blondeborder Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hi I was wondering if anyone knows the prevalence of heartworm in the south of WA? I am thinking it would be more of a problem in the tropics? I have always used advocate on our girl, (Border Collie) without problems but we are breeding her in a week or so and have read lots of bad things about border collies and heartwormers recently which i was not previously aware of. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 (edited) Hi I was wondering if anyone knows the prevalence of heartworm in the south of WA? I am thinking it would be more of a problem in the tropics? I have always used advocate on our girl, (Border Collie) without problems but we are breeding her in a week or so and have read lots of bad things about border collies and heartwormers recently which i was not previously aware of. Any suggestions? There are plenty of heartworm products that do not contain Ivermectin - the drug that has produced serious side effects for some individuals within "collie breeds". I understand there is now a DNA marker for this problem. I use Proheart monthly tablets - active ingredient is Moxidectin. I can't post in breeders but I'd recommend you speak to a reproductive specialist vet about whether to heartworm or not and what to use. Edited October 20, 2010 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leema Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I do not recommend daily, monthly or yearly treatment for heartworm when climatic conditions are not appropriate for heartworm development. Heartworm needs temperatures above 18C (day and night) for one month to develop. If the temperature is higher, 27C (day and night), then it only takes 10 days for heartworm to develop. If either of these situations occurs, you should treat for heartworm. If the temperature has been under 14C at any point for longer than a few hours, then there is no need to treat for heartworm, as this drop in temperature prevents heartworm development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 If the temperature has been under 14C at any point for longer than a few hours, then there is no need to treat for heartworm, as this drop in temperature prevents heartworm development. Just trying to get my head around this I am not being a smart-arse, but is this the temperature the dog lives at or the outside temperature? If the dog lives inside where the temperature is never under 14 degrees and meets a mozzie which has been outside in the lower temperature there won't be a problem? What if the mozzie has been inside and not in under 14 degrees conditions? (How long will a mozzie live inside anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeborder Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 I do not recommend daily, monthly or yearly treatment for heartworm when climatic conditions are not appropriate for heartworm development. Heartworm needs temperatures above 18C (day and night) for one month to develop. If the temperature is higher, 27C (day and night), then it only takes 10 days for heartworm to develop. If either of these situations occurs, you should treat for heartworm. If the temperature has been under 14C at any point for longer than a few hours, then there is no need to treat for heartworm, as this drop in temperature prevents heartworm development. It nearly always drops below this temp. here at night. Think i'll forget about heartworm at least for while shes pregnant and feeding pups. She's long haired too so probably would'nt suffer too many bites from mozzies. Thanks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InspectorRex Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 you can have a DNA Test done to test for Ivermectin sensitivity. we only use dimmitrol dailt tablets(NOT the Chewable ones as they have a mectin based ingrdient in them) as our Rough Collies have been DNA Tested and are AFFECTED for ivermectin sensitivity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Where abouts are you in southern WA? your local vet should know the incidence of it in your local area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noisymina Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Wherever mosquitoes survive, heartworm is not far away. If you have no mosquitoes, you are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leema Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 If the temperature has been under 14C at any point for longer than a few hours, then there is no need to treat for heartworm, as this drop in temperature prevents heartworm development. Just trying to get my head around this I am not being a smart-arse, but is this the temperature the dog lives at or the outside temperature? If the dog lives inside where the temperature is never under 14 degrees and meets a mozzie which has been outside in the lower temperature there won't be a problem? What if the mozzie has been inside and not in under 14 degrees conditions? (How long will a mozzie live inside anyway? It's the temperature that the mosquito lives in. More simply, if the mosquito has never been cold (i.e. <14C) then it could be carrying heartworm. If the dog lives inside, then it's unlikely it will encounter a mosquito anyway. The American Heartworm Association is where I got the information from, by the way. But it seems they have changed their site significantly since last time I visited. I am not sure if their advise has been modified. http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary...guidelines.