Be careful of to much garlic its a potent blood thinner to dogs.

Kale is on Triflexis. He was originally on Sentinel, and then just on Advantage since we don't really have a HW problem where I live at all, but we have been going into the foothills more often so I started him back on HW control. The cool thing about Triflexis is that it is also does flea control and intestinal parasites as well.

What are the signs and symptoms of heart worm infection? Is a surgery needed?

If a dog shows signs of the disease its usually to late to save them. Regular blood tests are needed to determine infection. Please use preventive.

That's not exactly true, Seamus was greying in the face, fatiguing easily, and caughing (all symptoms of HW) and we were able to cure him just fine.

Surgery is needed in the more advanced cases because the dying/dead worms can clog veins/arteries and result in death. They need to be surgically removed. There are other options in treatment for less advanced cases but i've been through it and it's expensive and a big stress on you and the dog. An ounce of prevention...!

I have been giving Kemba Sentinel, since it was what the vet recommended. Does anyone have any experience with Sentinel?

Bella's vet has her on Interceptor.

Sentinel is a good product in my experience. It prevents intestinal worm (other than tapes), heartworms, and fleas from developing. I had Kale on sentinel but we have more of an adult flea problem so I switched to one that took care of the parasites and the adult fleas.

A family member is dealing with a new dog who has heartworms bad. He's a 7yr old golden. We're not sure if he should be treated with the shots (quick method) or just keep him on doxycycline and heartworm preventative (the slow method). I'm just afraid he has heartworms so bad (he was an outside dog his whole life in FL and has never been given heartworm preventative) that the shots would cause too many to die at once and that would kill him! I dunno. I also heard the shots aren't being made right now for some reason, so there's only a limited supply left. We might not really have a choice if we can't find a vet who still has some. Oh and his liver is messed up to because of the heartworms.

I use iverhart plus for my girls.

Thought i'd update this as after some long research (and a LOT of math) we've decided to ditch the branded pills and treats for heartworm protection and just buy it straight out of the bottle. At one of the feed stores around here I purchased a 50ml bottle of Ivomec (ivermectin- label use for cattle/swine) and have been treating my dogs this way. I paid $60 for the bottle, and will essentially give me heartworm protection for around 50 months (more since we're doing 45 day cycle) for all of my dogs.

For anyone who's interested the formula is .003ml/lb. There is another formula floating around that says .1cc per 10lbs but after much research this is much more than is needed.

So, Mickey (65lbs) gets 0.2cc Ivomec every 45 days orally (I put it on a cookie.) Measuring out can be tricky, especially for smaller dogs (there is a formula for dilution) and you really need a 1cc syringe for best accuracy. Just thought i'd share as this.

I considered doing this as well but worried about dosing issues so I decided to stick with traditional monthly pre-measured pills like the Heartgard Plus my dogs are on now. You can get the livestock ivermectin at most co-ops and feed stores. I just don't feel comfortable dosing myself, I'd rather pay more and have piece of mind than have to worry...especially with my little ones. My dogs are on a 45 day cycle as well. Plus I like having the added monthly intestinal wormer for hooks and rounds that come in the canine HW pills.

We used to use Revolution and deal with those oily spots only our dogs' back (it can get messy if they roll in the grass or dirt), but we've since switched to Sentinel which is a tablet. I think we lose tick protection but it's a minor issue where we live.