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Originally Posted by kjc  I just re-read Dr Becker's article... she DOES NOT recommend not giving heartworm preventatives.... it seems her concern lies more in her belief that the efficacy of current treatments is in question. She states that there is concern that the HW is becoming immune to the current preventatives bc they are being dosed in quantities that are more than what is needed for actual control. The manufacturers claim that the reason for their products' failures to protect against HW infection is non-compliance by pet owners!
Dr Becker has changed her recommendations from yearly testing to testing for HW every 4 months, so infections can be caught and treated early. Yes, she is a Holistic vet, and does recommend a holistic alternative, BUT she says to alternate the holistic preventative with the chemical preventatives, so as not to create a problem like there is now with antibiotics and resistance to them.
I think she made quite a few very good points in her article, and I won't 'write her off' just bc she tends towards holistic medicine. |
I was recently reading about this... It seems a woman by the name of Kari Blaho-Owens, Ph.D., who had been the global head of pharmacovigilance for 4 years for Merial was told to destroy some documents showing Merial was lying about the effectiveness of Heartgard since at least 2002. She thought the public should know about this so they would be aware of it. She brought a lawsuit against the company and was then fired. From her work she was able to determine Heartgard had a failure rate of about 20%. I can't find any recent articles on the outcome of this lawsuit.There is also some concerns about the use of the heartworm products creating some resistance to the products, the same way as in the antibiotics. This article has some links explaining it more in depth.....
Have Dog Heartworms Become Resistant ?
There are some articles claiming this is already happening with Frontline and possibly Advantage and the fleas becoming resistant to their chemicals.
This is just an article about the lawsuit against Merial.....
Courthouse News Service