Heartworm Medication Reactions
 

If your Yorkie has reacted to a heartworm medication, could you please post what happened and what brand you were using?:)

I am still going between Heartgard and Interceptor.
I have heard that Interceptor might be safer for Yorkies.
Has your vet told you this?

I don't like the dosing of either of these but I think they are the safest.
I am not worried about prevention of any other worms, fleas or ticks.

Franklin and Maggie have done very well on Interceptor. I disagree with my vet a little about the dosage they give us but overall we agree that it's a great, safe medication. I have never heard anything about Heartgard.

I had a male yorkie years ago that could not take the heartworm meds. He would throw up for days. I know use Revolution which is a topical heartworm and flea meds an my 4.

We use heartguard and the only issue is they have soft stool for about a day afterwards

I use to use Heartgard but now use Interceptor and have for years because they are suppose to prevent more intestinal worm infestations. I've never had an issue with either.

Joey has been using Heartgard for about 2 years without any bad effects.

I just switched my girls to Interceptor. They had been on Sentinel, but in an effort to reduce unnecessary meds (and since my girls are pee pad trained), we went with Interceptor and are not using flea medication (again, my girls are not regularly outside and our shampoo has essential oils that act as a flea repellent).

I was considering Heartguard, but have recently heard about some severe reactions happening with many different dogs. And the smallest dose of Heartgard is for a 25 lb dog, whereas the Interceptor has a dose from 2-10 lbs.

If you do an internet search, you can compare the products and ingredients and you can also see how many reported reactions there have been in previous years. Sentinel had the least followed closely by Interceptor.

Hope this helps!!!

Sadie is 3 yrs and Lillie is 2 yrs...I have only had them on heartgard..never had a problem with it.

Yes it does help.:)
I have been Googling and Googling and Googling for days.
I have compared all of it but I really want to see how many dogs have reacted to both of these.

I did see those sites that say Heartgard is responsible for 6 deaths per year on average and 3?? reactions. Interceptor is about 9 deaths with fewer reaction than Heartgard, Sentinel about 6 and Revolution 36.

Were these dogs who reacted on Heartgard Yorkies?
I thought Interceptor was safer for smaller breeds but then I read somewhere today that Interceptor almost killed two toy dogs in one family, so that complicates things more.

Ellie has been on both and she isn't allergic to either but I am just so undecided. With Heartgard she is getting about 4 times what she needs and wtih Interceptor she is getting 5 times what she needs so they can claim it controls intestinal parasites.:mad:

There has also been some information about Heartworm meds not working as well as they should lately. So I don't know what to do.:confused: Has anyone heard about this? If it is either Heartgard or Interceptor having the problem, I would probably choose the other one.

I think I will buy one pill at a time for now until I decide what to do. :rolleyes:

What about if we broke the Heartguard in half and only give them half a dose ?
Have admit i havent been giving mine any, but just bought a 6 mo supply and now i am too scared to give it to them..... should i take it back ?

I asked my vet this exact question since the smallest dose is for "up to 25 lbs". Her reponse was that the company says an emphatic "no" that the way the nugget is formed you have no way of knowing how much medication is in each section as it is not uniform.

My vet did also say that the least amount of reactions have been with the medication in Sentinel and Interceptor and that when you take away the flea meds from Sentinel, what you have is Interceptor. That is one reason I changed to Interceptor.

Lacy has been on heartgard since she was 3 months old (she'll be 4 next month) and she's never gotten sick after her monthly chew..and so far still heartworm free (although we're due for a HW test this year). Rylie just started Heartguard about 5 months ago and has done well on it as well so far.

You definitely don't want to half heartguard. The actual medicine is injected in that chew. One half may have the whole dose and one may have none... Always give the full amount

My 5 lb. yorkie had a reation to Heartguard and my vet said not to give her any. She is an inside dog. I have her checked every yr. and she is fine, She has no shots except rabies required by law.

My vet just gave me the Sentinel for Suzi. It is for dogs under 10 lbs. I think she will be fine on that. the only thing is she has to eat first. the pill is $8 a piece where I live.

I give all three of mine Interceptor. Never had a problem. Kayla is the yorkie, Mandy and Tina are schnauzers. Kayla takes the least amount. It is a real tiny little pill. She has never had a problem, that goodness.

