Heartworm medicaton

[StillHope]

I was giving my dog less Iverhart (once in 1.5 months instead of every other month) following the advice from the internet to give a pet less poison.We took a test recently (after 8 months)- no heartworm.

I am not qualified to recommend it.Just the information some of you might find useful.


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[KeaauRich]

OK, so I'll admit to being in a cranky mood tonight, but could you please, please explain to me why you admit to not being qualified to offer veterinary medical advice and then felt the need to you proceed to do so???

[mailesomaha]

Hmmmm. I have to be very frugal these days too (since I moved here). I'm glad it worked. Could be only ironic. If your dog doesn't have heart worms and isn't exposed, then he/she can't get it and preventative meds are a waste of money and, like you said, toxic. We test our dog and no preventative is dispensed. We make her food (she gets some whey from the cheese making for extra calcium cause she's an old bag like me) and she gets crazy exercise with all the other animals. Keeping them healthy helps to prevent the effects of the heartworm. But, I'm not exactly a naturalist and I recommend the faint of heart (pun intended) to use a vet and take their recommendations.

[mailesomaha]

I've used the search function to look up various topics on this site and I've found that type of response to be prevalent when the response is directed toward someone who "is" of some perceived certain personality type.

I have a crystal ball:

Her response will be something of this nature "I was only trying to.....(fill in the blank)".

Then, a "regular" (quite possibly even the moderator himself) will chime in with "you really need to have thicker skin". Essentially further chastising the injured party and giving asylum to the perpetrator.

Really, come on. Who really has that thick of skin? And do you really only want people on here who can manage to take those kinds of hits? Just wondering.

[StillHope]

KR,I simply shared my experience.
Definitely everyone should consult a vet.

Mailesomaha,there's not much money saving here for one dog .
I might be wrong thinking that I could save some months/days of his life .
It's just my opinion.
I informed our vet after the test about how often I gave the medication.If someone interested in the result please e-mail me.
(The e-mail will fail,but you will see my e-mail address in the notification -cut and paste it into your e-mail composition).
____________________
Whatever you assume,please
just ask a question first.

[csgray]

Heartworm treatment is one of those tough decisions for pet owners; the parasite can cause your pet to die an excruciatingly painful death, but the treatment is toxic. So it is a tough call either way. When we lived in a community where there was NO heartworm we did not treat our dogs, then someone moved into that county with dogs they knew were infected and refused to treat them (even when offered free treatment by local vets) and then we and every other responsible pet owner had to start treating our pets. It has now spread throughout that county in about 10 years time.

Heartworm is a mosquito born parasite with a complicated life cycle, more information can be found here:

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/hartworm.html

I recommend doing your research and making educated decisions. We are treating all of our dogs with the preventative medication because we have many mosquitoes and neighbors whose dogs receive no vet care and are likely carriers. Feral cats are also major vectors for spreading the parasite. The rescue operation we got one of our dogs from stretches out the treatments to every 40 days to save money and have not had a single case of it in 4 years. They are caring for many animals so the savings are significant. I would guess the dosage intervals recommended have some built in slack to account for people forgetting to dose their animals on time, I know we have trouble always hitting the date on time.

Carol

[robguz]

I have 3 dogs and between that and the advantix it gets expensive. Still, the peace of mind in knowing they won't get heartworm, fleas, ticks, and will get fewer mosquito bites is worth it. If you haven't already you can save money trying to find most medicines online and maybe save as much as you would by staggering or extending the doseage periods. I've never had a dog seem to get sick from heartworm preventive, but then they can't exactly tell me how they feel. If the extended doseage is supported by research and vet recommended then it's probably fine. From what I understand heartworm risk here is not like the mainland, and that if you don't treat there is a good chance your dog will get it.

[csgray]

According to our vet there have been multiple recent cases of heartworm in his practice from HPP, Orchidland, Ainaloa, Hawaiian Acres, Black Sands Beach, Nanawale, and Seaview. He was surprised at the Seaview cases (5 dogs in one household) because it is dryer and windier there, which usually means fewer mosquitoes, but is now urging his clients who live in those areas to use the preventative treatment. He is also anticipating an uptick in cases because of the poor economy; when times are tough people often cut back on what they perceive as "extras" like caring for their pets.

Carol

[Shekelpal]

All you need are mosquitos for a dog to get heartworm. We buy the horse ivermectin from Dels, a certain cc for every so many pounds - it is much cheaper in the long run. Inject it in a bread ball every month. I am hoping that this also prevents them from getting rat lung worm, or angiostrongylus cantonensis, from eating slugs or snails. This medication is also an anti helminth that is given to people who have rat lung worm.

[StillHope]

Shekelpal,do you think that a dog would eat a snail/slug??

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Whatever you assume,please
just ask a question first.