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeborder Posted October 22, 2010 Author Share Posted October 22, 2010 Where abouts are you in southern WA? your local vet should know the incidence of it in your local area. We are in Rosa Brook just inland of margaret river. Will be calling our local mobile vet soon, he's really good, the ones in town just read the back of the packet and recite it to you, they are terrible for info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Rules Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I do not recommend daily, monthly or yearly treatment for heartworm when climatic conditions are not appropriate for heartworm development. Heartworm needs temperatures above 18C (day and night) for one month to develop. If the temperature is higher, 27C (day and night), then it only takes 10 days for heartworm to develop. If either of these situations occurs, you should treat for heartworm. If the temperature has been under 14C at any point for longer than a few hours, then there is no need to treat for heartworm, as this drop in temperature prevents heartworm development. Interesting!!! So in some areas you could get away with a month or two of treatment only (eg hottest parts of summer) and not worry for the rest of the year?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 ...I would always be concerned about heartworm in any areas where there are mosquitoes, a study on foxes in surburban victoria found out of 156- 6% had heartworm. Therefore you can assume there is a population in Melbourne that can infect dogs. Also it can be passed by infected interstate dogs which can happen at any time of the year when mosquitoes are present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 We have heaps of mozzies and people have issues with Ross River virus etc as well. I won't risk my dogs getting heartworm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 (edited) ...I would always be concerned about heart worm in any areas where there are mosquitoes, a study on foxes in suburban Victoria found out of 156- 6% had heart worm. Therefore you can assume there is a population in Melbourne that can infect dogs. Also it can be passed by infected interstate dogs which can happen at any time of the year when mosquitoes are present. Agree with the concern the findings of the fox infestation percentage represents, Karly101. I would be very interested in reading the study that calculated those findings. Do you have a link you could point me to? But to my knowledge, I don't think it is as simple as what your last sentence (highlighted by me) suggests. My understanding is that for the heart worm larvae to develop to the phase where it can regarded as mosquito transmittable, the temperature needs to be a minimum of 14 degrees Celsius - even at night-time - for a constant period of 14 days. Any temperature drop below this during that 14 day period stops the larvae developing to the stage of being transferable from mozzie to dog. So it is not, to my knowledge, a simple matter of a mosquito being infected by it biting an infected dog and then buzzing over to the next dog and biting it. It is still something that deserves serious consideration, I agree. Edited October 23, 2010 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 Sorry Erny I've been having computer issues so have lost the paper but here is a copy of the abstract for everyone to read- Canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) detected in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in urban Melbourne. Marks, C.A. and Bloomfield, T.E. (1998) Veterinary ParasitologyCanine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) was detected by antigen ELISA in 8 (6.4%) of 125 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) captured in the Melbourne (Australia) metropolitan area. Circulating microfilariae were also detected by whole blood filtration in six of these foxes. Cursory sampling of mosquitoes at two of the sites where positive foxes were captured revealed the existence of two known mosquito vectors of Dirofilaria. The existence of widespread fox populations in Melbourne together with known mosquito vectors may offer the potential for a sylvatic cycle of canine heartworm within the urban area. I haven't seen any more recent studies unfortunately I'm guessing the funding/interest just isn't there to study this but I would be keen to know more.... we have only tested a few dogs at my clinic (most people are using heartworm preventative and those that aren't are not willing to test) and thus far all have been negative. My workplace is close to wetlands and plenty of foxes in the area as well so the risk factors are certainly there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 Thanks Karly101. Found an abstract of the article (which is what you have printed). It was a 1998 Article. Seems it is one of those that unless you are a member or pay for it, you can't get the whole of the article. I'll check again later after classes (which I'm about to leave for). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeborder Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi I was wondering if anyone knows the prevalence of heartworm in the south of WA? I am thinking it would be more of a problem in the tropics? I have always used advocate on our girl, (Border Collie) without problems but we are breeding her in a week or so and have read lots of bad things about border collies and heartwormers recently which i was not previously aware of. Any suggestions? I decided to stop heartworm treatment for at least the time being... have a healthy litter of 9 Border Collie pups. 5 Australian red, and 4 Black and white. Thanks for all your help:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now