty breathing, weight loss and lethargy. We can run a simple in house blood test to diagnose whether your pets are positive for heart worms or not. 

     Florida and the entire southeast area is an extremely high-risk area for the spread of heartworms throughout the entire year. That is why it is imperative to keep pets current on their heartworm prevention every month. Animals are infected with heartworms from the bites of mosquitos. And unfortunately, Florida has mosquitos year round as it never gets cold enough to kill the pesky parasites.  

     Luckily, heartworms are easily prevented in both dogs and cats. We carry many forms of heartworm prevention to suit every pet’s needs. We have once-a-month pills, chews and topicals. We sell preventatives that are strictly for heartworms as well as products that are a combination of flea and heartworm prevention. There is not a product that prevents fleas, ticks and heartworms all at the same time – yet!  

     Just like human medicine, prevention is far less expensive than treatment. The pill can cost as little as $5.00 a month, per pet, depending on the pet’s weight and which product you choose. Without prevention, your pet’s susceptibility to heartworms is very high. This is why year-round prevention is an absolute must. 

     The other reason that it is important to be diligent with your pet’s heartworm prevention is that currently the medicine used to treat heartworms in dogs is not available from the manufacturer. We have no idea when the product will be available again. Therefore, we don’t have a a way to treat the disease in dogs. There still isn’t an approved method of heartworm treatment for cats.  

     Keeping your pets indoors is not an effective method of preventing heartworm disease. As mentioned before mosquitos find their way into many clean/maintained homes, resulting in many “indoor only” animals testing positive for heartworm disease. You can try to reduce the mosquitos in your immediate area by getting rid of any standing water to prevent mosquito larvae from maturing. Look around your property for flower pots, bowls, even tires with stagnant water sitting in them. However, this may be futile as we obviously live in a swamp. Being Floridians we are surrounded by multitudes of water sources. 

 We urge you to not use human insect repellents containing DEET on your pets. If you ever have a question about what you can or can not use on your pet give us a call, (904) 744-7206. We are happy to help keep your pets safe. 

Flea Control Types

Comfortis: Oral Flea Prevention Chewable Tablet  (Dogs only) 

  

 

      

 

Pet must have current rabies vaccine & have had an exam within one year with one of our veterinarians for this product as it is a perscription flea prevention.

 

Pet must have current rabies vaccine & have had an exam within one year with one of our veterinarians for this product as it is a perscription flea prevention.

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Advantage II: Topical Flea Prevention(Dogs & Cats)

   

Heartworm Prevention Types

Heartgard: Oral Heartworm Prevention, Hookworm & Roundworm Treatment Chewable Treat (Dogs & Cats)

Pet needs to have proof of a current negative heartworm test within the past year. We no longer offer Heartgard for Cats. 

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Tri-Heart Plus: Heartworm Prevention, Hookworm & Roundworm Treatment Chewable Tablet  (Dogs only) 

Flea & Heartworm Prevention

Trifexis: Oral Flea & Heartworm Prevention plus Hookworm, Roundworm & Whipworm Treatment Chewable Tablet  (Dogs only)

 

Pet must have a current Rabies Vaccine within one year. They must have a negative heartworm test within one year. And they have to of had an exam with a veterinarian at our office within the past year as well.

*Pets with a history of seizures should not take Trifexis *

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Advantage-Multi: Topical Flea & Heartworm Prevention Prevention plus Hookworm, Roundworm & Whipworm  Treatment (Dogs & Cats)

   

     We no longer sell tick control. The reason for this is because those products have gone over the counter. You can buy them at super discount stores for less than we can get them. The tick products available over the counter that our doctors recommend are Advantix and Frontline. We do not advise using any other over the counter products to treat ticks. Also avoid putting any pyrethrin based products on cats as they can be fatal. 

     Did you know that there is not a cure for allergies? Veterinarians can only treat the symptoms. Also, once an animal develops an allergy to a certain type of allergen, they often develop sensitivities to other allergens as well. For example, many animals are allergic to pollen, grasses and molds. They may also develop allergies to foods, fleas or develop contact allergies. Dogs and cats don’t show the same symptoms as humans do when they are allergic to things. We get upper respiratory symptoms like congestion. Animals metabolize the allergens and then excrete them through their skin causing them to itch. It can be very frustrating for pet owners to live with itchy pets but it is far worse for the suffering animal. 

     Aside from environmental allergens, parasites can cause pets to be itchy. Many people do not think that their pet has fleas but they come in with a scratching dog that is chewing its rear end and is bald around hind legs and tail base. This is a “tell tail” sign of Flea  Allergy. It’s difficult for some to understand how a dog can chew itself raw and they never saw a flea. What happens is the flea jumps onto your pet, takes a blood meal, jumps off, lays eggs in your carpet or grass, and waits to get on again. That one bite emitted saliva into your pet’s skin. And some animals are allergic to the saliva. This is called Flea Allergic Dermatitis. Just one flea bite sets off a wildfire effect in the skin, that drives the animal crazy and forces them to scratch and chew themselves into a frenzy. The best way to prevent this from happening is to keep your pet current on flea control. We have fleas year round in Florida and there is no way to prevent a rogue flea from getting through to your pet. By being diligent with the prevention you can drastically reduce the number of outbreaks you and your pet must endure. If your product isn’t working let us know and we will find an alternative. No animal should suffer from fleas. Also, please note that animals with tape worms were infected by eating a flea.