Hi Richard!

>> Most people get pills from the vet for heartworm prevention.  IIRC
>> they're a bit pricey, though, one pill a month at about $10 each.
>> Which is why I went the other way, I have nine dogs (managed to give
>> one away last week) and $90/month for heartworm plus $160/month for
>> dog food is way over budget.
> I can relate to that.  Thank goodness we've only the one young Rottweiler. wE
> keep her on the once a month preventative pill.  Our last Rott we adopted off
> the streets of inner city NEw ORleans had a bad case of heartworm.

That's sad... luckily we have yet to see a dog with it.. we do try to keep
no standing water around as much as possible though.. well, as much as we
can.

>> BTW for flea and tick control you can use Frontline (available at
>> the vet or at your
>> supermarket) at about $3-4/dose once a month, you can buy a flea
>> collar that will last
>> 3 or 4 months for about $7 or you can put a teaspoon of white
>> vinegar per quart of
>> water in the dog's drinking bowl at about $2/gallon - and there are
>> an awful lot of
>> teaspoons in a gallon.  I've been doing that for a couple of years
>> now and the dogs
>> don't have fleas.
> Yes the vinegar thing works, but you've got to keep up the regime or it
> doesn't. We use the Frontline here.

We use frontline as well.. Works great over here.  I order it online if
we're not going to be stopping in at that vets for whatever reason.

>If you live in the southern U.S. the flea collars aren't effective according t
> vets I've consulted.  THe fleas have mutated to be able to withstand the
> chemistry of those flea & tick collars.

Actually, I think that's true all over.. up here in in NYS, where we do
indeed get the deep freeze through Dec./Jan./Feb., those flea collars and
powders do NOT work anymore.   They really barely worked years ago when we
used to use
them on our Irish Setter when I was kid growing up in Warwick, NY.. :(

> AS it's been explained to me, in the south we don't get the hard freeze for a
>long enough period to really kill them off, so they've been able to mutate and
> evolve to be able to withstand those flea and tick repellent collars.

They mutated here even with the freeze, sadly enough... Maybe in Canada
where it never defrosts? :) :)  I'll have to ask Bob Seaborn :)

Take care,
Janis

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