# Heartworm medicine



## zcb (Nov 11, 2010)

When my two ferals were neutered a few months ago they received a clean bill of health from the vet. Now I would like to keep it that way and would like to give them heartworm medicine which is so important here in Florida. The problem is that no vet will give me a prescription unless they test the cat's blood. Yeah that's going to happen. :lol:
My question is has anyone here run into this and has anyone given ferals meds? Also is there a flea med which they can take internally? Fleas are a terrible problem in Florida. I spray all around where they sleep and play but that won't keep the fleas away for long.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

You can put evening primrose in their food to help with fleas. You can find it at a health food store. My friend used it in California with her ferals and had sucess.

I dont know anything about heartworm. We dont face that here in Arizona. Maybe someone else knows that posts here.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

Didn't they do bloodwork before spaying? My vet always encourages people to get bloodwork on their cat before ANY surgery. I can't afford it (I had vouchers from No More Homeless Pets to get the spay free... I only paid $30 for pain meds to give when we got home).

Does this vet often work with ferals? My vet knows I take care of ferals, and that it's hard to treat them medically. He's given me suggestions about how to sneak stuff in their food (I had to sneak L-Lysine and Nutri-cal into my first 2 kitten's food).
I guess if you're really concerned about it, and risk a bit of extra stressing, try to trap them and bring them back to the vet?
My one kitten had tape worm, and luckily the local rescue group let me get a pill for free. They also gave me doses of liquid stuff for intestinal worms, too.


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## icatguy (May 15, 2010)

zcb, you don't want to free-lance heartworm treatment. If the cat has a mature heartworm, and you kill the heartworm, you risk killing the cat. That's because heartworms aren't adapted to the cat's circulatory system. They're too large and a dead heartworm may very well cause a blockage. It's generally safe to risk up until six months after the introduction of the heartworm larvae; after that, the only safe treatment is symptomatic treatment. Thus the need for a prescription and the demand for bloodwork.

The heartworm cannot reproduce in a cat, so it eventually dies a natural death, and that's less dangerous. If you want to wing it, however, you can probably find someplace outside the country that will sell Heargard online without a prescription. Just be aware of the risks.

Heartworm in a cat is best dealt with by prevention, not by treatment, so you concern is well-placed.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

zcb said:


> Also is there a flea med which they can take internally? Fleas are a terrible problem in Florida. I spray all around where they sleep and play but that won't keep the fleas away for long.


I am guessing you can't touch them. If you can, you probably know that Advantage works great on fleas, better than Frontline.

I have a feral who I can just barely touch, but did get the Advanatge on OK. 

If you can't touch them, I have had good results with food-grade diatomaceous earth. Very inexpensive. You can dust the cat with it directly or dust their bedding with it. I put it in their wet and dry food for internal parasites like worms. It is harmless to cats.


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## zcb (Nov 11, 2010)

I did call the vet who had performed the neutering but she informed my that since there were so many cats and kittens (7 in all) that they just gave them rabies shots and checked for feline HIV but not heartworms. She said they would have to have blood drawn before she could prescribe the medicine. I have 2 dogs so I know about the testing. I wouldn't take the chance of giving them the heartworm pills so I guess I just hope they will be ok. There is no way they can be touched so Advantage is out of the question. I guess I'll just continue to spray their bedding and the area around it for fleas. We have a yard service that sprays the yard for insects and our dogs have never had fleas so hopefully they will be ok with that too.


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## teasha (Aug 15, 2010)

I believe revolution also prevents heartworm, but again you can't touch them...


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