Heartworm medication

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Smudge

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Should your vet check your dog for heartworms before giving them a heartworm medicine? My vet never once checked Smudge for heartworms and gave him heartworm medicine anyway! Should I ask for a test?! He's already had two once a month heartworm pills. He's been on the pills since he was about 14 weeks.

He's on Interceptor, but it has nothing to do with the mange. He was on Interceptor before we knew he had mange. This dose he's on now isn't high to help with the mange anyway.

Why do I always have to find this stuff out the hard way. :mad:
 
As I stated earliar,here in SC,our vet will not even sell you heart guard unless blood work has been done. Differant states & policies of vets are differant I'm sure.

Last summer my neighbor was taking her dog for his yearly checkup,and I was down to one dose for Earnhardt,I gave Nancy money to purchase a box of Heartguard for Earnhardt. Her vet would not sell it to her,unless I brought Earnhardt in for testing. My vet was on a two week vacation,so I had to wait till he came back to get what he needed.
 
my vet doesnt do heartworm tests on dogs under 1 year old, but starts them on heartworm preventative as soon as you bring them in for their first set of shots. He said that as young pups their risk is minimal of them getting heartworm, I think he said something about immunity due to moms milk? I cant quite remember, he told me this a couple of years ago.
 
It just really annoys me that the vet's office expects me to know these types of things. :mad: I'm still going to ask them anyway. Smudge goes in for another dip this coming Wednesday. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have heartworms anyway, but you should never just assume.

There's two vets - a female vet and a male vet. The male vet owns the clinic, and I think the female vet only comes in when he needs extra help. She's from another town. She was the one who told me that in Texas she couldn't give puppies the heartworm medicine under 14 weeks of age.

I'm not really sure I understand why it's bad to give them the heartworm pill if they have heartworms anyway. If they have heartworms, what do you give them to get rid of them if not the heartworm pill? :confused2:

Meh. They should make a basic dog health book for idiots so people like me would have a better idea about these types of things. :uhoh:
 
mbfrench said:
As I stated earliar,here in SC,our vet will not even sell you heart guard unless blood work has been done. Differant states & policies of vets are differant I'm sure.

Last summer my neighbor was taking her dog for his yearly checkup,and I was down to one dose for Earnhardt,I gave Nancy money to purchase a box of Heartguard for Earnhardt. Her vet would not sell it to her,unless I brought Earnhardt in for testing. My vet was on a two week vacation,so I had to wait till he came back to get what he needed.
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Are you talking about only HeartGuard or just heartworm medicines in general? Smudge takes Interceptor. I'm too afraid to give him HeartGuard. :uhoh:
 
Smudge said:
I'm not really sure I understand why it's bad to give them the heartworm pill if they have heartworms anyway. If they have heartworms, what do you give them to get rid of them if not the heartworm pill? :confused2:QUOTE]

the reason they dont give the pill to them if they have heartworm is it can kill them. The hw meds will start to kill the worms the dog has but peices of the worm can dislodge and go to the lungs causing an embolism which can kill. To treat a dog with heartworm is a very dangorous thing. The dog has to be kept quiet for a month with no strenous exercise, we are talking being crated for a month only to get out to potty.
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JessicaR is right.

But according to my vet, it takes 6 months from the initial mosquito bite for heartworms to develop, so even if your puppy has been infected from the day it's born, the test will come back negative. Therefore, it's useless to test a puppy under 6 months.
 
I know that in the past few years they have been using Heartguard on the same monthly dosage to slowly kill off Heartworms. It is a slow process, so many people prefer to have the surgery and get it over with. Actually, the Heartguard can be dangerous to the dog if it is overdosed. My Vet gave us interceptor at about 4 months without a test and I trust him a lot. I assume that Interceptor can work in the same way.
 
I started both mine on yearly heartworm shots by 6months as they dont need to be tested if they are under 6 months and so it is easier to start them earlier
 
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