Home
Tick control
Tick removal
 

Parasite control choices

Most dogs

In dry-summer areas, where intestinal worms aren't a big problem, use Revolution plus a fresh Preventic collar during tick season. Worm your dog twice a year or have the vet check for intestinal parasites.

In moist summer areas, use Frontline or Advantix for flea and tick control plus a monthly heartworm pill that also kills intestinal worms.  The monthly heartworm pill could be Tri-Heart, Heartguard, Iverhart, Sentinel or Interceptor.  If whipworms are a problem where you live, your veterinarian will probably choose Sentinel or Interceptor. 

Dogs who swim all the time
Frontline, plus a monthly heartworm pill that also kills intestinal worms.

Big dogs who have continual tick exposure and sometimes go swimming
Advantix, plus a monthly heartworm pill that also kills intestinal worms.

Dogs who sleep in bed with your children
Sentinel for flea, heartworm, and intestinal worm control; tick baths for tick control. Sentinel is excellent for heartworms and intestinal worms, but not great for fleas. (It keeps fleas from reproducing but doesn’t kill them.) When Fido picks up fleas left in your yard by the neighbor’s cat, you’ll have to treat him with Capstar (a short-acting flea pill) or give him another bath. Sentinel is a wonderfully safe product, but it’s a pain to use - in a flea-rich environment, your dog has fleas every time you turn around and the Capstar flea pill (a companion product to Sentinel) has not been an entirely satisfactory solution.

Revolution, Tri-Heart, Heartguard, Iverhart, Advantix, Sentinel and Capstar are prescription products you should get from your veterinarian.