Heartworms..........

mv_princess

mv_princess

mv = margaritaville
Do I need to get her some or not? Does she need a dewormer? Or just heart guard stuff? And whats the best to get?



(*You would think I had never had a dog before*)
 
cattitude

cattitude

My Sweetest Boy
Heartworms are different than the intestinal parasites..whip, hook & round worms. You need to have the dog checked for heartworms first before you put it on the meds, i.e., Heartguard. If it's a pup, you can start w/o a test but you need a prescription to get it. I'm sure there is stuff out there you can get without a prescription but if you aren't careful and your dog has heartworms, you can kill it by giving it the meds.
 
mv_princess

mv_princess

mv = margaritaville
cattitude said:
Heartworms are different than the intestinal parasites..whip, hook & round worms. You need to have the dog checked for heartworms first before you put it on the meds, i.e., Heartguard. If it's a pup, you can start w/o a test but you need a prescription to get it. I'm sure there is stuff out there you can get without a prescription but if you aren't careful and your dog has heartworms, you can kill it by giving it the meds.
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Well she was just checked liked three months ago. Does she need to be checked again?
 
cattitude

cattitude

My Sweetest Boy
mv_princess said:
Well she was just checked liked three months ago. Does she need to be checked again?
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I would check with your vet..there are mosquitoes out there now...I'm not exactly sure of the time from bite to the time they get into the heart, etc. She really should be on them all year long.
 
TurboK9

TurboK9

New Member
Almost all heartworm preventatives use Ivermectin as the active ingredient. If your dog currently has heartworm, the Ivermectin will kill them all at once and it can kill the dog if the infestation is not very very small and very very new. Get your dog checked first.
 
smilin

smilin

BOXER NATION
TurboK9 said:
Almost all heartworm preventatives use Ivermectin as the active ingredient. If your dog currently has heartworm, the Ivermectin will kill them all at once and it can kill the dog if the infestation is not very very small and very very new. Get your dog checked first.
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I thought heartworm medicines was another profit center until I saw a specimen jar with a dog's heart that had been killed by them. It was horrible.
Get the pooch checked and put it on the med.
 
frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
I recently took my dogs to the vets and told them that I don't use the preventative during the winter months...the vet told me I need to do it year round. Even in the winter on a warm day, all it takes is ONE mosquito. I bought a years supply of Interceptor for both dogs and it cost $106.40. If I had gotten a prescription to use at petmeds.com or a pharmacy, it probably would have been even less.
I am pretty sure Friendly Pharmacy in Lusby carries it. I know they carry Frontline (that you don't need a prescription for)
 
somdfunguy

somdfunguy

not impressed
frequentflier said:
I recently took my dogs to the vets and told them that I don't use the preventative during the winter months...the vet told me I need to do it year round. Even in the winter on a warm day, all it takes is ONE mosquito. I bought a years supply of Interceptor for both dogs and it cost $106.40. If I had gotten a prescription to use at petmeds.com or a pharmacy, it probably would have been even less.
I am pretty sure Friendly Pharmacy in Lusby carries it. I know they carry Frontline (that you don't need a prescription for)
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Its true about Frontline, but that does fleas and ticks. It's not a heartworm preventative.
 
frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
somdfunguy said:
Its true about Frontline, but that does fleas and ticks. It's not a heartworm preventative.
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My point was the Friendly Pharmacy is carrying prescriptions meds for dogs...along with Frontline. I can see where my wording was confusing.
I try to support other small businesses and am happy they carry pet related necessities.
 
RPMDAD

RPMDAD

Well-Known Member
TurboK9 said:
Almost all heartworm preventatives use Ivermectin as the active ingredient. If your dog currently has heartworm, the Ivermectin will kill them all at once and it can kill the dog if the infestation is not very very small and very very new. Get your dog checked first.
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:yeahthat:
Yes get the dog checked out. I will never forget back in the dark ages i.e. 70's my sister pulled the old look what followed me home, it was a stray pup that supposedly followed her home from school. Well he checked the house out and determined my father was the alpha wolf and jumped right up in to his lap and buddied up, so of course we kept him. Back in those days heartworm either was not as big as it is now or dog owners hadn't really heard of it. So this little pup starts to get sick after he became my dad's favorite and we discovered that he had heartworm, maybe the treatments are better now but in those days my dad spent a small fortune to save him but the end result was he passed away breaking my dad's heart and everyones in the family. Since then i have been extremely anal about heartworm tests and heartworm medications, in our house all the animals are not pets but members of the family. That is one disease that scares the hell out of me.
 
TurboK9

TurboK9

New Member
RPMDAD said:
:yeahthat:
Yes get the dog checked out. I will never forget back in the dark ages i.e. 70's my sister pulled the old look what followed me home, it was a stray pup that supposedly followed her home from school. Well he checked the house out and determined my father was the alpha wolf and jumped right up in to his lap and buddied up, so of course we kept him. Back in those days heartworm either was not as big as it is now or dog owners hadn't really heard of it. So this little pup starts to get sick after he became my dad's favorite and we discovered that he had heartworm, maybe the treatments are better now but in those days my dad spent a small fortune to save him but the end result was he passed away breaking my dad's heart and everyones in the family. Since then i have been extremely anal about heartworm tests and heartworm medications, in our house all the animals are not pets but members of the family. That is one disease that scares the hell out of me.
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Treatment still costs a small fortune, actually, and it hasn't changed much. They still use small doses of arsenic to kill off the worms slowly enough that the body can 'deal' with the dead ones without sending dead worms throughout the bloodstream like a thousand clots.... Stupid thing is, Ivermectin can be used the same way and is safer for the dog overall, but the FDA hasn't approved it for treating, just preventing, so vets won't use it in most cases (I use it to treat demodex on one of my dogs but most vets only do expensive dips for the same reason, FDA).

You can use Ivermectin (Ivomec) or pastes like Zymecterin Gold to prevent heartworm dirt cheap, but you need to know what you are doing. Costs me $14 a year for both of mine :yay:
 
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