The American Heartworm Society offers a very informative website on heartworm at: www.heartwormsociety.org/
Although this site is sponsored by an educational grant from Fort Dodge (with other drug company sponsorship relationships), the site is still very informative and will put you in an excellent position to have a fairly deep discussion with your vet on how to assess the risk in your area for your dogs. If you don't want to know the nitty gritty for vets, you can go to the area on the site for pet owners. Personally, I found aspects of the section for vets to be interesting, too. Again, the decision to administer a drug is a matter of risk assessment based on the incidence of heartworm in YOUR geography, the overall health of YOUR dog, the rate and nature of side effects, and YOUR ability to COMPLY with the required drug administration schedule (or in case you choose not to administer medication, YOUR ability to COMPLY with a schedule for regular fecal exams on all your dogs -- for after the fact testing for infection). You might be interested in knowing that we have known for over 100 years that heartworm infected dogs and in cats for 80 years -- despite the recent flurry of heartworm ads aimed at feline owners! My three Berners are on Interceptor (which I administer on the first of each month - mark it on the calendar) because my vet and I have assessed their risk of heartworm disease (and the complications of treating it) in my area to be greater than the risk of the drug's side effects. I have friends whose dogs live in approximately the same geographic area that my dogs do who have come to different conclusions. These decisions must be made individually and independently, based on the particular risk profile that your particular dogs face. Nancy Melone, Ph.D. Mars, PA
