Daily Heartworming Tablets

[Owned by Shelties]

Hi while at the vets yesterday with my lucy vet advised me not to use daily heartworming tablets that you get from shop eg: Friskies or Excelpet she says that it is slowly poisioning dogs??????

She also told me not to use same brands in Flea treatment as they have not been tsted on animals? does anybody else know about this?

I don't want to put my shelties on monthly heartworm but getting the daily ones from the vet works out expensive..

Please any advice thankyou in advance

[Dogsfevr]

For starters you vet is telling you alot of B******.They obviously only want you to buy from them which is very poor.

Did the vet suggest a brand suitable for the sheltie,i believe they can react to heartworm meds so picking the right brand is very important & something the vet should have stressed more.

I suggest you contact the sheltie club & ask there advice.

There is nothing wrong with friskies/excelept at all & infact the excelepet flea liquadator works far better than frontline etc from our clients point of view with no reactions at all.

We have used both the names above worm tablets for over 25 yrs plus other brands with no problems it just means the vets arent getting business

Many vets only want you to use monthly so you buy from them only its a good business racket.

[Belinda]

I buy my heartworm (daily) tabs from Woolworths. Actually Home BRand, have found them the cheapest. The active ingredient is the same as Fido's, Dimmitrol etc.

In response to the advice of they are slowly killing your dog......well so does Heartworm. I have Collies and wouldn't recommend you go with the monthly tabs as a lot of them contain Ivermectin, or one of the mectin family of drugs; and unless you've had your sheltie tested for Ivermectin sensitivity and know what status your dog is......well to put it bluntly if your dog is ivermectin sensitive and you give it ivermectin it could die. If proper veterinary attention is not given.

[Owned by Shelties]

I have been using these brands for years now and so has mum... never had any problems maybe the vet was trying to scare me by telling me about the animals that they had recently come into the vet and supposedly being poisioned from these brands.

I know that vets try and sway you to buy their products I'm not that dumb I was just concerned about what she told me and did wonder if it was a load of bull.

I guess if nobodyy else is having problems it should be ok?

[Dogsfevr]

If you have had no issues then dont worry,otherwise ask the vet what brands are suppose to be the problem,what exactly did they cause etc & ask if the issues are any greater than the products they sell .That is what we do these days if we happen to get a vet that says the things this one has said.We say show us the facts

I am all ears for realistic product warnings but find most vets just want to scare & push they yearly jab which has had far too many issues & the monthly stuff which needs to be suited to the breed in question.

e for many years used the daily tabs until numbers wise the ivermec liquid was better but our breeds can tolerate it.

It sounds like your happy with what your using & so be confidient unless the vet can show you good reason to change

[Steve]

Its not the daily meds that are causing the problems. Its the monthly and yearly ones which are inseciticides and bubble away in your dogs bloodstream for weeks or months at a time .I believe your vet is wrong and based on the fact that the vet sells the monthly and yearly ones credibility is low. However you could ask her to point you to the research so you can share it with us.

[Guest Dianne]

Agreed...daily here nothing else..obviously she [the vet] may be loosing some cash flow...

showdog..couldn't have said it better myself.

[Shelby]

Maybe she has seen some problems from people overdosing their dogs?? ie giving them daily heartworm but then also using a monthly 2 in 1 or a 3 in 1 product without thinking?

Would never take the chance with my shelties using a monthly & especially those yearly ones. Seems too many dogs develope auto immune problems after being on these. Just too much to put into their systems.

[Aziah]

We use daily here too - always have...

[petaj]

The daily heartworm tablets kill heartworm larvae at certain stages in the life cycle only, and so if there has been a period for which you have not been consistent with the treatment adult heartworms could establish and you would need to get your dog tested. If adult heartworms do establish they will start shedding microfilariae after 6 months. The drug in the daily tablets will kill the microfilariae and if this drug is given approximately 25% of dogs that have microfilariae can go into hypovolaemic shock. Other than that, I have no clue why they would say it would slowly poison dogs.

