To the makers of heartguard(Merial)

[duckamateur]

Been debating on posting this thread, but hear it goes. Came home on Jan, 4 this year to my son telling me to go and check Bear. He said something did not seem right. So here I go. Something definately was not right. Had a distented stomach and was drooling a little. Put him in the house til the next morning. Went to the local DUMBA$$ who took over for Varner in Yazoo. First mistake. Was told he was out and I could make an appointment for later in the week. Told them up front that I had a sick dog. When I said I would go elsewhere they said AND I QUOTE "We are the only Vet in town" I lost it at this point and very "nicely" told them to kiss my booty that I had a truck full of gas and all day!!

Ok I will stop ranting. Finally found Dr. Garrisson @ the Animal Hospital in Ridgeland off of 51. He stopped everything to see Bear when he realized he was a "working" dog. He immediately diagnosed that it was heartworms and we started discussing options and treatments. He said that the company that makes Heartguard is having MASSIVE FAILURES. Please discontinue using Heartguard and any other medicine that this company makes!!!! I never missed a time and have the receipts to prove it.

Bear was doing very well until he stopped responding to the heart medication at some point this week. As of today we are on the last option as far as heart meds that will get his heart strong enough to withstand the treatment. If this does not work I have to look at doing the obvious. We did send all of our records to the makers of Heartguard but have heard nothing at this point, nor do we expect to.

Oh and guess who makes the treatment for heartworms. You guessed it Merial!! Go figure!!!!! SOB'S CAN KMA

[esquire]

Your not alone. I found out Monday that my 5 yr. old Golden has heartworms. He has been on Interceptor since birth and has never missed a pill. Interceptor is made by Novartis. Apparently none of the preventatives work if you live in the Mississippi Delta.

[bulldog ducker]

Man that sucks. I had a false positive while on HG and they responded that day after my vet sent my purchase records to the company. Thank god mine was a false positive but hopfully they will come thru with the cash to cover your treatment. The only time I have heard of someone not getting payed is when they or there vet did not have records that proved that they were buying HG for that dog or that they bought it at some place like pet meds.

Hope the best for you and your dog. Maybe some company will come out with something that is full proof before the stuff we have now stops working all together.

[mudsucker]

David, Sorry to hear this about Bear. He is a strong one and I hope he comes through this ok!

[Doc & Nash]

For all the guys who do not Frequent the Gun Dog forum. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get on and do a search for this same topic. There have been literally 100's if not 1000's of failures from a couple of the manufactures. In this area it is a HUGE issue.

[GulfCoast]

Like Trey said, this has been discussed at great length in the Gun Dog forum. I have switched to Advantage Multi because of all the issues.

[Doc & Nash]

Like Trey said, this has been discussed at great length in the Gun Dog forum. I have switched to Advantage Multi because of all the issues.

I believe that most who have done their research have either switched or added Multi in addition to their prevention plan.

[Relentless]

I searched I couldn't find the post... I found a lot of info on heartworms, but nothing that addressed this specific issue...what are most of you using as a heartworm preventative?

[msbigdawg1234]

Please forward this message to all of your members. This important article should be read by all as the heartworm epidemic is continuing to spread, especially among the retrievers. Also pass this on to any of your friends and neighbors who own dogs and ask them to make sure they are keeping their dogs on a treatment plan.

Find Retrievers.com has given us to use this as we see fit. Thank you for your help in passing this around.

Richard




The Latest News on the Heartworm Epidemic
Posted on January 18th, 2010 by FindRetrievers.com Admin

Prevention and treatment of Heartworms in our canine companions has become quite complicated in the last several years. As you can see by looking at the following Heartworm Incidence Survey Map published by the American Heartworm Society (AHS), the rate of Heartworm infected dogs has greatly increased since 2001. These surveys are requested every 3 years by the AHS from over 40,000 veterinary clinics around the nation. Another survey will be released in 2010.http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterin ... slide.html

In November of 2008 the AHS issued a warning attributed to a rise in mosquito populations for pet owners to continue year-round heartworm protection. “The risk from the increased mosquito population makes the need for prevention even greater this year,” says Dr. Sheldon Rubin, American Heartworm Society president and Chicago area practitioner.

