Ivermectin for DOGS for Heartworms?

[aggieterpkatie]

Quote:
UGH, WHY would the vet say not to worry about it? I'm sorry, but any vet who prescribes Heartgard for a herding dog is a moron. Ivermectin KILLS herding dogs, and all it takes is one time. My friend lost her Aussie after accidently ingesting some ivermectin. If you love your dog why take the risk?

That's just it. It does NOT kill them unless the dose is too large. Your friend must have had a large dose scripted for her dog. The usual dose is so small it just doesn't hurt them. Now if you have an animal near the weight cut off, and go to a larger dose, perhaps. But not at the low dose.
In our dog, we just switched to a different HW preventative after her three month HeartGuard package was used up. But it never would have killed her. It wasn't a high enough dosage. Ivermectin toxicity is self resolving in most cases. That's how they can use such a large dose in treating demodex on the four day series. They treat at increasing doses until ivermectin toxicity is reached or until the series is over. If toxicity symptoms occur they just stop treatment. It self resolves.

You said yourself that your dog was staggering and drooling! She was poisoned, albeit a "low" dose of poison. With other dewormers out there, I'm not sure why anyone would risk it.

 

[mekasmom]

Quote:
That's just it. It does NOT kill them unless the dose is too large. Your friend must have had a large dose scripted for her dog. The usual dose is so small it just doesn't hurt them. Now if you have an animal near the weight cut off, and go to a larger dose, perhaps. But not at the low dose.
In our dog, we just switched to a different HW preventative after her three month HeartGuard package was used up. But it never would have killed her. It wasn't a high enough dosage. Ivermectin toxicity is self resolving in most cases. That's how they can use such a large dose in treating demodex on the four day series. They treat at increasing doses until ivermectin toxicity is reached or until the series is over. If toxicity symptoms occur they just stop treatment. It self resolves.

You said yourself that your dog was staggering and drooling! She was poisoned, albeit a "low" dose of poison. With other dewormers out there, I'm not sure why anyone would risk it.

I'm sure next time a vet does a 4day high dose of ivermectin for a demodectic dog, and sees toxicity, which is common, they will be glad to know that someone on the internet in cyberspace is smarter than they are and take your medical advice. In the meantime, I will listen to a licensed vet when it comes to medical care be it heartworm prevention or anything else.

 

[sourland]

There is a toxicity level to every drug utilized; therefore, one could say that any time we give an antibiotic, wormer, etc. we are "poisoning" our animals. Intelligently, we are poisoning that which is causing the problem more effectively than the treated animal. That is why there are treatment and dosage levels on every medication. Too much water forced into an animal would cause deleterious effects and be considered "poisonous"-water, the fluid of life. I think I'll listen to my vet also. I've being using Ivermectin as an all around wormer for over twenty years (non-herding breed) and feel it is a great vermicide and preventive. All of my pups are automatically roundworm negative as their mothers have been on Ivermectin going back 5 or 6 generations. I have never had a dog test positive for hook or heartworms. Upon occasion I have had to deal with tape worm infestations as Ivermectin does not get them. For me it has been a great assist in maintaining good health in my kennel. As with any drug, intelligent utilization is a must. In a lifetime of dealing with animals I have found that everyone has an opinion. Ignore the masses and do what works for you. By the way there are treatment regimens for demodectic mange that utilize lower doses and longer or staggered periods of treatment. Also some of the puppy vaccination regimens mentioned here are antiquated. Studies are indicating that less is best.

 

[redhen]

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What do you use for tapeworms?

 

[sourland]

Redhen, Droncit is very effective for me. It can be utilized in conjunction with food and does not cause the violent purging of some of the other tapeworm meds. It's a prescrijption med. and must be gotten from a veterinarian.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Droncit or Drontal... I prefer Drontal... use it on all my animals... all the rescue animals.... and almost all the animals in the practice I work at.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Quote:
You said yourself that your dog was staggering and drooling! She was poisoned, albeit a "low" dose of poison. With other dewormers out there, I'm not sure why anyone would risk it.

I'm sure next time a vet does a 4day high dose of ivermectin for a demodectic dog, and sees toxicity, which is common, they will be glad to know that someone on the internet in cyberspace is smarter than they are and take your medical advice. In the meantime, I will listen to a licensed vet when it comes to medical care be it heartworm prevention or anything else.

Well, you go ahead and listen to your vet. I'll just remember my coworker's healthy, happy 4 year old Aussie killed by Ivermectin.

 

[mekasmom]

Quote:
Praziquantal is used for tapes in one dose. Fenbendazole will also kill them, but you have to use multiple doses. Iverhart has both prazi and ivermectin in it, and costs about five dollars a pill from your vet. I just do that twice a year, and use ivermectin between times.

I have also heard that some people simplly buy horse wormer paste combo prazi/ivermectin and give the dog a small drop of it a few times a year. Prazi is nice to use because it is just the one dose and they don't throw it up. Droncit is prazi and so is drontal.

 

[mekasmom]

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You can buy prazi otc, it is the med in droncit. And prazi works better than the other (fenbendazole) because they don't vomit.

 

[Mama C]

To address some of the misinformation posted here before someone kills their dog: Testing your dog for heartworm infection before administering ANY heartworm preventative or treatment is imperative. No one, vet or not, should be administering such a volatile medication without testing.

The problem with a potentially large, sudden kill of adult heartworms is that the body cannot break them down fast enough. It must be done slowly or there is a high(er) risk of the dead worms migrating to the smaller blood vessels causing lethal blockages. It is also the reason that the dog undergoing heartworm treatment must be (a) closely monitored under a veterinarian’s supervision for the first 24 hours and (b) kept confined with very minimal activity for at least 6 weeks. It is devastatingly hard on the dog’s system, and the pre-treatment testing is not remotely frivolous. The vet thoroughly checking your dog out with blood panels and x-rays is to get the best possible picture of what they are dealing with and - more importantly - to be sure your pet is a good candidate for treatment in the first place. There is no point in treating an animal if they will probably be killed by said treatment. If the vet is not following this strict protocol then he or she should not be treating heartworms. Period.

If you feel safer with Heartgard, use it. If you feel confident dosing Ivermectin, use it. If you aren’t sure, call your vet and discuss it. If your vet won’t discuss it, find another vet. In some cases advice from the internet can be enormously helpful, but sometimes there is no substitute for professional advice. When you are dealing with something that has the potential to kill your animal if you are off by less than a cc it might be a good time to - at the very least – put a call in to the vet.

And I have to say something about the abhorrent amount of negativity regarding veterinary medicine in this thread because so much of it is opinion masquerading as fact. Contrary to what some of you have said the vast majority of vets have chosen their career path for the love of the animals. It is so much easier, quicker, and cheaper to become an MD instead of a DVM, the MD’s salary is 2-3x better and MD’s are generally more respected even though DVM’s are quite often better educated. Very, very few vets are “in it for the money” mostly because there isn’t much money to be had in veterinary medicine – particularly in medications. There is almost no mark up on them. If you believe your vet is too financially motivated, by all means, find another vet who you feel has your animal’s best interest at heart. They are out there and they want your animals to lead long, healthy lives. Jaded, off-the-cuff remarks don’t do anything to help the health of your animals, but a really good vet when you desperately need one most certainly will.