Does Heartgard Plus Kill Fleas and Ticks?
No, Heartgard Plus does not kill fleas and ticks because it is not a flea and tick killer medication. It is for heartworm prevention and in a lot of ways that’s an even more important aim than ridding your dog of fleas and ticks. Fleas may be an itchy nuisance and ticks can transmit Lyme disease – also very serious – but an unchecked heartworm infestation can put your dog’s life in immediate danger and no one is going to want to see that scenario develop. Any veterinarian will tell you that having their pet on a heartworm preventative is a smart choice for any dog owner. But does Heartgard Plus kill fleas and ticks? No, it doesn’t.
It’s just as common to give your dog one of each type of medication once a month. Flea and tick chewables are super popular as they provide a full month of protection from fleas and ticks and dogs happily eat them as a snack. They’d eat them every day if they could, but of course it’s medicine and you only give it to them once a month. Then also administer a heartworm medication that kills the microfilariae of the worms after they’ve been introduced to the bloodstream via a mosquito bite. And no matter where you live in North America, there are always plenty of mosquitos around in summer.
You’re not going to keep your dog from getting mosquito bites in the same way you’re not going to go an entire summer without getting bitten a few times too. So using Heartgard Plus is advisable, and there are also other combination dewormer medications that will kill more than one type of parasitic worms in dogs.
Does Heartgard Plus kill fleas and ticks though? Nope, this is a medication to kill heartworm larvae before they have a chance to develop into the worms that do all the damage.
Slow Process
It’s good for pet owners to know that it takes about 6 months after the initial mosquito bite that the full heartworm attack is underway in the heart and lungs. That’s quite the long process, and so the peace of mind in using a medication like Heartgard Plus is knowing that process never really gets started because anytime the worm larvae become present they are swiftly eliminated by Ivermectin – the parasiticide that is the active ingredient in Heartgard Plus. And can it be any easier than just giving them their medication one time a month?
If you do have trouble remembering even that there are plenty of medication reminder apps that you can put on your smartphone to let you know it’s time for you OR your pet to be taking your / their drugs. And with heartworms we’ve laid out just how important it is for your dog to be taking a good worm killer medication. Heartworms are the worst possible scenario for a dog because they can cause your dog to have heart failure, although heartworm signs in dogs can be fairly noticeable. They include:
- Persistent cough, and one that may sound ‘wet’
- Lethargy (much less energetic than usual)
- Unexplained weight loss
- Swollen Belly
- Breathing Difficulties
Give your dog a heartworm preventative med though and you’ll be darn near guaranteeing that the problem never gets to the point where heartworm symptoms start to appear. But does Heartgard Plus kill fleas? No it doesn’t, and it doesn’t kill ticks either. You’ll need a different pet medication for that, and ordering pet medications from Canada gets you the lowest price on them.
More on Heartworms
Another consideration we should mention around does Heartgard Plus kill fleas is that heartworms have plenty of time to get up to their no-good when the dog owners doesn’t give their pet treatment. That’s because heartworms can live for up to 7 years. That’s a long time, and of course the more fully grown they becomes the more potential damage they can do to the important organ. Heart failure or other cardiac conditions can exist for dogs too, and there is medication for congestive heart failure in dogs that your pet may need to take whether it has worms or not.
It has nothing to do with does Heartgard Plus kill fleas and ticks, but the last thing we’ll mention here is that keeping your dog’s heart healthy can be a good defence against cardiac failure from heartworms and ensure that your dog lives a good long time too. Of course the key to that is keeping your dog active, although that can be a challenging for some pet owners who live in apartment units or condos. Here’s how to exercise your dog in an apartment. There’s some good information there. Does Heartgard Plus kill fleas and ticks – No, it a different type of pet parasiticide medication.
