Puppy And Heartworm Vaccinations

[pomchi]

hey guys, I took 12 week old Link to the vet this morning for her final vaccination and the vet recommended the heart worm injection, saying the first one is a small dose which will last three months and then she will have another one, eventually leading up to yearly shots. I asked her about possible side effects and she said only slight discomfort and a possible bump at the site of the injection. I have since read some negative reviews of this injection and wondering if we made the wrong choice.

We chose to go with the injection based on the vets recommendation and because she is not keen on taking tablets and since she is a small dog we find it hard to hide them in her food.

Although we would rather go with tablets than continue with something that could cause other serious problems

any thoughts?

[W Sibs]

I give my dogs sentinel spectrum monthly... they cover everything but ticks.

There are a lot ways of giving a pup tablets. My friend crashes up tablets and mix it in honey (or peanut butter) and let Link lick it off..

[Sandra777]

Firstly it is not a vaccination - it is a dose of chemicals injected straight into the dog. I had my three girls injected (once!) and had no side effects, but would not do it again.

Well you now have 3 months to investigate further and decide what to do, but the first thing you should be investigating is do you even need to give a heartworm preventative where you live, all year, part of the year, when??

[Dogsfevr]

No i wouldnt use it

I would never get the vacc & heartworm given on the same day

Every dog can be given a tablet

[matilda1]

do a search on the topic. There are a couple of threads on this with great advice and opinions.

[moko81]

hey guys, I took 12 week old Link to the vet this morning for her final vaccination and the vet recommended the heart worm injection, saying the first one is a small dose which will last three months and then she will have another one, eventually leading up to yearly shots. I asked her about possible side effects and she said only slight discomfort and a possible bump at the site of the injection. I have since read some negative reviews of this injection and wondering if we made the wrong choice.

We chose to go with the injection based on the vets recommendation and because she is not keen on taking tablets and since she is a small dog we find it hard to hide them in her food.

Although we would rather go with tablets than continue with something that could cause other serious problems

any thoughts?

Our dogs are given the 1yrly heartworm at or after 12mths of age, prior to this there on tablets.

As our dogs are not huge fans of taking tablets I break the tab' then press it into some devon or

there mince to disguise it, works everytime

[Fleuri]

My dog has been fine with the heartworm injection,no side affects. He is an 8 year old mini Schnauzer,on it for the last 4 years. The area that I live in is like a Mosquito swamp in the warmer months, we live near a river.

[aussielover]

There have been miminal problems with proheart injections in Australia, however in america there were some deaths related to a bad batch (which can happen with oral meds also). Having said that, there will always be a few dogs that react to a treatment/chemical no matter what it is.

Heartguard is a "tasty" chew, most dogs find it ok to eat (unlike the yucky sentinel chews!). It is a once a month tablet.

Personally I find things like sentinel to be better value than the injection. My current dog is on heartguard though.

You should get your dog used to having a tablet though, it is easy when they are puppies, perhaps get yur vet to show you how or use a pill popper.

This is useful if your dog ever needs things like antibiotics (most probably will at some stage) or other meds. There are some meds that can't be given with food, so it is useful to have a dog that is ok to pill.

[Red Fox]

I wouldn't use the injection. There are cheaper and safer option available.

For example Interceptor will cost you around $60 per year (around $5 per month) for a small dog and will protect against heartworm PLUS intestinal worms (roundworm, whipworm, hookworm and tapeworm). It can be given as a chew or crumbled into your dogs food.

http://www.petcareshop.com.au/product_info...products_id=210

Apart from chews there is also the option of everything from tablets to spot-on's, with the choice of combined monthly heartworm and intestinal worming treatments, to daily or monthly heartworm tablets/chews and quarterly intestinal worming (or intestinal worming as needed). Most people seem to go for the monthly all in ones due to convinience but it's really up to you.

There's no reason why a small dog can't take a tablet either and in all likelyhood there will be a time in the dogs life where it has to. If the dog won't take the tablet from your hand you simply hold their head so that their nose is pointing at the ceiling, open their mouth and drop the tablet in and wait for them to swallow. Easy

[pomchi]

Thanks for the advice guys, she doesn't seem to have had any side effects but I might give the tablets a go.

[luvsdogs]

Thanks for the advice guys, she doesn't seem to have had any side effects but I might give the tablets a go.

After reading all the posts from here & US forums I would never use the injection, to me it's way tooooo risky. In the US they had the 6 mth injection & after many deaths it was banned. Here in Aus it's a 12 mth injection & I think twice as strong, so if anything goes wrong your stuck with the massive dose for the next year.

[ozjen]

One aspect of these injections is that if the dog does have a reaction there is no getting it out of the system because it is designed for a long term affect. Dogs with MDR1 should not have it and some vets are still giving it to these dogs and killing them or causing extended treatment to save them. Some breeds are more predisposed to MDR1 than others. I know of a dog(Aussie) that survived being lost for about 18 months in the far north of WA in the bush. She survived several severe cyclones, tempertures in the 40+ daily and living it rough in the bush after being a showdog as well as having at least one litter out there. When found the vet almost killed her even though he had been warned she was MDR1.

Luckily she survived and was reunited with her extremely happy owner in Perth after the airlines flew her down free of charge and went on to become an Australian Champion.