Heartworm Interval?

[aliwake]

Crap, just realised it's 6 weeks tomorrow since Nixon's last heart worm treatment! Is it still save to give him the tablet? I know it's cutting it fine...

[Rappie]

Yes, just give it now and continue regular dosing.

[aliwake]

Thanks heaps rapppie. Off to wrap it in peanut butter now :)

[Rebanne]

I always do 6 weekly

[aliwake]

Thanks rebanne, I usually do 5, but I had it in my head that 6 was pushing it, so glad to know it's ok.

[DeltaCharlie]

We do it every 3 months, 6 weeks is fine :)

[Airedaler]

My Vet has recommended I don't give regular treatment for HW but do a blood test every 2 years. This is in Melbourne

[aliwake]

My Vet has recommended I don't give regular treatment for HW but do a blood test every 2 years. This is in Melbourne

Very interesting! I guess it's consistently warmer here in Brisbane though

Edited December 17, 2014 by aliwake

[anniek]

My Vet has recommended I don't give regular treatment for HW but do a blood test every 2 years. This is in Melbourne

Very interesting! I guess it's consistently warmer here in Brisbane though

I'm in Vic and only give through the summer months - heartworm IS down here.

[Erny]

My Vet has recommended I don't give regular treatment for HW but do a blood test every 2 years. This is in Melbourne

That is interesting, Airedaler. I don't HW (I'm in Vic as well). I keep a mental note of duration of days/nights when temp doesn't drop below 14 degrees over a period of 2 weeks and keep a vigilance on mozzies.

But what I do find interesting and that I'm curious about is that your Vet says do a blood test every 2 years for HW, even though you HW through the summer months and then stop during the colder. I understood it to be considerably dangerous to give HW med without knowing if your dog was infected or not, as (remember, this is how I understand it and I could well be wrong) giving the HW med to an already infected dog could be devastating. And so the protocol was to blood test before admin of HW if HW admin was not for the very most part maintained. ??? Or does this relate to the development phase of HW once a dog is infected and is 2 years the developmental period before the death of the parasite would result in harm to the dog?

IOW, please explain :D

Happy to be educated on this :)

Edited December 17, 2014 by Erny

[Airedaler]

Hi Erny,

I'm not giving heartworm medication through the summer months and not during the winter. It is anniek who does that, although I have done this in the past and know of people who still do it. I think in Melbourne it is probably unlikely that there will be an issue doing this given our temperatures.

The Vet's reason for blood testing every 2 years is that the problem is a slow developing one and the worms at two years are not big enough o cause a problem to the dog when killed. If, however, they are left until 3 years this would not be the case and there would be a danger to the dog. She says that in Melbourne heartworm is seen occasionally but it is generally in dogs that have travelled to warmer areas where the mosquito is a problem.

Like you I have previously monitored the temperatures and the mosquito population and on that basis not used heartworm medication for some time. I guess the addition of a blood test every couple of years is an additional check.

[teekay]

That's an interesting approach Airedaler, I wonder how much it would cost to add in a heartworm test when my dogs are being titre tested every year?

[cavNrott]

We seem to have a lot of mosquitoes all year round. This is probably due to the neighbours at the back of me having a spa with stagnant water most of the year. The only time they attend to their spa is if they want to use it. Then they empty it and fill with fresh water that they again allow to stagnate until they want to use the spa again. They use their spa only a couple of times a year.

In view of the above I medicate the dogs with a heartworm preventative every month, all year round. Are the mosquitoes getting bigger? We have some huge ones here.

[Erny]

Hi Erny,

I'm not giving heartworm medication through the summer months and not during the winter. It is anniek who does that, although I have done this in the past and know of people who still do it. I think in Melbourne it is probably unlikely that there will be an issue doing this given our temperatures.

The Vet's reason for blood testing every 2 years is that the problem is a slow developing one and the worms at two years are not big enough o cause a problem to the dog when killed. If, however, they are left until 3 years this would not be the case and there would be a danger to the dog. She says that in Melbourne heartworm is seen occasionally but it is generally in dogs that have travelled to warmer areas where the mosquito is a problem.

Like you I have previously monitored the temperatures and the mosquito population and on that basis not used heartworm medication for some time. I guess the addition of a blood test every couple of years is an additional check.

Thanks for this response, Airedaler. Sorry for the mix-up of who said/does what.

Interesting though - I wonder why drugs 365 days per year round are most highly recommended/sold by Vets rather than the recommendation for two-yearly blood tests to see if the dog actually NEEDS the cover? Or why the cover isn't prescribed as medicine/preventative to be given for a short period (example a week; a month) once every two years, instead of keeping the dog's body full of it on a 24/7 basis.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Erny

[Airedaler]

Erny said;

Interesting though - I wonder why drugs 365 days per year round are most highly recommended/sold by Vets rather than the recommendation for two-yearly blood tests to see if the dog actually NEEDS the cover? Or why the cover isn't prescribed as medicine/preventative to be given for a short period (example a week; a month) once every two years, instead of keeping the dog's body full of it on a 24/7 basis.

Erny, we can only speculate as to why that is the recommendation. Maybe for much the same reason as yearly vaccinations are still advocated by many Vets.

[Erny]

Erny, we can only speculate as to why that is the recommendation. Maybe for much the same reason as yearly vaccinations are still advocated by many Vets.

I'm suspecting you're right

Edited December 18, 2014 by Erny

[Rappie]

The recommendation to test every two years while only using intermittent heartworm prevention is not in line with the general heartworm guidelines. No amount of heartworm is desirable so it doesn't really make a lot of difference how big they are, if anything the number of worms is more significant because even one could cause an embolus once it dies.

A comment regarding heartworm prevention generally is that for most of the oral products at least, the doses are given at intervals rather than lasting for a full month ie. A dog receives 12 doses at 1 month intervals rather than 365 days of treatment. Same goes for oral intestinal workers, the ingredients in the tablets are not well absorbed systemically and kill intestinal parasites 'on the way past'. The dosing schedule is based on the life cycle, hence an increased frequency for example if you are trying to prevent hydatid tapeworm vs other intestinal parasites.

[sandgrubber]

In the US, heartworm meds are prescription medicine and expensive, hence many of us simply buy Ivermectin for livestock and give it to our dogs monthly to bi-monthly. The dose most people use is 0.1 cc of 1% solution / 10 lbs . . . somewhat above the dosage in Heartguard tablets.

Can you buy Ivermectin over the counter in feedstores in Oz? It seems to be a good solution.

Note, I'm in Florida with a climate roughly equivalent to coastal QLD near the NSW border. We have a few mozzies year around, loads of 'em in spring, summer, and fall, and serious problems with heartworm in untreated dogs.

edited to add concentration.

Edited December 20, 2014 by sandgrubber

[sheena]

No problems buying Ivermectin over here in Oz, but you would need to have a lot of dogs to make it worth while or have another use for it (cattle)

[DeltaCharlie]

I was under the impression HW was fully grown (and therefore dangerous) at 6months. Never heard of 2-3 years before? It can be treated at any point up to the 6month mark without them being big enough to create an issue, after that it is recommended to have the blood test before commencing treatment.