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New HW prevention reccommendation


Maralynn

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A police dog handler on another board I'm on posted a a new HW protocol that had been recommended to them due to the high instance of dogs that were were testing positive for HW despite being on regular preventative

 

1. Have all dogs in the affected area tested semi-annually.

 

2. Administer Heartguard on the 1st of each month

 

3. Administer Advantage Multi on the 15th of each month.

 

It was recommended by two researchers from Auburn and University of Virginia who are researching what can be done about this issue. This protocol was recommended for the Arkansas/Tennessee/Mississippi area.

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I'd be curious to know if the increased rate of infection in those areas is due to owners missing or stretching out doses, or lack of efficacy of the HW preventive. That's a lot of chemicals going into a dog....

 

Do you have the actual study/recommendations Maralynn? I'd be interested to read how the researchers came to their conclusions.

 

J.

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I'd be curious to know if the increased rate of infection in those areas is due to owners missing or stretching out doses, or lack of efficacy of the HW preventive. That's a lot of chemicals going into a dog....

 

I'm just home for a few minutes right now, so I'll try to get some more info later on. But the person posting said he knew of several working dog (police and FEMA SAR) that had gotten HW while on preventative at the recommended dose/timing.

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This protocol was given to a police department in the affected area. Their vet recommended it after 2 of the department dogs got HW + while on preventative. This protocol was reached after consulting with the university veterinarians who are studying the issue of dogs getting HW while on preventative and what can be done about it. The problem is not due to dogs missing doses or doses being spread out.

 

When I asked about further information, the person who posted the information suggested contacting Auburn for information as they had nothing in writing as far as studies go, only the recommendation of their police department vet. They were posting the info as a heads up for those living in affected areas who might be concerned about the issue.

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If this is true (dogs got HW while on a preventative) that means that the preventative was ineffective (either expired or HWs were resistant). Since ALL preventatives are in the same class of drugs (same mode of action) I hope that the dogs got HW due to expired preventative (or human error) because the alternative is VERY BAD.

 

Mark

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Resistance is real enough that the drug manufacturers are paying $600 toward the treatment of HW positive dogs whose owners can show a record from their vet of purchases sufficient to treat all their dogs in the correct dosages.

 

I have heard that the twice a month treatment has failed to prevent infestation.

 

In dogs that are too old for treatment with imiticide (I may have misspelled that), a small dose of ivermectin daily for a week, then stopping for a week, then treating at a stepped up dosage for a week, then stopping for two weeks, then treating once and so on is said to kill off well over 50%. The ivermectin is not used until after a course of doxycycline which kills bacteria symbiotic with heartworms and without which they cannot reproduce.

 

Yes, to my sorrow I have one of these dogs. Jordan. She will be 14 in August. At her age, even without the stepped up ivermectin the vet thinks that she would not suffer symptoms from the heartworms before succumbing to something else. Nonetheless, I am treating. The $600 from Merial is only covering part of the cost because I brought in all the dogs for testing regardless of whether it was a year since the last test, and I had Jordan tested for genetic sensitivity to ivermectin which a small percentage of border collies do have despite what the early research discovered.

 

Penny

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