I was told by someone today that if your dog has heartworms you don't need
to do the expensive treatment that the vets wanna do, you just gotta get the
heartgard worming medicine and give it to them on a regular basis, and a
baby aspirin a day?

I don't know if this is true, don't really know much about this, don't even
have a dog myself. Just wanting to find out if this is true or somewhat
true or what.

Thanks,
Troy

I was told by someone today that if your dog has heartworms you don't need
to do the expensive treatment that the vets wanna do, you just gotta get
the heartgard worming medicine and give it to them on a regular basis, and
a baby aspirin a day?

"...that the vet's wanna do"... sounds ominous. When treating heartworm it's
very important to kill ALL stages of the heartworm. You won't do that with
Heartguard preventive and aspirin. Here's a good site to read:

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/CanineHeartwormInfo.htm

A vet in his 60's once told me that in his young days in Florida they used
to do open heart surgery to treat positive heartworm. They'd open up the
heart and pull the worms out like thin spaghetti. Aspirin thins the blood -
doesn't kill living parasites. This is a very serious disease and getting
advice from not professionals is dangerous. If you don't like your vet's
advice, do your own research starting with vet schools and get second or
third opinions. But don't waste too much time.

The concern with treating any dog for a heartworm infection is killing
them too fast. If a high enough dose is given, the worms all die
suddenly and create an embolus which travels from the right
atrium/ventricle into the lungs. I large enough embolus will/can be a
fatal side effect. Ivermectin (the active ingredient in Heartgard,
etc) at a low dose on a monthly basis has been listed as an effective
method of slowly killing infective worms. The dose is high enough to
kill the microfilaria and early worm stages to prevent further
infection but is said to be low enough to slowly kill the adults
residing in the heart. I do not live in a heartworm endemic area, so I
do not know doses used as a treatment but do know that it can be done.

On 10 Feb 2006 21:42:15 -0800, wrote:

The concern with treating any dog for a heartworm infection is killing
them too fast. If a high enough dose is given, the worms all die
suddenly and create an embolus which travels from the right
atrium/ventricle into the lungs. I large enough embolus will/can be a
fatal side effect. Ivermectin (the active ingredient in Heartgard,
etc) at a low dose on a monthly basis has been listed as an effective
method of slowly killing infective worms. The dose is high enough to
kill the microfilaria and early worm stages to prevent further
infection but is said to be low enough to slowly kill the adults
residing in the heart. I do not live in a heartworm endemic area, so I
do not know doses used as a treatment but do know that it can be done.

As I understand it, ivermectin will kill the microfilaria but not the
adults; the adults die off slowly on their own. Treating heartworms
in this fashion is sometimes done for elderly dogs (where there is
concern about the dog's ability to withstand the standard treatment)
and rescues (where there are financial concerns, as heartworm
treatment is expensive).

Mustang Sally

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
As I understand it, ivermectin will kill the microfilaria but not the
adults; the adults die off slowly on their own.

..................Ivermectin does have some effect on the adults. I think
there was a study done a few years ago.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 01:58:49 GMT, "buglady"
wrote:


"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
.. .
As I understand it, ivermectin will kill the microfilaria but not the
adults; the adults die off slowly on their own.

.................Ivermectin does have some effect on the adults. I think
there was a study done a few years ago.

Yes, by John McCall. He found that " lengthy course of prophylactic
doses of ivermectin will gradually reduce the number of adult
heartworms, but in chronic mature infections this may not be as
clinically beneficial"(from a presentation by Dr. McCall given at the
2004 American Heartworm Society Symposium). I saw something on a
website stating that McCall found higher than prophylactic doses to be
no more effective in killing adult heartworms, but I couldn't find any
verification of that. I don't recall the average life expectancy of a
heartworm; do you know?

Mustang Sally

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
I don't recall the average life expectancy of a
heartworm; do you know?

.........I haven't really done any lit searches in the past few years, but I
think they really don't know. Some say 2 years, others as much as 7.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

"Troy" troy@ . wrote in message
...
I was told by someone today that if your dog has heartworms you don't need
to do the expensive treatment that the vets wanna do, you just gotta get
the heartgard worming medicine and give it to them on a regular basis, and
a baby aspirin a day?

I don't know if this is true, don't really know much about this, don't
even have a dog myself. Just wanting to find out if this is true or
somewhat true or what.

Thanks,
Troy

Heartworm medicine is a preventative. If your dog has a mild case of
heartworms, the medication will likely take care of the problem over a bit
of time, but if your dog has an advanced case of heartworms, well, you would
definitely need to touch base with your vet on that one. I presently have
my two dogs on heartworm meds, but, living in the midwest, heartworms, which
is transmitted via mosquito, is not the problem that it is in other parts of
the country. I've had many dogs over the years without using this
particular medication and never had a problem, nor had anyone I knew either.
It seems to have gotten significantly cheaper, too, for which I am grateful.
For those living in the south, though, it is a no-brainer. You need it.

