# Heartworms



## robin (Dec 18, 2010)

Just one untrained person's opinion, but heartworm is SUCH a terrible disease. Unless someone shows me some pretty hard scientific evidence that suggests I do differently, I would never stop dosing my dogs with it.


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## Ruth (Nov 18, 2010)

I agree with robin. Heartworm disease is also very common in my area (warm, humid, lots of mosquitoes) and I know of several dogs that have died from it because they were not getting their prevention treatment, I don't think I'll stop giving it to mine.


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## Karma'sACat (Jun 1, 2010)

I give milk thistle to offset the medicine's effect on the liver. Heartworm isn't really something I want to mess with.


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## murieics (May 10, 2009)

I give all of my dogs heartworm medicine every month. I wondered, though, like you, if it was really necessary to give it every month (and more importantly, if it was really absolutely necessary to give it on the exact same day every month), so I looked into it (this was a few months back).

The main reason that I was curious was that my previous vet was a little bit crazy about heartworm medicine. All of my dogs have always been on heartworm medicine, and have always gotten it on a monthly basis. That being said, I am sometimes a few days late. Over six months, a few days here and there can add up to a week or two. My old vet used to keep up with exactly when you bought the medicine, and I suppose their office presumed that you were giving it as soon as you bought it. If I was a few weeks later than what they thought I should be in purchasing my supply, they would throw a fit and insist that my dogs all needed to be brought in for heartworm testing prior to being given their next dose. 

So, in looking into it, what I found was this: the heartworm life cycle from beginning to adult stage takes approximately six months. Heartworm preventative is designed to kill heartworms during this six-month period (the larval stage), and is not effective on adult heartworms. So, basically, you give it on a monthly basis under the thought that each month might not kill all of the larvae present, but since you have six "tries" to kill each larvae, you should be ok- they shouldn't make it to the adult stage. Knowing that it takes around six months for the heartworms to mature was a relief for me, as it means that if I am sometimes a few days late with the heartworm preventative, no harm done.


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## pudlemom (Apr 16, 2010)

murieics said:


> So, in looking into it, what I found was this: the heartworm life cycle from beginning to adult stage takes approximately six months. Heartworm preventative is designed to kill heartworms during this six-month period (the larval stage), and is not effective on adult heartworms. So, basically, you give it on a monthly basis under the thought that each month might not kill all of the larvae present, but since you have six "tries" to kill each larvae, you should be ok- they shouldn't make it to the adult stage. Knowing that it takes around six months for the heartworms to mature was a relief for me, as it means that if I am sometimes a few days late with the heartworm preventative, no harm done.


 This is great to know,because like you I might be a day or so off here and there.


Karma'sACat said:


> I give milk thistle to offset the medicine's effect on the liver. Heartworm isn't really something I want to mess with.


I will have to get some milk thistle this was exactly what I was wondering if the medication had any adverse effects on other parts of their system. what is the dose for the milk thistle that you give?

Heartworms are defiantly something that I don't want to mess with either!


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## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Technically, you can space it to 45 days between treatments. It is Much easier for everyone to remember once a month though, so that is what we tell people. 
There are No studies that show ivermectin is becoming ineffective! If you give prevention year round, and within the timeline, then your dog only has a 1% chance of contracting heartworms. There is Such a small dose of medication in there, that i dont worry about toxicity or problems at all. 
Considering the treatment for heartworms is toxic and can be fatal, i choose prevention.


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## Feralpudel (Jun 28, 2010)

Heartworm is a huge problem in the South. My sister fosters for Aussie rescue in Atlanta, and they get lots of dogs in who are HW positive. I would not mess around with heartworm. The treatment is nasty, hard on the dog and owner, and expensive.


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## Karma'sACat (Jun 1, 2010)

This is the chart that was given to me and the dosage I use:
Milk Thistle
The dosage chart is at the bottom of the page


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