Exelpet's intestinal worming tablets contain drugs sufficient enough to kill each type of intestinal worm, but some brands like Drontal combine two chemicals for the treatment of hookworm instead of one, and these drugs are synergistic so that when used together they produce a greater effect than if either drug was used alone. Vets often use this improved efficacy to sell the more expensive tablet and give you a reason to buy from them.

In many cases it is beneficial to go to a vet to ensure that you are treating for parasites in the most beneficial way and not in a way likely to either harm your dog or cause drug resistance in the parasites.

That said, I use Exelpet!

But, in relation to what Steve said, the frequency of treatments has a little more to do with the life cycle stage that is affected and not so much to do with how long the treatment stays in the system, although this is true of some drugs. Only those that kill the mosquitoes are insecticides as heartworms are helminths, and no drug is really any more "natural" than another.

Edited April 15, 2006 by petaj

[Owned by Shelties]

I am still using the daily heartworming tablets from safeway.. I know that the vets try to get you sucked in and scared so you will make more money for them. But as we have never had any problems yet fingers crossed I will continue to use.

Thanx for all your replies

[Christina77]

I've been using Heartguard Plus monthly for my dog , thinking it was the best ( advice from vet) and that daily tablets would be not only a hassle but that home brand heart tablets would be of lesser quality.

wow , I didn't know that so many of you who obviously know way more about everything then I do because you have more experience would use daily tablets and/or home brand etc.

I'm worried by the comments some of you have made about the monthly dose tablets , are they really that bad for your dog ?

Am I doing wrong for my dog ? Is it ok to swap from monthly tabs to daily ? I sooo don't want to do the wrong thing for my dog and have basically always used what my vet said as gospell but I'm not so sure now.

[InspectorRex]

I use SentinelSpectrum on my collies as it does Not contain Ivermectin or related drugs. have been using it for yonks and no probs to date.

[collieroughs]

I agree with Inspector Rex. I also use Sentinel Spectrum on my collies and have never experienced any problems.

Janice

[goldielover]

I would use the daily tablets, but we do go away every now and then and i hate to think that my dogs may not be getting them! Been using Interceptor Spectrum for a year now with no problems.

[sheltiesrule]

Hi OBS

I use Sentinal Spectrum on Kasper...I did my research before I bought them as I knew of the sensitivity.

[7464]

I've had Cody on the yearly heartworm jab for 4 of his 5 years. The vet never said anything about reactions or problems. Is it really bad?

[Steve]

Vets go by what ever they are told via reps from the drug companies and the best way to take a good look at it is to see what drug is involved and look up the name of the drug . Much has to do with the life cycle of the worm so for anyone wanting to do some reading here are some links.

http://www.preciouspets.org/newsletters/ar...orm-article.htm

http://student.vwc.edu/~sldodgers/dogworm.htm

http://www.showdogsupersite.com/kenlclub/breedvet/herx.html

http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/heartworm.htm

http://www.medi-vet.com/info/hgd.htm

http://www.safe2use.com/scabiesboard/iverm...ths-Scabies.htm

http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/Southern_Region/R...TO/mosqmain.htm

http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/distance/cardio/aiello.htm

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_heart...l#When-to-Start

[Mystiqview]

I know some brands of Heartworm tablets (Heartguard for one) has Ivemectin in it which is known to affect some collies. I have used Heartguard on my borders without any ado. I use Pro Heart at the moment, as One it is cheaper and I dont need the chewables, and secondly it does not contain Ivemectin.

I dont like the yearly ones either. Then I dont like the likes of sentinel etc using a top spot application. I don't have super faith in the top spot technology for worming.

The only main problem with daily tablets is that you may forget to give them to the dog daily. (Like me...hate daily treatments..especially as some days I dont get home from work until really late... I like the first of the month)