Heartworm Medicine for Cats

Heartworm medicine for cats is just as important as it is for dogs.  Here you can find the best priced feline heartworm medicines available today, as well as lots of useful information about preventing heartworm disease in our feline friends.

For even more information check out the Heartworm Medicine for Cats site too.  Or read on for an introduction to using preventatives to stop your pets ever getting heartworm disease.

For prices on all heartworm meds for felines check out the links at the right.

Most of us think of heartworm disease as a canine problem, so do we need to bother with preventatives for our cats?  The truth is your dog is far more likely to be infected with the parasite than your cat.  

But that being said, your cat can be infected, and if it is you probably won't know about it until their health is put in serious danger.  And then there will be nothing your vet can actually do to help, other than monitor their condition and offer treatments to minimise the symptoms caused.

The dog is the ideal host for the heartworm parasite.  So infections in canine tend to be large, with significant numbers reaching adulthood and migrating towards the heart and other organs to breed.  Since the cat is a less perfect host many more parasites will die during their juvenile stages.  Whereas an infected dog may have hundreds of adult heartworms present, a cat is more likely to have only a few.  But those parasites will still congregate in organs, joints or eyes to breed causing significant damage to health.

The medications used to treat infected dogs are not well tolerated by cats, so vets are left with no viable way to get rid of the parasites once they have been in the system for more than a few months.  Eventually, over the course of a few years they will tend to die off since the cats body is not their ideal home.  But the damage left behind can cause health issues for the rest of the animal's life.

The probability that your cat will be infected varies hugely based on location.  Mosquitoes pass the parasites to pets so areas with more mosquitoes are generally higher risk locations.  However, the American Heartworm Society are seeing cases of the disease in all mainland states of the US.  Their advise is to use a preventative for all cats and dogs.  This makes sense since prevention is simple but treatment once infected is not.

There are two licensed oral heartworm preventatives for cats at the moment.  Heartgard Chewables, made by Merial uses Ivermectin, and Interceptor Flavor Tabs made by Novartis uses Milbemycin oxime to remove larval heartworms before they pose any risk to health.

Providing you use these on a monthly basis your cat will never be host to adult heart-worms since the larvae passed on by an infected mosquito will be destroyed by the time they are 30 days old.

Both are extremely effective and safe to use as well as being designed to be highly palatable to cats.

Even though the two oral preventatives are designed to be seen as tasty treats there will always be some cats that simply do realise these are medications that you want them to take, and so will refuse them. 

Instead, you can choose to use a topical spot on treatment.  These are far easier for many owners since you are in control and know categorically that the cat has had their necessary medication each month.  Another advantage of these topical medicines is that they incorporate an effective method of flea control too.  They do cost a little more than simple oral products, but combining your regular flea treatment means less products to buy and use as well as the potential savings of having two medicines for the price of one.

Advantage Multi for cats is produced by Bayer and uses Moxidectin and imidacloprid, whilst Revolution for Cats is produced by Pfizer and uses Selemectin as its sole active ingredient to deal with both internal and external parasites.

In order to guarantee the effectiveness of any monthly heartworm preventative there are a few key things to remember:

• A cat not previously being treated will need a vet visit as a blood test is usually required to ensure their are no parasites already present.
• Each feline heartworm preventative comes in doses dependent on the weight of the animal to be treated.  Always check you have the right pack size for your pet.
• With the exception of Interceptor Flavor tabs, heartworm medicines are not interchangeable between species, so do not use other canine medications on your cat.
• To guarantee protection, year round use of preventatives is needed.  If you use products only seasonally you will need to ensure your pet is tested each spring.
• Side effects are very rare, but if you have any concerns speak to your vet promptly.
• Never use two products containing a heartworm preventative in conjunction with one another as this would over-dose the animal.
• Preventatives should be used every 30 days.  If you forget a treatment, give a dose as soon as possible and continue every month from this new date.  Never double dose and if more than two months have passed between treatments speak to your vet as a re-test for the parasites may be required.

Rules vary between countries. In the United States and much of Europe all cat's heartworm medicines are available only with a veterinary prescription. In Australia certain products that have been in use for some time are over the counter products.

So if you want to benefit for feline heartworm medicine without prescription you can buy online from Canadian stores that source their branded heartworm preventatives from Australia. Both Advantage Multi and Revolution for cats are available no prescription needed from Canadian pet medicine suppliers such as the one linked to at the top of this article.

If you have any questions or queries regarding heartworm medicine for cats leave us a comment below and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible.