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Heartworm Med Without Prescription: Advantage Multi Dog
Heartworm is one of the more serious health risks a dog can face during its lifetime. That's because it's easily contracted and has the ability to do considerable damage to the animal's heart before they begin to show symptoms of illness. It's for this reason that many dog owners choose to be give their pet heartworm medication on an ongoing basis to prevent a dog from getting heartworms, rather than treating their pet once he or she has got them. This is the best way to do it, and veterinarians will always agree that a preventative approach is best.
The question that most dog owners will ask then is whether or not they can get heartworm medication without a prescription. Some heartworm medicine for dogs will require a visit to a veterinarian and a prescription from them, but others are available as OTC (over-the-counter) medications that can be purchased without a prescription from your local pet store or elsewhere.
Heartworm Advantage Multi Dogs is one of the no-prescription required heartworm medications, and it’s also one of the more highly regarded ones. Advantage multi heartworm medication for dogs is a spot-on topical treatment for dogs and puppies 7 weeks of age and up. And the reason the medication has the word ‘Multi’ in it is because it is also an effective topical flea medication for dogs. Other similar heartworm products include Heartgard Plus and Nuheart.
Heartworm Advantage Multi Dogs and Its Effectiveness
Advantage multi heartworm medication features two active ingredients, Imidacloprid and Moxidectin. Imidacloprid is an insecticide, which means it kills insect. Obviously then it is this ingredient that makes Advantage (also known as Advocate) an effective flea killer. Moxidectin is an anthelmintic drug, and anthelmintic means that it kills parasitic worms (helminths) – making it clear that this ingredient serves Advantage’s primary function – to kill heartworms, roundworms, hookworms and ringworms. Yes, it is an effective medication for worms for dogs, and all different types of worms.
Moxidectin is absorbed transdermally (meaning through the skin), while Imidacloprid works by killing fleas right on contact. They are eliminated whether they are actually biting the dog or not.
Heartworm Advantage multi dogs is also helpful for eliminating circulating microfilariae (early stage of a parasite’s life) and also for treating sarcoptic mange. That’s a highly contagious skin disease that causes unbearable itching for the animal, among other painful symptoms. Fortunately, the Imidacloprid in Advantage multi heartworm medication for dogs means a death sentence for sarcoptic mites too.
The best approach is to give Advantage Multi heartworm medication for dogs on an ongoing basis to prevent fleas AND parasitic worms. This is very doable, as the medication is not too expensive and particularly so if you order pet medications online from Canada and World Pet Express.
Advantage comes in 4 different dosage strengths based on a dog’s weight:
- Green package - Small dogs 1 – 10 pounds
- Teal package - Medium dogs 11 – 20 pounds
- Red package - Large dogs 21 – 55 pounds
- Blue package - X-large dogs 55 + pounds
Administering Advantage Multi Heartworm Medication for Dogs
As mentioned, this is a topical medication – meaning you spray it onto your dog and they do not take a pill of any sort. This is preferable for many pet owners for any number of different reasons. The place to put the medicine is right between the dog’s shoulder blades at the base of the neck. Do not allow your dog to lick that spot on their coat for at least 30 minutes after application. Repeat at the same time every month all throughout the year.
Be aware that Heartworm Advantage Multi Dogs is flea and worm medication for canines only, and should never be administered to cats or other animals kept as pets. Giving this medication to pregnant dogs is usually okay, but only if that has been discussed with your veterinarian first.
You can also allow your dog to swim after 60 minutes after applying Advantage multi heartworm medication for dogs, and you can bathe them after 90 minutes.
Additional Heartworm Prevention and Remedy Tips
Advantage Multi dogs is a proven effective treatment for worms and fleas, and there are additional steps dog owner can take to ensure they get maximum results from their dog’s course of treatment. One particularly helpful one is to give the dog Bromelain supplements. Bromelain is an enzyme that is extracted from pineapples, and why it’s a good choice here is because it aids in breaking down the body mass of the dead worms inside the dogs body and makes it so that they are flushed out as waste much more quickly.
Another good heartworm prevention tip is to not trim your dog’s coat and allow it to grow out as thick as it naturally will during spring and summer – which is mosquito season. This is because it’s via mosquito bites that the heartworm microfilariae are introduced the dog’s body and then grow into worms. A fully grown out coat provides more of a barrier and makes it more difficult for the mosquitoes to get onto the animal’s skin.
The last one we’ll here is to give your dog an echinacea tincture mix once a week during this same time of the year. Mix 15 drops of (liquid) echinacea tincture (found in nearly any health store) with one ounce of distilled water and give small dogs 10 drops of it, medium dogs 15 drops, and large dogs 20 drops. Twice a day is good.
