Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Virbac® Sentinel® Spectrum® and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help create awareness about protection against common parasites found in dogs, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. You can find more information about Sentinel Spectrum here. Virbac is not responsible for the content of this article.
As a dog owner, nothing makes me want to go on the warpath more than fleas. Over the years, I’ve had dogs and cats suffer from these horrible parasites, and quite honestly, they are miserable for pets and humans alike. For this reason, I have gone out of my way to make sure Ivi has the best protection possible against fleas – perhaps the main reason I had used Virbac® Sentinel® for both of my girls (since they were old enough to take it) to help fight back against heartworms and fleas. With how much they love sniffing and playing outside, digging, and being overall curious about nature, I knew we needed well-rounded protection for our girl. Luckily, we recently found the perfect solution for heartworms, tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, whipworms, and of course, controlling fleas by preventing new fleas from developing and laying eggs of their own – Virbac® Sentinel® Spectrum®.
As crazy as it sounds, intestinal parasites, such as hookworms, whipworms, roundworms, and tapeworms, should be a major concern for all dog owners. These parasites invade your dog’s digestive system and can cause very serious health problems. The problems we saw with Ivi when she had worms as a young puppy (before we could safely start giving her Sentinel) included diarrhea, throwing up, and overall misery. As someone who thought that heartworms and fleas were the only danger to my dogs, I was shocked and quite happy when we got a prescribed paraciticide to help our poor Ivi. While she was too young back then, I am happy to rely instead on Virbac® Sentinel® Spectrum®, a more comprehensive version of Sentinel® to protect her from scary parasites with its built in paraciticide. It was either that or be a helicopter dog mom when Ivi is outside, which just seems sad. Just look at how much she loves exploring outside!
Of course, fleas and heartworms are still public enemy number one. Fleas, if not handled quickly, can become a huge problem. You see, by the time you find one flea, there could be hundreds more waiting to hatch in your environment (aka, your home). They love laying eggs in carpet, on your baseboards, and anywhere else they can find a nice hiding spot. Only 5% of fleas in an infestation are adults, the other 95% being immature fleas. Those hiding fleas can also survive in a home for up to one year before they even find a host (scary or what!?). What I love so much about Sentinel® Spectrum® is that it has an insect growth regulator that prevents flea larvae from developing. In other words, it can very quickly halt a flea infestation, protecting your pet and your home by breaking the fleas’ growth and reproductive cycle. As well, Sentinel protects your dog from the parasites transferred from flea bites!
While fleas are super scary to indoor and outdoor dogs alike, to say nothing of their parents, it’s the hidden enemy that scares us the most. During the summer, when our girls are playing outside the most, we have mosquitoes to worry about, which can carry heartworms. As frightening as this may sound, nearly 300,000 pet dogs in the US contract heartworms each year from infected mosquitoes. We have all heard horrible rescue stories of dogs infected with heartworms, which have the potential of killing our beloved pets. These horrible parasites slowly eat away at our dogs, going after the heart and lungs, eventually leading to death if they go untreated.
Dogs that are infected usually have a lack of energy; have breathing problems, and sudden, unexplained weight loss. Many pet owners assume that they can forgo the heartworm prevention if they have a strictly indoor dog or during the winter. That is not the case – heartworm prevention has to happen all year to protect our dogs, and it is important to make sure they have a yearly heartworm test, just to make sure nothing unexpected has developed. With how much I adore my girls and love seeing them having fun throughout the year, I don’t want to take any chances – I never want to see anything stop those gorgeous smiles.
Want to know the first step for making sure your babies are protected from heartworms, fleas, tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms? The best way to protect your pet is to book an appointment with your vet and get a heartworm test. From there, talk to your vet about Virbac® Sentinel® Spectrum®, where your office will be happy to provide you with a supply of this awesome, beef flavored chew to give your dog once a month. Since it smells like real beef and bacon to humans and dogs, it isn’t too surprising dogs absolutely love it! Oh, and they make things easy for pet owners by sending you a monthly email or text reminder to make sure your dogs have their monthly prevention.
