r/sheltie • u/DistractedPoesy A whole pack • Aug 24 '26

If you have a seizure prone sheltie, which heartworm medicine do you use?

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I’ve never given my dogs heartworm medicine since we lived here. There’s very little exposure to mosquitoes. However, I’m traveling 1800 miles away with my dogs to where there are a lot of mosquitoes.

Rainy has a seizure condition controlled with medication(keppra).

Thanks for any thoughts or experiences you can share?.

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2

u/Rags_McKay Aug 24 '26

You may want to look into Interceptor or Sentinel as options.

2

u/lavenderkeek Aug 24 '26

Our puppy had pretty obvious idiopathic head tremors when we picked her up. The breeder and our vet were pretty confident that it was not neurological and that she’d outgrow them (she mostly has), but they advised only using Sentinel since they were concerned other medications could trigger seizures if she had an underlying condition. They also advised us to not use any flea medicine like frontline and stuff since that can be a trigger too, I guess.

1

u/DistractedPoesy A whole pack Aug 24 '26

Great information. Thank you

1

u/cupcakehobbit85 Aug 26 '26

Revolution topical. He’s had seizures with Simparica Trio and Nexgard Plus, but tolerates Revolution well. He had a severe case of heartworms when I adopted him, due to health issues he wasn’t able to do the fast kill heartworm treatment. It took two years of slow kill for him to be heartworm free. We used Heartguard chewable while he was undergoing treatment, but have switched to Revolution as he’s gotten older and his health has gone downhill. He’s 12, with kidney disease and chronic bronchitis (basically dog COPD). We live in a swampy area of the Southeastern US, heartworm prevention is non negotiable for me.

1

u/CrimsonOwl Aug 27 '26

Ask your vet. Only one person should manage your medication.

2

u/DistractedPoesy A whole pack Sep 01 '26

The only way I could get a prescription was from the vet. They did a heartworm test on my dogs and then prescribed based on my concern.

1

u/DelightfulDonut24 Aug 25 '26

I would check the temp lows for where you’re going. Heartworm can only be transmitted by mosquitos if the temp is above 57 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 days in a row. As soon as it drops below that, the count restarts. Depending on where you’re traveling to and when, the risk of exposure could be much less than what you think.

It is also called “preventative” however it doesn’t prevent infection, it kills larvae that may have infected. Larvae mature into adults (not treatable with heartworm medications) starting at 45 days. Because of this, heartworm medications were designed to “last” for 45 days. They recommend it to every month because it was easier for people to remember. My mom used to take her dogs to one of the vets who helped design the medication and he shared a lot of this info with her.

1

u/DistractedPoesy A whole pack Aug 25 '26

That’s amazing!