Interceptor VS Heartgard ??? Gizmo has been on the heartworm preventative Interceptor since we brought him home. It's a monthly pill (for those of you who don't know). Gizmo is now almost a year old, and he weighs 7.5 lbs. The puppy contract for Gizmo has this clause in it. "If a heartworm preventative containing Ivermectin (Heart Guard) is given to a puppy weighing less then 4 lbs, all health guarantees are void. The recommended preventative for all size yorkies is Interceptor (Ciba-Goigy)." Now, Gizmo is well over that weight, so I am not worried about the contract. Here's the deal...when I bought Gizmo's next 6 months of pills on Friday, the vet tech told us that our vet is switching all of his patients to Heartgard. She said that the only difference in effectiveness is that Heartgard does not kill hookworms, but that wasn't really a concern. She also said that dogs seem to like the taste of the Heartgard better. (Just FYI, Gizmo has no problem taking the Interceptor. He thinks of it as a treat.) She told me that the Interceptor will still be available, but the price will go up soon. I decided to leave him on Interceptor for this round of pills while I do the research. Here's my question...is there recent research that supports switching that I don't know about? Is the reason the vet is switching based on the commission he receives? Do vets receive a commission of sorts for the products they sell? Would that explain the reason for the price increase in the future she mentioned? Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance. :) |
My Aunt is a vet tech..and she says the vets make money off of their products and they are set up with contracts through companies. So, I think they attend on raising prices with everything and knowing if we need it we will get it regardless of what the prices are. |
That's what I thought. I can't think of any other reason they promote some of the foods they do. |
the vet can probably get the heartgard for cheaper then the interceptor but still sell it for the same price. so he's making more money. i wouldn't play into that. i'd ask for a Rx so you could get the interceptor online from 1800petmeds. |
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Is this implying that ivermectin is bad for a tiny? I need to start Molly on a heartworm preventative and I think our vet uses Heart Guard (Ivermectin based). Is Interceptor safer? Tucker uses Iverhart Max (Ivermectin based), but he weighs 5.5-6 lbs. Molly is a tiny 2.5lbs. Quote:
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My vet highly recommended Interceptor because it deals w/ all worms. We take in rescues, so we wanted to make sure that our little ones were covered...plus, if you go to dog parks, meet-ups, etc....I would just feel more comfortable knowing that their med covers all worms..not just a few. I know when we brought home Sophie (our german) she had hook worms...I was soooo worried! :eek: Those were my thoughts:biggrin: :wavey: Hi Gizmo!!! |
Ellie was on Interceptor (my first choice). She did really well on it but the vet noticed it is beef flavored and I think Ellie is allergic.:rolleyes: :mad: So, we had to go to Heartgard (the regular...not the beef chew). The regular Heartgard doesn't have Pyrantel in it, so it doesn't protect against intestinal worms. I wouldn't want to give the extra ingredient anyway when Interceptor takes care of it with one active ingredient. I am still bummed that I had to switch her. Hopefully we can switch back someday. |
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Now I'm just asking others if there is any new research to consider and what everyone's opinion on the issue is these days. I think we're going to stay with Interceptor. I'll get a written prescription from our vet and order the meds online. :) |
T&T have been on Interceptor since we got them. I agree you should just buy them online. I would think if there were any clinical reasons for the vet to switch, then they wouldn't offer the Interceptor at all anymore. We are going to have to switch to Sentinel soon though, both the pups are allergic to fleas, and we can't seem to kick them down here. |
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archie has been on revolution for 2 months now, the vet recommended it because it's for dogs under 5lbs, however when we saw a different vet (our vet was out) she instead thought we should switch to interceptor and frontline citing that revolution is not good for ticks (I think it take 5 days to kill them). Archie is now 5 months old and about 2.5 lbs. |
Not sure if Ivermectin is bad for yorkies, but it kind of makes sense now bc the one time I gave Ivermectin to Hootie when she had tapeworms, she barfed. :( Hootie is 3lbs. |
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