Make sure to make an appointment with your vet today and learn how you can get a rebate for Sentinel Spectrum too!
Disclosure: Budget Earth received monetary compensation for this post. All opinions on this product are my own and may differ from our readers’ opinions.
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About Susan Bewley
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.
I didn’t realize how many scary things are out there just waiting for a dog to come by.
This is great protection for your pooch and I love the monthly text reminders!!
One of my dogs recently had round worm. It’s not fun to get rid of and expensive too!
This is such a useful and informative article – it makes me so much more aware of the problems that this can cause my 2 doggies. I shall be buying this product
This stuff sounds great. I can’t have pets. My daughter is allergic. I will pass this on to my mom though. Fleas are definitely not fun!
I had no clue our dogs could get heart worms from mosquitos! I didn’t even think about the parasites they could pass on. I have friends who don’t use protection for their animals because they figure since they’re mostly indoor pets they don’t need it. I’ll pass this on to them because it’s important info!
This product sounds useful. Fleas and ticks are terrible for your pet.
It is horrible how much it is to take a dog to the vet. My last dog we would take him to the local works yard once a year for his rabbies shot for $6.00. There were people from all over town. The vets. put a stop to that and it went from a $6.00 to over a $100. I love dogs but can`t afford to have one.
Oh my, that is a little scary.
I will have to ask my vet about the Sentinel Spectrum. I want my dog to be protected from parasites!
Thank you for the useful info
Good information as a guidance. Useful to provide better environment to animal.
It is amazing what is in the ground that can hurt a dog or any other animal. Thanks for sharing!
One of the dogs I sit for has this , I am glad , love sitting for happy dogs.
This would be so great for me as we have a dog who likes to spend most of her time outdoors. Having lived in the Southern states, I know what a problem chiggers, ticks, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, fire ants, and the like can be, especially for your beloved pets. Thanks for recommending what sounds like a very effective product!
I know exactly what you mean. I’m in Kentucky, but we love to go hiking and exploring .The things you found are amazing. Heck, we just had our neighbors daughter over here getting a tick out of her hair, which she got at the playground at school. When you are adding in fleas and other parasites too, things get trickier.
Don’t really think about dogs and parasites. However, this article was thought provoking about this subject.
Sounds like a great product!!
Great article. Whether you chose Sentinel or not, it’s important to protect our furbabies year round.
Exactly! The last thing we want is for any of our babies to be sick. I have used Sentinel since it the preferred protection by our vet.
I don’t own a dog myself but I have friends who do; I will share this with them. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for passing on some great information for pet owners.
Great article and very informative.So many things to watch for.This is helpful.
Dogs are like family!! Thank you for any information to help keep them healthy!! Be a responsible pet owner!!
Why would I need this if I already use tablets or sprays supplied free by my vet? This is too cumbersome for my Yorkie.
Hi Mark – the important thing is that you are using something for heartworms. While they are very dangerous for all dogs, they can be extremely dangerous to the small breeds. Mosquito, unfortunately, can still get inside and it takes only one bite from one carrying parasites.
This is more a product that replaced the sprays and tablets for the parasites. It is doing prevention first to make sure none of our animals have anything dangerous and lasting happen. I am also one of those people though that don’t like topical products. Some of the ingredients, at least to me, are a little on the scary side.
This is a great product to protect your canine companions and the price is much cheaper than vet treatment.
Very informative!
I did rescue for 10yrs. Parasites do some really ugly things & can kill. Its not a pretty site either. We live in the south where they are a constant worry & danger. Thank you for sharing this. Education is so important & This product is one of the best.
This was so interesting to read, I learned a lot! So important to take care of your pets! Thanks for sharing!
Hello everyone, it’s myy first go to see at this website,
and article is really fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these types of content.