Look at this:
Heartgard Fails [Archive] - HomeVet

I think, even though any of them can fail occasionally, Interceptor might be the better choice for us.

i use heartguard. i have also noted that i cannot give Teddy his heartguard AND give him his flea and tick (frontline) treatment on the same day. he will have diarrhea-i think its too much meds for his 7 lb body.. so ill stagger them a few days apart..

besides that, he has never had any problems with any meds.

It looks like the issues one of the posters has on that site is with the chewable Heartgard, not the pill. The pill supposedly has a more uniform distribution of the heartworm preventative, and it does not need to be chewed.

Later another poster says that Heartgard makes heartworms sterile and that because of that, the Knotts test may be negative. According to Heartgard tablet product information, heartgard eliminates the tissue stage of heartworm larvae. It says nothing about making heartworm sterile.
Also, the most common test for heartworm is not the Knotts test, it is actually the Antigen Test which looks for the presence of a protein given of by sexually mature female worms producing microfilaria.
The following link is very informative:
Heartworm Disease In Dogs and Cats... Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment for Heartworm Disease In ThePetCenter.com

The following info comes from Heartgard tablet product information:
http://heartgard.us.merial.com/downl...nformation.pdf
PRECAUTIONS: All dogs should be tested for existing heartworm infection before
starting treatment with HEARTGARD, which is not effective against adult D. immitis.
Infected dogs must be treated to remove adult heartworms and microfilariae prior to
initiating a program with HEARTGARD.
While some microfilariae may be killed by the ivermectin in HEARTGARD at the
recommended dose level. HEARTGARD is not effective for microfilariae clearance. A
mild hypersensitivity-type reaction, presumably due to dead or dying microfilariae and
particularly involving a transient diarrhea, has been observed in clinical trials with
ivermectin after treatment of some dogs that have circulating microfilariae.

This comes from INTERCEPTOR® Flavor Tabs® Product Information - Novartis Animal Health US, Inc. :
Precautions
Do not use in puppies less than four weeks of age and less than two pounds of body weight. Prior to initiation of the INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs treatment program, dogs should be tested for existing heartworm infections. Infected dogs should be treated to remove adult heartworms (which are D. immitis) and microfilariae prior to initiating treatment with INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs. Mild, transient hypersensitivity reactions manifested as labored respiration, vomiting, salivation and lethargy, have been noted in some treated dogs carrying a high num-ber of circulating microfilariae. These reactions are presumably caused by release of protein from dead or dying microfilariae.

The info in red came from websites, the info in black is mine.

Yup, it was the chewable.
Something is just bothering me about it though (don't really know what:rolleyes:).
It seems like there are more reactions with Heartgard but maybe I'm missing something.

I had never heard of Heartgard causes testing to show up as false negative and I don't know if I believe the person who wrote that.:) I think Ellie's vet does the antigen test.

Interceptor for mine. No issues :p

I now give it every 45 days ;)

Nicole, did you talk to your vet about this?
I would like to give it less often but didn't think it was okay.:confused:

I know Heartgard is okay every 42 or so days, but I thought Interceptor needed to be given every 30.:confused:

hmmm....No I didn't talk with my Vet recently, but when I was on the Yahoo Group, others there gave Intercepter every 45 days, and I thought I read that they (company/vet) say 30 b/c it is easier for the general ppl to remember and give every 30 days.

Although, I do remember, way back when, I told my Vet I was late (passed 30 days) and he said that ok, I think he said within the 10 days or 14 days after the time suppose to give (I can't remember) is fine.

Ellie is going on Interceptor.
Of course her vet office doesn't carry it anymore.:rolleyes:
So we have to get a prescription for it.

Did you find out about the 45 or 30 days?

Lol, no.:rolleyes:
I had an index card full of questions for her and I didn't even get to all of them.

I am going to give it every 30 days until I find out.
I think she would need to call the company and I really don't want to have her do that because she is already calling Nutramax to see if they will give us samples of Cosequin.

You can call the company yourself. I've called places like Nutramax to ask a load of questions before, and they're typically pretty nice and will put you in contact with the right people to answer your questions.

I'm will if she forgets.:)
She offered, so I figured I'd let her.:p

I have called Merial and Novartis before and they gave me the info I needed but one of the companies wasn't too helpful.:rolleyes:

Someone could call Novartis and ask what the grace period is if a dose is missed.
That would be how long extra we could wait between doses.
I'm not sure they'd be much help though.