Now, if I may ask a question--has anyone noticed any adverse affects from
this medication, specifically loose stools? Just curious.

wolfpuppy wrote:

"Troy" troy@ . wrote in message
...

I was told by someone today that if your dog has heartworms you
don't need to do the expensive treatment that the vets wanna do,
you just gotta get the heartgard worming medicine and give it to
them on a regular basis, and a baby aspirin a day?

I don't know if this is true, don't really know much about this,
don't even have a dog myself. Just wanting to find out if this is
true or somewhat true or what.

Thanks, Troy


Heartworm medicine is a preventative. If your dog has a mild case of
heartworms, the medication will likely take care of the problem over
a bit of time, but if your dog has an advanced case of heartworms,
well, you would definitely need to touch base with your vet on that
one. I presently have my two dogs on heartworm meds, but, living in
the midwest, heartworms, which is transmitted via mosquito, is not
the problem that it is in other parts of the country.

Heartworm may not be quite as prevalent in the midwest as in the deep
south, for instance, but it's here and it has been here for a long time.

I've had many
dogs over the years without using this particular medication and
never had a problem, nor had anyone I knew either.

25 years ago my mother decided that it was too much trouble to dose our
dog with heartworm preventative. It had to be given every day and
apparently the taste was pretty foul as the dog would reject food that
contained it, and had to have it squirted down his throat. And after
all, who had ever actually heard of a dog getting heartworms anyhow?
Well, 6 months later at the vet's office, we heard about it in a very
up close and personal way. The treatment for the infestation damaged
his liver and kidneys and made an old dog of him almost overnight.

It seems to have
gotten significantly cheaper, too, for which I am grateful.

And more palatable, and much, much simpler to administer.

For those
living in the south, though, it is a no-brainer. You need it.

And for those living in the midwest. My vet sees heartworm cases all
the time. A lot of the time their owners are people of my parent's
generation who believe that since dogs in "their day" didn't receive
heartworm preventative that it must be unnecessary - some sort of
veterinary scam for wringing extra dollars from pet owners. Never mind
that in "their day" their dogs usually got run over by cars or died of
distemper or lepto or parvo long before the heartworms would have proved
fatal.

Now, if I may ask a question--has anyone noticed any adverse affects
from this medication, specifically loose stools? Just curious.

Never. The only side effect in treated dogs I've ever seen is
spontaneous begging at the sight of smallish rectangular cardboard boxes
(they've done a really good job of improving the flavor).

Kathleen

"Kathleen" wrote in message
...
wolfpuppy wrote:

"Troy" troy@ . wrote in message
...

I was told by someone today that if your dog has heartworms you
don't need to do the expensive treatment that the vets wanna do,
you just gotta get the heartgard worming medicine and give it to
them on a regular basis, and a baby aspirin a day?

I don't know if this is true, don't really know much about this,
don't even have a dog myself. Just wanting to find out if this is
true or somewhat true or what.

Thanks, Troy


Heartworm medicine is a preventative. If your dog has a mild case of
heartworms, the medication will likely take care of the problem over
a bit of time, but if your dog has an advanced case of heartworms,
well, you would definitely need to touch base with your vet on that
one. I presently have my two dogs on heartworm meds, but, living in
the midwest, heartworms, which is transmitted via mosquito, is not
the problem that it is in other parts of the country.

Heartworm may not be quite as prevalent in the midwest as in the deep
south, for instance, but it's here and it has been here for a long time.

I've had many
dogs over the years without using this particular medication and
never had a problem, nor had anyone I knew either.

25 years ago my mother decided that it was too much trouble to dose our
dog with heartworm preventative. It had to be given every day and
apparently the taste was pretty foul as the dog would reject food that
contained it, and had to have it squirted down his throat. And after all,
who had ever actually heard of a dog getting heartworms anyhow?
Well, 6 months later at the vet's office, we heard about it in a very up
close and personal way. The treatment for the infestation damaged his
liver and kidneys and made an old dog of him almost overnight.

It seems to have
gotten significantly cheaper, too, for which I am grateful.

And more palatable, and much, much simpler to administer.

For those
living in the south, though, it is a no-brainer. You need it.

And for those living in the midwest. My vet sees heartworm cases all the
time. A lot of the time their owners are people of my parent's generation
who believe that since dogs in "their day" didn't receive heartworm
preventative that it must be unnecessary - some sort of veterinary scam
for wringing extra dollars from pet owners. Never mind that in "their
day" their dogs usually got run over by cars or died of distemper or lepto
or parvo long before the heartworms would have proved fatal.

Now, if I may ask a question--has anyone noticed any adverse affects
from this medication, specifically loose stools? Just curious.

Never. The only side effect in treated dogs I've ever seen is spontaneous
begging at the sight of smallish rectangular cardboard boxes (they've done
a really good job of improving the flavor).

Kathleen

Yes they have. My two wolf them down with no problem.