Hi, I keep getting told to watch out for Sandfly and Heartworm when I take my dog to France (South) in August. A couple of questions - are they one and the same or does one cause another? I have looked on the websites re heartworm and I can see nothing definitive about prevention - can anyone advise who has taken their dog to the South of France or the Med what I need to do either in advance of travelling or when I get there. Many thanks
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we used to live in France (Toulouse) and treated our dog with Stronghold from the UK. I used it once a month. This treats heartworm, although I believe that it acts only after the dog has been infected at a larvae stage. My dog was treated monthly and had no problems. If a dog has adult heartworm you cannot kill them i.e you can only prevent them. It probably has no affect on sandflies? Suggest a talk to a vet who has experience on pets abroad. Ticks can also be a serious problem.
Many thanks for your reply - how long does the larvae stage last. I mean, if we were in France for 3 weeks and treated our dog with Stronghold on our return would that do, just in case he had them? and would one application do? many, many thanks again, this has been worrying me and my own vet wasn's much help!
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Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 30/6/2009
I have heard of sandflies in New Zealand and they are supposed to be nasty.
Brian
I grew up in NZ and we had sandflies on the beach at the end of our road - annoying, but hardly nasty - more like midgies really, just gave an itchy bite. Don't know how this affected dogs.
Over here our dog had a lungworm infection (it is becoming more common in the SE of England. One dose of a worming tablet from the vet's (non-prescription ones do not deal with it) fixed it no problem.
thanks for all your help - I phoned the vet back and spoke to the senior, she agreed about Stronghold (I wouldn't have known what to ask about without your help!) and explained how to use it - he'll be strongholded - frontlined- ticked-boosted-rabied and flead- lucky dog LOL
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