FYI Heart Worms
 

Everyone who has a dog should be pro active and precise with giving HW meds now that it has warmed up. In Louisiana you should never stop giving meds but now it is more important than ever that they are given every 30 days like clock work.

Testing every 6 months may also prevent an outbreak from getting too far advanced as you can treat more easily early >6 mos than later <6 mos. If you get bad news, (+ test) don't agree to any treatment until you do some research on both methods of treatment.

Seems like products like heartguard aren't working around here. Still a lot of heartworm cases on it.

If you can prove that you are giving your pet the meds on schedule, yet they still get heart worms, the med company will pay for the treatment. Not sure if all do that but some will for sure. I unfortunately could not prove regular timely dosage and had to pay the full amount of treatment.

How do you prove you gave the dog the meds? I have a receipt of purchase at the vets office but nothing that says I gave it to him.

What's y'all's opinion on the six months shot vs pill every month?

Basically show them you have purchased the heartworm pill every 6 months exactly. (not every 7 or 8) depending on what interval you purchase at a time. The vet has that record tied to your dogs name.

I would like to know the answer to this as well.

I am a vet where heartworm "resistance" started. Have seen prevention failure for 8+ yrs now. Slowly spreading to other areas. I have seen failure w all preventatives. My personal preference is proheart - 6 mo shot. This is used commonly in my practice but has far fewer failures. Not scientific study just my personal clinical observation. As far as tx goes there is really only one tx that is approved. There is an alternative tx that is not approved that has increased risk to your pet. Yes companies will cover all/ partial/ none of tx costs depending on your purchase history. Online purchases don't qualify for coverage

Please keep us in the Loop on all things Dogs.
IMO, 4 yrs ago ProHeart required a neg HW test to purchase their product. Last year I took a clients dog in for PH shot and no snap test for HW. This is the only advantage IMO for the PH shot even though it's a different drug. My personal dogs will get Doxycycline/Ivermectin regimin before the current treatment.

They track how offen you come in to buy more. If your coming in every 6 months then you must be giving it to them so they say. I will always buy mine from the vet for this reason. I also go every 6 months. Last 3 guys out of the 5 I hunt with dogs came down with it.

Thanks for the info. How do you feel about the Advantage Multi: Flea, Tick, and Heartworm (imidacloprid+moxidectin)? Doesn't work all that great for fleas and ticks but I've heard good things for heartworm prevention.

I got all 3 of mine on proheart which my vet reccomended. Many of the dogs from previous litters we have had came down with HW on Heartguard. I know of 6 dogs that got a + test and 3 I know for sure that it was administered on time every month. If you live down here I would reccomend getting them off of Heartguard if you have them on it.

Raymond the current tx method is much safer than ivm doxy tx. With current tx we have control over when dogs die. With ivm/doxy worms die but we have no idea when. The worm death is where problems occur. I have had fewer than 10 dogs die in 10 yrs and nearly all of those were in heart failure. I guess I'm a control nut and don't like surprises like my dog falling over dead while training because one worm died and moved from the heart to lungs

Fair enough, I am just not sold on some of the side effects of the new kill method.

Back to PH, agree or disagree about testing every 6 months? I am not trying to argue with your clinical expertise but only trying to justify my Opinion. You are the expert on HW, I have read some on the subject but am far from and expert.

Thanks

It seems that the meds don't work as well on Labs as other dogs. I haven't heard of another breed on meds still getting HW. My boxer is almost 16. He's an inside dog and has never been on a preventative. Tests neg every year for his checkup

Any info on trifexus? Both my dogs are on it and have been doing well.

well i gave mine hearguard and last month he tested positive he is going thru treatmen now breaks my heart but i will spend what ever it takes

I may be wrong but I think HW comes from a mosquito bite, so if your dog stays inside it would be less likely to get them. My lab has had it twice and heart guard has paid 100% both times. We switched to the 6 month shot pro heart and no problems so far.

Testing every 6 mos will pick up infection sooner but if they are on prevention the number of worms is small. Proheart got into trouble w FDA and had to play by their rules when reintroduced. Restrictions are now lifted. You can use proheart off label in hw+ dogs. We do it frequently. You also can use proheart w doxy in slow kill. Trifexis will have failures but has the best flea medicine available w it ( comfortis ). We have seen most all breeds affected. No breed predisposition. Ray what side effects? Only one we see is muscle soreness and sometimes some scar tissue at injection site (rare)

i have a question my lab tested positive the vet said he caught early only on or two adults and no larvey yet i dont know which treatment we doing its one shot then two weeks another then a month then another month he told me no getting him excited he is 3 so say the least his hardest thing to do is get up off floor or chouch and go eat or drink.people around the house laff because he dont know how to ride in back of truck they ask how can i let a dog ride in front of 50000 dollar truck all i ask is do u make ur best friend ride in back