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/inthenews/6-05-08.html

What is not being released by the AHS, which is sponsored by large animal pharmaceutical companies such as Merial, Pfizer, and Bayer, is that many of these heartworm positive dogs were already on heartworm preventatives.

While Ivermectin resistance has already been reported in many nematodes, previous studies show no reports of resistance in filarial nematodes such as Dirofilaria immitis (parasitic roundworm called heartworm). The Merck Veterinary Manual already states, “…there are reports of ivermectin resistance in Cooperia oncophora , C punctata , and Haemonchus placei . Anthelmintic resistance among nematode parasites of cattle is possibly more widespread than realized and needs more investigation.” Is the recent outbreak of heartworms in dogs currently on preventatives a sign of filarial nematode resistance to Ivermectin in particular areas of the country?

Many studies must be done in order to determine if the current epidemic is due to Avermectin resistance in D. Immitis, but we can be sure that there is something going on in the Mississippi delta with large numbers of dogs on preventatives becoming heartworm infected.

If this is the case, then what are a pet owner’s choices for prevention of heartworms? As stated in the Merck Veterinary Manual “When resistance to the recommended dose rate of ivermectin appears, moxidectin, at its recommended dose rate, is usually still effective. However, there is cross-resistance between the avermectins and the milbemycins, and the use of either subgroup will select for macrocyclic lactone resistance.”

http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/in ... 191506.htm

Commercially Available Preventatives

MOXIDECTIN based: (can be given to heartworm-positive pets with no adverse side affects)

• Advantage-Multi by Bayer (2.5 mg/kg Moxidectin) Topical application controls Heartworms, Fleas, Hookworms, Roundworms, Whipworms
• Pro-Heart 6 injectable (previously removed from the market by the FDA) made by Fort Dodge a division of Wyeth which has merged with Pfizer. Controls Heartworms and Hookworms.

IVERMECTIN based: (no adverse reaction if this medication is given to a dog that is positive for heartworms)

• Heartgard and Heartgard Plus by Merial (.006 mg/kg Ivermectin) Oral heartworm preventative. Heartgard Plus also controls roundworms and hookworms
• Iverhart Plus by Virbac (.006 mg/kg Ivermectin) Oral - heartworm, roundworm and hookworms. Iverhart Max also controls tapeworms.
• Tri-Heart Plus by Intervet/Schering Plough (n/s) Oral - heartworm, roundworm and hookworm.

MILBEMYCIN based: (can cause problems if given to a dog that is positive for heartworm infection. Because the larvae die much faster with Milbemycin, it can create a shock to the dog’s system)

• Interceptor by Novartis (.5 mg/kg) Oral - heartworms, roundworms, hookworms and whipworms
• Sentinel by Novartis (.5 mg/kg) Oral - heartworm, flea, roundworm, hookworms, and whipworms

SELAMECTIN based: (safe to use in heartworm-infected animals)

• Revolution by Pfizer ( 6 mg/kg) Topical - heartworms, fleas, ticks, ear mites, sarcoptic mange

Treatment

Recent research has led to the discovery of a parasite called Wolbachia that lives symbiotically inside heartworms. Studies indicate that this parasite contributes to the adverse effects of both heartworm infection and heartworm treatment, including inflammation, embolism and allergic reaction. Treatment with doxycycline to kill the Wolbachia parasite weakens the heartworms and makes them unable to reproduce which lessens their adverse effects on the body and greatly reduces the chance of adverse reaction during heartworm treatment.

New studies published in late 2008 clearly indicate that treatment with a combination of weekly ivermectin and daily doxycycline given intermittently will sterilize the heartworms, prevent the dog from being infective to other dogs, speed up the death of the worms prior to (or in place of) Immiticide treatment, limit inflammation and damage caused by the worms presence, and reduce the chance of serious adverse reaction from Immiticide treatment. All of these effects are greater when the two drugs are used together than when either is given alone.

