Heartworm on the Prairies?

[pattymac]

Last year when I took Bayley in for her shots, I asked about heartworm meds, cause I had heard that it's not common out here. So the vet advised me that it's not common and they don't normally prescribe heartworm meds.
There were ALOT of mosquitoes last summer and I haven't heard of any problems here with heartworm. The one thing I did like about it, was every month she got dewormed, so she's never had any sign of internal parasites. I'm thinking to get her dewormed this year, just becauses of the number of deer and coyotes around here. She's not usually one for eating stuff, but you never know and I've never seen anything in her poops.

[hazelrunpack]

We have to deworm ours at least twice a year and sometimes three times. The parasite load is really heavy out here due to all the wildlife... What did you deworm her with? If it was ivermectin and you did it every month, then she was probably safe from heartworm. The months we deworm ours with ivermectin, we skip the heartworm preventive--the deworming dose is so much larger than the dose to kill heartworms that the Heartgard would be overkill.

If you're concerned that Bayley might be exposed, would your vet be willing to test her for heartworm exposure once a year? It would at least set your mind at ease...

[pattymac]

I will ask, they're really good answering questions. I know the test only takes a few seconds so hopefully they have them on hand. I've pretty much only used the ivermectin on her. I've had fecals done on her and nothing has ever shown up. I think I'll get her tested this year. Things are starting to thaw out here so now's a good time.