Heartgard for Heartworm

[angelbell]

Hi all,

Anyone know if i could stop heartgard for a few months and then put my dog on it again? I heard that if a dog has never been on heartgard and if i administer heartgard, it will kill the dog???

In my case, she has some food allergies so i am stopping all treats including flavoured heartgard. But i am worried that if i put her back on(when her skin is improved), the heartgard may harm her.

Do i need to bring her to the vet for any blood test before putting her back on? Any advice or inputs will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Boxerowner]

I don't use heart guard but I have read somewhere on the net that is what some use to actually treat heart worms positive dogs I'll try and find the link.

Instead of heart guard I do recommend holistic Black leaf its by Nzyes it treats all parasites including heart worm preventative.

 

[Boxerowner]

Here is some info but there is more.

Heartworm treatment options

Q: Dear Dr. Mike, I am a new dog owner, so I don't currently have a vet picked that I have complete confidence in. My problem in my new dog, which I just got from the local animal shelter, has tested a weak positive for heartworms. He is a 2 year old brittany and shows no symtoms of the disease. After talking to three local clinics, I'm confused as to the most prudent treatment. Please look at the three choices and please let me know the one you feel makes the most sense.

1. Two injections of Immiticide followed by a treatment of ivermectin in 2 weeks, and then placed on Heartguard Plus with a retest in 6months.

2. Two injections of Immiticide followed by a retest in 4 weeks and placed on Heartguard Plus(no follow up of ivermectin recommended) and retested again in 6 months.

3. Put on Heartguard Plus and not treat the adult worms since a weak positive indicates a very minor infestation. The explanation is to prevent any new worms and let the small number of adults die over time.

Being a new dog owner I'm not sure I know which of these is best and I'm asking you for a second opinion of sorts. If this is too trival for your Q and A page, could you please E-mail me your thoughts.

A: Of the options you presented, I like the second one best except that I don't understand the recommendation to retest for heartworms in 4 weeks. Perhaps your vets meant 4 months?

I never really know what the term "weak positive" means. If this is the designation from a CITE Snap Test which has a high and low antigen spot, then I think retesting using a different test would be the best idea. False positive tests do occur. This is particularly important if you live in an area in which heartworms are not a frequent problem. If this means that one microfilaria was seen on a direct or filter examination then I strongly recommend treatment. We have seen a couple of dogs develop significant symptoms of heartworm disease while we kept them on heartworm preventative and waited for heartworms to die. I am just not comfortable taking this approach anymore.

Every vet has different experiences in practice and controversies over things like how to best treat heartworms are frequent. It is a very difficult thing to have to find a new vet in the middle of a problem like this in which conflicting advice is highly likely and you haven't got the advantage of a trusting relationship with a vet.

I wish you the best with this. The good news is that Immiticide really does seem much better than the old heartworm treatment. It is highly likely that you dog will do OK.
Mike Richards, DVM

 

[Barb04]

It should be given monthly. If you stopped for a few months, you might want to have a blood test done before starting again just in case.

 

[casablanca1]

Hi all, Anyone know if i could stop heartgard for a few months and then put my dog on it again?.. Do i need to bring her to the vet for any blood test before putting her back on? Any advice or inputs will be greatly appreciated.

It's my understanding that you need to do a blood test for heartworm before starting the preventative. I was looking at the heargard site, and they do have tablets for dogs with beef allergies, if that helps.

http://heartgard.us.merial.com/products/dogs/heartgard_tabs_dogs.asp

 

[angelbell]

Thanks all. you are right, need to have a blood test before starting heartworm. however, she has been on it for a while until now. Have not given her this month's dose cos of her allergies.

Think she's allergic to chicken or something, still haven't figure out yet. Mayb, i will just give her the heartgard and see if it makes the skin worse... she's really been a poor thing - have skin prob since young, only 17mths old.

 

[fastpitchchic]

There are other preventatives out there for heartworm besides heartguard. Maybe look into those and see if any of those would work for you.

 

[Pomp]

I use Interceptor as a monthly preventative. Any word on that?

http://www.1800petmeds.com/heartworm/interceptor.asp?LV=263&PG=Intercept

 

[Mindy Miller]

I also use interceptor.

Today my vet said that she is recommending that dogs get checked annually for heart worms whether they are on preventative or not. She didn't used to recommend that, but has recently changed her mind because of the number of dogs with heartworms she has seen lately.

 

[Pomp]

I also use interceptor.

Today my vet said that she is recommending that dogs get checked annually for heart worms whether they are on preventative or not. She didn't used to recommend that, but has recently changed her mind because of the number of dogs with heartworms she has seen lately.

When you give the tablet to your dog, do you put it her food or give it to her directly?

 

[Boxer*Mom]

regular interceptor is flavored too, it's a pill not a tablet like Heartguard. interceptor does deworm for whipworms too whereas h.g. does not. perhaps if you have a food allergy you could use Revolution for your heartworm treatment beacuse it is a topical application, it also protects against fleas, flea eggs, the american dog tick, ear mites, and scabies.

 

[lpollockandrsn]

Anytime you take a dog off of heartworm medication they should be retested before you start using it again.

The incubation to adulthood is about six months but it would be safer to test to be sure.

The reason it could be dangerous is because if the dog did have heart worms, the medication would kill the worm, the dead worm would leave the heart and travel into the heart and cause pulmonary arrest. The lungs would not be able to function properly. It really isn't worth the risk.

Plan to retest or use a different product.

 

[Ash47]

Heartgard is used for heartworm positive dogs. It's an option if you choose not to go with the immiticide. It takes longer for the Heartgard to work, but it eventually does. You can not use any other HWP on heartworm positive dogs for the dangers llpollock mentioned above. But yes, Heartgard is safe to use on hw positive dogs. My boss actually just prescribed it to two hw pos. dogs that came in the other day. Just in case though, consult your vet for any concerns he/she may have.

 

[angelbell]

Thanks everyone. am beginning to feel worried if i stop for too long. she's just passed 2 wks.

Read some books on heartworm prevention especially by Martin Goldstein. He doesn't really believe in giving such medication for something that's quite unlikely to happen. To him, it's like introducing poison to your dog monthly. I can see his point but then again also concern that "what if" it really happened to my dogs???

anyway, the heartgard sold here is "heartgard plus" thus it's even more potent cos' will kill worms as well. we don't have the regular heartgard where we live.

just some thoughts...

 

[rowdy ridgeback]

Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitos. I do not give my pets Frontline or Heartguard in the fall and winter months. We dont have mosquitos in these months where I live. I have a holistic vet and he says it is a ploy for you to by more of these products.