Three studies used a protocol of ivermectin (Heartgard) given weekly at the normal monthly heartworm preventative dose (6 mcg/kg), combined with doxycycline at the rate of 10 mg/kg/day for weeks 1-6, 10-11, 16-17, 22-25, and 28-33 (the end of the studies). The findings show these results:

Reduction of adult worms was as follows:
• 8.7% for Doxycycline only
• 20.3% for Ivermectin only
• 78.3% for Ivermectin + Doxcycline
• 92.8% for Ivermectin + Doxycycline + Immiticide
• 100% for Immiticide alone

Mosquitoes that fed on blood from DOXY-treated dogs had L3 normal in appearance but were not infective for dogs. Preliminary observations suggest that administration of Doxycycline and Ivermectine for several months prior to (or without) MEL will eliminate adult HW with less potential for severe thromboembolism than MEL alone.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18930598

What’s the Future?

With the current decline in the economy and rising pet health care costs, many families simply cannot afford to maintain their pets on the expensive heartworm medications currently available much less provide treatment for heartworm positive pets when the average veterinary clinic charges $600 per pet. Clinics state that less than half of the dogs diagnosed with heartworms will undergo the expensive treatment.

This in addition to the rising mosquito population creates a dilemma for our pet population not to mention the many homeless pets which eventually will wind up in shelters. The results are rising populations of heartworm positive dogs which has been documented already by the American Heartworm Society.

Hopefully the veterinary community will recognize a need for ‘affordable’ and ‘effective’ heartworm prevention and treatment methods…..SOONER THAN LATER!

[jburt80]

My dad's German Shepherd got heart worms at three years old. The vet (Rankin Animal Clinic) worked with him and got Heart Guard to pay for the treatment. It was a painful for process for the dog, but she is heart worm free today.

[black dog]

A few months ago a vet told me about failures with the heartworm tablet in large dogs. He told me that I need to crumble up the tablet in my dogs food. He said that if I gave it to my dog whole that it is possible that she would digest it quicker than her stomach could break it down. I don't know if this was his opinion or a result of some study but it kinda made sense to me. He also recommended the shot that lasts for 6 months.

[Greenhead22]

I will not go by the clinic in Yazoo City unless I know Dr. Jack is working that day. I will not deal with the new guy.

[duckamateur]

He is only there on Wednesday from 1-4 Jeff. I probably could have called a favor in, but I might as well find someone i am happy with that will be there whenever I need him and I have found that now!!!!

[farmerc83]

My 6 year old golden had heartworms last year and he had been on heartguard since birth. I couldn't prove it tho because I have moved twice and switched vets each move so I got stuck with the bill. Like others, I was disgusted and my vet knew it, so he recommended ivermectin made by ivomec. Supposedly ivermectin or something very similar is the active ingredient in most dedicated heartworm treatments. Not supposed to give this to collies and maybe one other breed, but it cost less than a dollar a treatment. Dose for my 90lb golden is 3/4cc. Do not make this switch without consulting a vet first.

[oltcutdown]

duckam, my 5 year old male dog got heartworms, and was diagnosed with a moderate to heavy load of heartworms in the late summer of '08, after being on Interceptor his whole life. I put him thru the immiticide treatment, and then switched him and my other dogs to Bayer's Advantage Multi. Of the 4 dogs that have been on AM, none have tested positive since. I've pulled blood on them every 6 months since my male was diagnosed.

One of the areas I train in has alot of ticks, and since the switch to AM, I have not found one single engorged tick on any of my dogs that are on AM. I have since discontinued the use of frontline on my personal dogs, and haven't had any problems with ticks other than getting on me!

Take a look at this slide show of the heartworm epidemic in the south. Its a major problem. I feel your pain! Good luck to you and your dog.

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterin ... slide.html

Here is a thread that you need to read also...

http://www.dancindogproductions.com/sho ... heartworms