Is It Absolutely Necessary For My Dog To Get Heartworm Vaccine?

He is a mix pomshitz a senior- 8 yrs old. He rarely gets out of the house.
Is there a special care that you could advice considering his age? I am really worried about him and his health. He lost 2 of his front teeth 2 mos ago and I really want to do more to extend his life.


This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Seniors' Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Is It Absolutely Necessary For My Dog To Get Heartworm Vaccine?”

  1. Great Dane Lover on November 27th, 2009 at 2:45 am

    There is no heartworm vaccine. You need to get a blood test done to test for heartworm and then you need to get your dog on a heartworm preventative. Yes it is necassary. Heartworms are casued by mosquitoes so even mainly inside dogs are at risk of getting heartworms.

  2. Yes, heartworm medication is necessary. It’s far easier to give your dog a once a month chew to prevent heartworm as opposed to risking your dog contracting the worm and dying. Even if your dog didn’t die from heartworm, it would weaken his heart and would most certainly lessen his quality of life.
    I would suggest switching him to a senior food if he’s not on one already and taking him into the vet for a “senior wellness check” if he hasn’t already been within the past year.

  3. It IS absolutely necessary, unless you live in an area that NEVER has a mosquito. If you do live in an area that has mosquitoes (even only a few), you know that they can also get into your house. Once infected with heartworm, treatment can run into the thousands of dollars. It’s much easier to just give the preventative (Revolution covers fleas, ticks, and heartworm-my Toy dog’s preventative is less than $10 a month).

  4. You really should talk to your vet.
    “He rarely gets out of the house.”
    Too bad. He should be going outside to potty, getting plenty of exercise, going on walks, etc. Hire someone to walk your dog daily or almost every day if you are unable to do it yourself.

  5. Heartworm medicine is important for all dogs. Heartworm is spread by mosquitoes and they sometimes get in people’s houses. Heartworm is incurable. Have his teeth cleaned by Vet to insure healthy teeth only in mouth. Bad teeth can lead to heart disease.

  6. Mutt Dog Lover - Turkey Day! on November 28th, 2009 at 12:43 am

    Heartworm Vaccine? There isn’t one…
    I think you are talking about the prevention… it is a monthly tablet and yes I think it’s pretty necessary.

  7. Hi,
    Heartworm vaccines is not necessarily needed to receive. Check this out to give you more info about the importance of vaccination:http://lnk.nu/dogtime.com/12j3.html

  8. Well, think of it this way: If he doesn’t get it, he may die.

  9. No of course not, woe be the poor bastard should he ever get heartworm…

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