I just saw a TV news story or TV ad that says that heartworms in Jacksonville are resistant to the monthly preventative I use. What do I need to do?
First of all, the television advertisement and news story/stories that you may have seen are part of a large advertising campaign funded by Bayer, the company that makes Advantage Multi. Advantage Multi is a monthly heartworm, intestinal parasite, and flea prevention. Taken at face value, these ads seems to indicate that there is a new resistant strain of heartworms in Jacksonville, known as the MP3 strain, and that their product is the only heartworm preventative (hwp) which is 100% effective against this new and deadly strain. As your pets’ veterinarian, I wanted to make sure that all of my clients have the proper facts, because, as is often the case, truth in advertising appears to be in the eye of the beholder. Reports of what seems to be increasing resistance of heartworms to many of the monthly preventatives have surfaced, however no resistance has been seen in our area at this time. Confirmed reports seem to be limited to the Mississippi Delta area, and they are being investigat
