Canine Heartworm meds....Interesting article

I put the Ivermectin on a 1/4 slice of bread, Make sure you use Ivermectin 1% injectible, NOT the pour-on or Ivermection Plus, there all different.Dosage that I use is is .5 cc per 50 lbs bodyweight.Ivermection is not recommended for ALL breeds of dogs. I have Labs, and Goldens.Do not use this procedure for untested dogs. Keep in mind that this is what I do. I recomend that you do as your vet advises...........Red Rover

On food...label is probably for cattle swine or sheep. Dogs gobble it up and you can keep their food in a bowl and just to them. Cattle swine and sheep usually eat with others in a trough...hard to keep separate.

I have heard from some that they put the Ivomec/Ivermectin on dogs food. However the label on the package says to inject it. How are you guys administering it?

Steve(the Wild Man) says it all. I agree with him 100%. I,too, can have 20-30 dogs in my kennel at one time. I DO require that client dogs be tested to be free of heartworm and then be medicated on a monthly basis. If clients won't do that, then I'll refuse to train their dog, simple as that. Red Rover

D, is right about the treatment. If your dog is infected and is treated with ivermec. It stands a good chance at killing the dog. From what I understand, killing of the worms once developed in the heart. Will cause them to clog the arteries and such. It's been a few days since I read that blog. Kinda liked it, with lots of good stuff in it. If I recall correctly, it had a map of heartworm cases. WI being in the red, for the highest amounts. This was discussed in the other thread in some detail. Still, I would, and do it here monthly. Bi-weekly in the summer months. Reason being this is the wrost time of the year for everything. With ivomec taking care of the most common worms we face in WI. Any dog that is let outdoors at all. Can get any kind of worm. Ivomec is cheap. At only 40 cents a dose. Why would you not use this preventative measure for your dogs health?? Sometimes I am not sure if it is sad, or funny. I lean towards sad mostly. Since in my kennel of 12 dogs currently. I spend less then most with just 1 dog, and have far healthier dogs than most. There are times when there maybe 20-30 dogs here. Cost goes up very little. More costly to not use preventative healthcare.

So why does a vet test for heartworm before they prescribe heartgard? I think because there is two stages of heartworm? Once they become adult worms there is a different treatment?

Red Rover, I understand the need for treatment if your dogs do head to the southern US. It is my understanding that "ivermection" was originally developed for deworming of people in third world countries but was discontinued because of its relation to kidney failure. It is used today for animals because of their shorter life span but it still can be a side effect of using this med so it should be used in moderation.

fshnuts........the reason I use heartworm medication year-round is because my dogs are in warm climates frequently. If they were only in Wisc, I wouldn't medicate in the cold months. Two of the heartworm positive dogs that I had both came from Miss.

Red rover, what's the name of your kennel?

So why does a vet test for heartworm before they prescribe heartgard?

Just a question Red Rover. From the article it notes that this is not as much as a preventitive measure as medication for the killing of heartworm larvae already in the dog's body. I do not discount that there are heartworm infestations in WI it just seems that once a month as Heartguard recommends is over medication. Do you agree with this?

Do yourself and your dogs a favor and use a heartworm preventative. The article is from 5/6/10. Three years to the day. I don't consider that "outdated". There is no PREVENTATIVE medication for heartworm. Heartguard and other monthly products are TREATMENT. You are making the assumption your dog is infected and treating it every month as if it had been infected with the heartworm parasite. Heartworm "prevention" medicines are actually toxic poisons. That said, I start heartgard sometime in June and go through September. Again, depending on the temps. Biologically we know what the life cycle of the parasite is and the gestation period in the mosquito host. There is NO way your dog can be infected by a mosquito that caries the heartworm parasite unless the ambient temperature both day and night stays above 57º for 45 consecutive days. In the end, it's your dog and your money. Do as you wish. After putting a dog down because of canine dementia, (that I will go to my grave as being attributed largely to over vaccination and medication), I've made the choice to be more selective about what is given to my dog.

As a kennel owner and trainer I have had first hand experience with dogs that are heartworm infected. The treatment is costly, risky, and time consuming as treated dogs are restricted to a low activity level. All of this can be avoided with proper heartworm preventitive, I alternate on a monthly basis between Sentinal and Ivermection. Heartworm is in Wisc. The above mentioned article is out-dated because it mentions Interceptor as one of the choices in preventitive treatments. Interceptor is no longer available nor manufactured because there are better choices now available Do yourself and your dogs a favor and use a heartworm preventative. Red Rover