Do you use give your indoor cat Heartguard?

suzy

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Hi, all;

I'm curious if any of you use Heartguard (or any other heartworm preventative medication) on your indoor cats. And how about flea & tick preventative?

I have dogs that spend a good deal of time outdoors in the summer; they have always been on Heartguard, and I always use a vet-approved flea & tick preventative on them. I am just trying to decide if I need to worry about any of this for Simba next spring. A few mosquitos do get into the house from time to time, but that would be his only exposure to heartworm; and I don't think the dogs would be dragging in any fleas and/or ticks, since they are on the preventative.

I guess I'm just curious as to what everyone else does, especially those who have both dogs and cats.

Edit: Boy, the title is bad on this thread. Sorry! I haven't gotten much sleep in the last couple of days!!
 

purrfectcatlove

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I use Frontline Plus for the dogs and the cats . I have heartworm medication for my dogs every month . But I am worried for my cats for heartworms . I had one cat die from heartworm and only found out after his death . He had it already befor I got him , he come from Florida and only had the cat for 8 month
and I paid a good price for the Cornish Rex cat too . But I wanted to start giving my cats Revelution and helps protect against flea and heartworms . But it is very expensive and could not aford it this year . But my plans are to start my kitties in the spring with revolution , hopefully I am cought up with my vet bill by then . Right now I only have Ginger on atvantage , it was cheaper for me to buy . She has Flea alergie and need to be protected at all times .
 

kaiukats

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Heartworm preventative for cats is a GREAT idea. Indoor cats are at a higher risk than outdoor cats for getting heartworm disease. Outdoor cats build up an immunity but indoor cats are not exposed to it so have no immunity. If your cat gets heartworm disease you most likely wont know until the cat dies from it.

Heartgard is very inexpensive and should be given year round. If you have a vets prescription you can even get it online. Unlike dogs, cats do not need a blood test to be put on heartworm meds. I dont think that the heartworm inhection has been approved for use in cats as of yet.

Good luck!
 

rfox

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i was also thinking of getting heartworm meds. I think I will talk to my vet about it though. I hate the thought of medicating them through winter, when they really dont need it. but again, I will talk to my vet.
 

rosiemac

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What is this 'Heart Worm'?.
Rosie is an indoor cat and i always give her a dose of frontline if she's stayed at the cattery.
But i am curious as to how it affects indoor cats most?

Susan
 
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suzy

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Originally posted by rosiemac
What is this 'Heart Worm'?.
Rosie is an indoor cat and i always give her a dose of frontline if she's stayed at the cattery.
But i am curious as to how it affects indoor cats most?

Susan
Here is an article about heartworm in both dogs and cats:

http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/hw.html

I don't have time to read the article closely right now, but it looks like it has a lot of heartworm information on cats as well as dogs. Specific info about cats is located towards the bottom of the page.
 

rosiemac

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I think i might be ok on this one as i live in the UK where we never really have the heat for 'mozzies'!!.

But i will ask my vet when Rosie goes for her boosters, just to be sure!.

Thanks again

Susan.
 

cat-tech

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Originally posted by KaiUKats
Heartworm preventative for cats is a GREAT idea. Indoor cats are at a higher risk than outdoor cats for getting heartworm disease. Outdoor cats build up an immunity but indoor cats are not exposed to it so have no immunity. If your cat gets heartworm disease you most likely wont know until the cat dies from it.
Outdoor cats do NOT develop immunity to heartworm. Since it is a vector-borne disease (mosquito), any indoor or outdoor cat risks exposure in those areas of high disease prevalence.

Originally posted by KaiUKats
Heartgard is very inexpensive and should be given year round. If you have a vets prescription you can even get it online. Unlike dogs, cats do not need a blood test to be put on heartworm meds. I dont think that the heartworm inhection has been approved for use in cats as of yet.
Any cat who is newly put on a preventative should recieve a heartworm test, just like dogs. As is the same with dogs, should a pet be positive for heartworm, then the preventative is not given, but treated instead. There is no proven or safe treatment known for cats infected with heartworm (the treatment for heartworm infection in dogs is lethal to cats)

As far as preventives, it depends on the pet's location and risk exposure. Those in more wet, humid areas or near bodies of water are more exposed to mosquitos, in which year-round preventatives are indicated. However, in the northern part of the country where cold seasons eradicate the mosquito, the preventative is usually only given for 6 months of the year.....................Traci
 

squirtle

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Mt cat is an indoor cat but I decided to try training her to walk on a leash. I thought it might be a good idea to use some sort of flea/tick/misquito prevention on her if I was going to start taking her outside. My mom suggested the Hartz Advance Care for kittens, (she uses the Hartz for dogs on her 4 dogs and says it works great). It is used just like Advantage. I put it on the back of her next and she was able to lick it, it scared me so I called my vet immediatley. She told me to wash it off her ASAP and call her back because it could kill her. My boyfriend and I grabbed her and washed it off as best we could (you could still smell it on her even after he bath). I called my vet back and she said that MANY cats have died from using the Hartz Advanced Care, and that she is suprised places still have it on the shelf. I did some research online and found that there are class action law suits against Hartz. I also spent the next 2 days keeping a close eye on my cat. It can take 24-48 hours for them to react and it affects their nervous system. I was sooo worried. She was ok though, and I learned the importance of checking with the vet before using anything on my cat!

I found several websited with warning on that product, but here is a link to one of them.

http://www.pandecats.com/x/hartz_warning.htm
 

cind11

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I took my cat to a veterinarian who was board certified in internal medicine for a different problem but the subject of heartworms came up. She said that outdoor cats DO tend to develop an immunity to heartworms. That is why she said that it might not be a bad idea for indoor cats to be on heartworm prevention since they do not develop an immunity. She also said that heartworm testing is not reliable in cats and that is why they are NOT tested before they are put on the prevention. It is not dangerous for them to be on the prevention if they happen to be positive, unlike the dog where it is dangerous. I have my indoor cats on the prevention just during the summer months, I take them off during the winter.
 

cat-tech

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Cind11, I strongly disagree with your vet. How an outdoor cat can become immune to heartworm just isn't good education, especially from a vet. One must take into consideration that outdoor cats are usually strays or ferals, and most vets rarely see these cats, therefore, they cannot make a prediction or statistic on them to say that they become immune to heartworm. It also must be taken into account that ferals or strays are often not seen with presenting clinical signs of heartworm disease, and many probably die suddenly with acute symptoms, whereby statics are impossible to tabulate. Necropsies would be impossible to perform on these cats to make a conclusion on heartworm infection -- without clinical testing, observations, necropsies,...well, no statistics. Until enough research has been documented, immunity would be one thing I would never want to say to a client.

As for testing, there are various antigen and antibody tests that are utilized in the clinical setting every day. While some of them only detect exposure, some of them do indicate positive infection (it gets complicated from here, i.e., time of exposure vs testing time, migration of adult worm, more than one worm, antigen vs antibody testing, etc, clinical observation, other testing such as thoracic x-rays, ultrasound, etc). I think most veterinary universities recommend testing for feline heartworm before putting a cat on a preventative...the American Heartworm Society and Auburn's extensive contributions to feline heartworm disease research would be a couple references to start with. Many vets are also including the feline heartworm antigen testing in many of their immunological blood profiles.

As for treatment, it varies per individual case....mild exposure vs acute crisis, in which various medications are used, but none of which can be said to be proven cures. The preventative is not often used in treating severe infection or patients in acute crisis..................Traci
 
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