Hi Jake. If I had the choice of year round or off HW meds for the winter months I would take the option of giving them a break during the winter. I no longer have that luxury due to living in unpredictable South weather. If I lived where you do I would definitely skip the Winter months and have blood work done in the Spring before it’s time to start HW meds again. At least that’s how I always did it when I lived in the Northeast. I’ve lived here for the past 13 years and give HW monthly. You can find as many people that agree with me as you can people that don’t. The cure for HW is not something I would put any of my girls through.
But please remember that if you are going to skip the Winter months than it really is imperative that you get heart worm test and results done before starting again in the Spring. I agree wholeheartedly with BC. It’s quite dangerous to start HW meds after the Winter months are over without testing first. Very dangerous to give a dog with active heart worms HW preventative meds. The fact that your old vet did it differently did not make it the correct thing to do. Your old vet was not following the correct protocol. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not someone that thinks vets are all knowing and all seeing. Quite the opposite. Some things, like heart worms and their horrendous cure if indeed curable, are just too dangerous to gamble with. imo