Since early years, it’s important to find the best possible item to keep my pet protected – that is to be solely resolved when someone develops that of what is environment friendly as well. Thus, I think the information is surely going to get shared… Due to the horrible things flea and ticks can do… I am honored to learn of this article! Thus, I hope the very best for our extended family members – our pets.
computertech2you@live.com
Good information, I loev the dogs <3
Keep on writing, great job!
Fleas are the absolute worse! This sounds like a wonderful problem to combat them and then some.
Great info, thank you for doing the article
So many things you have to protect your dogs from.
The old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is so true when it comes to pets. It’s not always easy to tell what’s happening with them and vet bills are insane!
I no longer have dogs but my daughter does and I will be passing this info onto her.
This is such a useful and informative article. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t want to take any chances! Thanks for the helpful article!
I’ve never heard of this before. Does this work with ticks too? My dogs have had some issues with fleas, but a few years ago they had a HORRIBLE tick infestation. They were inside their ear and I had to tweeze them out. It was just awful. Luckily this was several years ago and they haven’t come back since but I am always on the look out for them vigilantly.
Unfortunately, there is nothing on the market yet that really works with ticks. If it existed, my girls would be on it in a heartbeat. Ticks are so bad here in Kentucky. Even in the suburbs, in very populated areas, we have them.
We’ve have always protected and had our animals checked for fleas. And our vet at every checkup asks for a sample of their stool. So I hope he is checking them for worms, etc. too! I will have to remember the name Sentinel Spectrum. Giving one once a month is not too much to help keep our furry pets healthy!
Agreed! What I love about Sentinel Spectrum too is that Ivi thinks it is a treat. She was actually not happy that her ‘treat’ was so small! 😉 As for the fecal sample, that is awesome! Usually they take fecal samples so often just to make sure there aren’t any parasites.
You made some decent points there. I looked on the
web to find out more about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this web site.
This sounds like a really good product. Very informative site.
Thanks for all this good information for this wonderful product as I want the best for my dogs and sure do want to keep them healthy. I have not tried this product but am definitively interested now and will be checking into it so thank you.
To ensure your love for the newest members of the family it’s important for our four-leg members to be protected from heartworms, fleas, tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms! The best way to protect your pet is to book an appointment with your vet and get a heartworm test. Whatever the case, keep an eye for the following… a lack of energy; have breathing problems, and sudden, unexplained weight loss.
computertech2you@live.com
I feel so sorry for the animals that have this problem as it makes them so miserable.
I remember as a child our dog having worms. This was 50 years ago and things have advanced so much in terms of products like this that are so much easier on our pets.
Its good to know that there is a product out there helping dogs
fight against fleas and heartwarms. and Yes! make that appointment, its so important.
I wasn’t aware of this danger. I will talk to my vet about this product at my next visit. Thanks for sharing!
My vet showed me pictures of what heartworms could do to a dog…and after you see that, you’ll do anything to avoid it. Anything that will keep my animal safe I’m all for…
I love the Sentinel Spectrum offers a rebate!!! We try to stock up on flea/tick medication at the vets office when Frontline has a rebate. Those meds can get costly!!
Sentinel Spectrum works really great. We’re currently using Trifexis on both of our pups though.
With the warm weather here in SoCal, we worry about all types of parasites on the dogs all of the time!
I have never heard of Sentinel Spectrum before. I definitely need to look into it though to protect our pets!
Sounds like a great product. It really does help that the chews are so tasty to them.
I have dealt with parasites on animals before, and it is not only dangerous for their health but is no fun for us as well. Ticks are a nasty one that I would definitely not want to deal with again! This sounds like a great product to prevent this, thanks for sharing! 🙂
When we had our first visit with ou current vet he advised us that thankfully fleas are not too common of an issue in the area we live in. If we were to travel with our dog to another province that might be different but at least we don’t have to worry too much where we are.
My dog is allergic to fleas so I would really like to try this and see if it works for her! I hate to see her suffer!
Our dog had fleas and if not treated they get so out of control . Must protect your dogs as they are family too.