Well, my vet said not to go more than 40 days between pills. What do you all think?

I only pay $5 per month for Heartworm meds, giving every month so I don't forget seems reasonable to me. Plus we live in a very high risk area.
But I did give the full dose of Frontline over 2 days last month. I was wondering why the dosage needs to be so high. Lexi is only 6.5 lbs. I think I will try the 1/2 dose next month, since that is costing me $17 per tube! She had several dead ticks on her after our last weekend at the lake, so I know the full dose worked!
Interesting thread.

I just want to reiterate, I did not make this info up. It's part of the small print that's included in the packaging with the product. If you read it, you will see it does not make sense. I am really more concerned with the amount of poisons we have to treat our pets with to keep them healthy?, than I am with saving money.

What product are you using?

Interceptor. I jsut picked it up today and haven't read the label yet. I'll prob go the max between doses though.

Interesting... the label says that if you miss a dose, you MUST give the next dose IMMEDIATELY. I will prob still go 45 days though.

Hi. Found this on their website:
INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs Product Information - Novartis Animal Health US, Inc.

INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs are given orally, once a month, at the recommended minimum dosage rate of 0.23 mg milbemycin oxime per pound of body weight (0.5 mg/kg). A 5lb dog should be good with a half tablet.

INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs must be administered monthly, preferably on the same date each month. The first dose should be administered within one month of the dog's first exposure to mosquitoes and monthly thereafter until the end of the mosquito season. If a dose is missed and a 30-day interval between dosing is exceeded, administer INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs immediately and resume the monthly dosing schedule.

Efficacy
INTERCEPTOR Flavor Tabs eliminate the tissue stage (=2Months)of heartworm larvae ...

The label doesn't say how long past a 30 day interval if you miss a dose, but it does say The first dose should be administered within one month of the dog's first exposure (or 30 days after his last pill), and it says it eliminates the tissue stage which is 2 months.

I'm confused but hope this helps... Kathy

Interesting. You could try contacting the company and/or trying to track down the actual prescribing info to see if it has half-life info in it. I'm not sure if these types of meds have half-lives, but I'd kind of assume they did.

I will still give every 30 days. But, now I wonder about Marcel's dose bc he is 3lbs. - according to what they say, a 1/2 pill would be more than enough for him (but not Wylie).

If I am understanding this right, even Wylie would be covered with 1/2 a pill because they use 4/5 more drug than they need to to protect against intestinal parasites. If you don't care about that, 1/5 of the dose recommended "may" work. I am not recommending that anyone attempts this but this information is available online. The real question is, can the pill be cut in half because in the case of Heartgard Plus, the answer is no because the med is unevenly injected into the chew.

Hmmmm. So, even though they say .23mg/lb (for Interceptor), they are still overdosing w/ the 4/5th? (Bc Wy needs about 1.5mg of Interceptor, and the 1/2 pill is 1.15mg)

Very interesting. I'll stick w/ the whole pill for now, as I just don't think there is enough info. And I agree, ramifications of cutting the pill is unknown right now...

Very interesting... I don't know that it would be possible to cut a pill in half anyway. They are really, really tiny.

I would never cut the dose nor would I play with the frequency of dosing. I have seen what happens to heartworm positive pups.

As for referring to HW preventatives as poison, I just lost one of my pups at an approximate age of 16. I adopted her in 1995 and she was estimated to be 2 or 3 at that time. She was given Heartgard every month while I had her...surely it did not shorten her lifespan.

The following website is very informative and may help some of you in your decision making regarding the health of your pup and the risks involved with heartworms:

American Heartworm Society

Great post. I have managed a vet clinic for 12 years and I too have seen what happens to heartworm positive dogs, dogs with lyme disease, rocky mountain spotted fever, etc. I also will not cut the dose or play with the companies nor my vet's recommendations.

We also lost our black lab two years ago at the age of 15 which is very old for a lab. She had heartworm preventative every month of her life and some kind of flea and tick control. Certainly did not hurt her. I have a 12 year old yorkie now who has also had Heartgard and Frontline every single month of his life and he is as healthy as a 5 year old. We just did his senior bloodwork panel two months ago and everything was perfect.

I keep our prices in line with the on-line pharmacies to try and keep people from ordering from them. These products are vet only products and a lot of the on-line pharmacies are getting them on the black market. It is no telling how long they have set in trucks or on shipping docks waiting to be shipped. We have even had people bring packages in that they ordered on-line that were in other languages. I get letters from on-line salesmen at least once or twice a month asking us (as vets) to sell these products to them at cheaper prices so they can sell them on-line. I forward these on to the vendors because it is illegal. By keeping prices similar to the on-line pharmacies we do not make much money on these products at all. Believe me, vets do not get rich selling that stuff.

Thanks for your post.

Oh...thank you for your very informative post!!

I only buy Heartgard and Advantage from my vet....she also does not charge a lot for the very same reason. I think most vets are like that. It always amazes me that people order online from just anyone to save a couple of dollars. They really do not understand that these items are not always legitimate and could harm their pets.

This is very interesting Niether one of my yorkies are on HW medicine right now, I have tried Copper on both interceptor and heartgard and nearly lost him on the heartgard because it made him very sick. Maddie I have only given her interceptor one time and had to take her to the vet because she had bloody diareah and vommitting for about 5 days after giving her the pill. My vet doesn't feel comfortable giving her another HW medicine at this point. She is so small that being that sick is life threatening. they still are tested but at this point I am waiting till my vet gives the goahead on another Med.