My Teddy Bear had liver shunt surgery last year and his bile acids were mildly elevated. I was told that LS pups usually have some degree of MVD. I have never ceased giving him Heartgard. We have to remember that IF they contract heartworms, the treatment is far worse than the preventatives. The alternative...let them suffer and die from heartworms.

So this made me think. I know that the drug Ivermectin is used in HW medicine for dogs. So I decided to take a look if it was also prescribed for humans and it is used to treat Scabies and other parasites that we can acquire as humans. There is also a study regarding using it to kills bed bugs.

Ivermectin. DermNet NZ

Bed Bugs Can Be Killed by Giving Humans a Pill - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com

These scare tactics that are being spread about are nothing more that hogwash! Of course you shouldn't just eat your dogs HW meds :rolleyes: and while you are at it your dog shouldn't eat your birth control pills either.....but that's for a totally different topic.

and this too

Ivermectin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tibbe has MVD but has taken his monthly Heartgard since his diagnosis almost one year ago.

The OP made the comment, "What about the wild dogs?" Here is a quote from a National Geographic article:

In St. Louis, Randy Grim, founder of Stray Rescue, is out on the streets everyday feeding 50 or more mutts.

If these wild dogs don't die of sheer starvation, he said, diseases such as parvovirus, heartworm, or intestinal parasites usually kill them. Their average life span is one to two years.

U.S. Facing Feral-Dog Crisis

It's much better taking your chances with preventative heartworm medicine AND vaccinations than risk your dog living for only one or two years and dying a horrible death. There are many different heartworm medicines out there, so if one gives a bad reaction, there is likely to be another medicine that doesn't give a bad reaction. Just my two cents.

As my Animal Control Shelter manager told me, most dogs that are out running the streets for any time at all will contract heartworm in a matter of months so plan on having to deal with that if I took one of their dogs. Now I understand they automatically test dogs as part of the adoption package fee but back then, in 2008, when I was looking for a dog, before I got Tibbe, they didn't run the test but made no bones about the fact that very many of their once-strays already had or likely would contract it. With all the mosquitoes in Texas, I imagine most of our "wild" dogs have contracted it.

Wait, you're saying I shouldn't be giving my kiddos my birth control pills!!!????

Coulda told me sooner, woman! THUMBS DOWN. :D

:p -----> this is YT and I'm sure if we did a search we would find someone somewhere :rolleyes:

FWIW, there are birth control pills for dogs, but dosing them sounds complicated, and it sounds like there are a lot of dangerous side effects:

Birth Control Pills for Dogs

Hahahahaha
Now here's a thought if you live in a high risk area why not avoid exposing your dogs to the risks of contracting HW in the first place.

??? Um, like leaving them inside all summer? What a boring life.

Heck, I have found mosquitoes in my house. You would actually have to buy a bubble.

+1

We have mosquitoes here year-round. The occasional mosquito manages to get inside at times, so I would have to confine my pups like bubble boy, or never open the door to the outside ever again.

lol gmta.

Wow. I have a similar but different thought. Just use the meds and stop exposing your dogs to this kind of craziness and let them romp outside free of worry.

Yes Teegys info states Toronto where I am. But as I posted in the past, in the year 2010 when Zoey contracted heartworms, it was probably in one of the States we visited in the USA that summer,probably Kentucky or it could have been New York, or Michigan. And she got heart worm because we did not apply her heartworm medication faithfully. FYI Canada has only had I think I checked the stats in 2011 something like 500 reported cases across Canada. Yup a geography larger than the USA has only had 500 prox cases reported.

Zoeys heartworm treatment did not devastate her, as I continue to read on here. And yes she had the adulticide treatment. How=ever 5 short months later she was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and died from it 6 wks later. So I do believe her immune system was compromised by the treatment and cancer invaded her body.

If I knew then what I know now, I might have tried the slow kill treatment....

The stress of this would have a tremendous negative impact on my boys' health. Teddy gets depressed quickly when he doesn't have outdoor time.

Or you would have to have a completely sealed house with air lock door passages, and a specialized air filtration system because a completely sealed house is bad for air quality. One of the reasons I don't mind a little draftiness.

We have found bees and wasps in our house. I'm sure mosquitoes have come inside.

I understand the concerns of using these meds and I dont like to use them either. What I do is give it April thru Oct same with flea meds so at least in the winter when there arent mosquitos your giving them a break. Ive been doing this 8 yrs now. Maybe this would be an option for you

We have the occasional mosquito here in Virginia in January. A warm few days brings out a lot of buggies. At most, we could risk only 3 months off, but that would require additional testing.

Crystal explained on another thread awhile back why stopping the preventative during the winter can be a concern. Maybe she will post again. Has to do with the life cycle/development of heartworms. I don't understand it well enough to attempt explaining.

See our vet does testing for heartworm every yr anyway at the annual so I take them in in march then start the heartworm in April. Im not advocating it for everyone they may not get the very cold winters we get here we get to 20 below a normal warm day being in the 20s i know there are no mosquitos and my dogs arent even outside in that cold weather. I have to give it in the spring summer and fall because we have a pond and they go outsidfe with us but other than than that and morning walks in the nicer weather they arent outside

Keep them inside??? That, imo, is really unfair to dogs. My dog almost died from being exposed to something (don't know what) outside. That does not mean I never let her get fresh air! It means I now have a drug on hand to (hooefully) save her life if it happens again and she is strictly supervised. I don't keep her inside over heartworm fears either. I give her the drug and let her go out. I believe she would want it that way if given the choice. I know I would.

I will find the year-round info after work.

Our kids get the poison pills once a month every month for life, period. And MI is no sauna in the winter.

Crystal I dont know if your referring to my post or not but Idont keep my dogs inside in the colder months to avoid heartworm they just dont want to go out. They are more indoor dogs by choice. This is the way I have done it for 8 yrs going on 9 and 16 yrs for a past dog so I dont think Im going to change

It's freezing here in the winter. There is no way I would skip HW. The old protocol was seasonal but everyone here does it monthly.

I am not being disrespectful but I just dont understand there are no mosquitos out in freezing weather

Crystal was referring to Teegy's post suggesting not exposing dogs to mosquitoes rather than giving preventatives.

Annual testing is good, especially before re-starting. It's the stopping that can be problematic. The dog could be infected at the end of the dosing season, and then the heartworms would develop in the interim. I can't explain it adequately.

The temp fluctuates and we have quite warm days. That's why it's recommended year round in New England.

For the very small amount of money that you are saving by not doing year round protection it's just not that big of a deal IMO. It becomes routine and you always just dish it out on the same day once a month. There are temperature fluctuations and it's just better to be same than sorry later. Personally, I have seen the mystery mosquito in the middle of winter and wonder where the heck it comes from.

I have been doing a lot of reading since this thread was started and tonight I found an article that directly speaks about Dr. Karen Becker and her stance on heart worm prevention or lack there of. It is written by one of her peers and addresses her article that is posted here. Additionally, I started a second thread to give this topic equal light. I hope that everyone takes the time to read what LORIE HUSTON, DVM said in response to her.




Heartworm Preventive Medication in Dogs: The Debate
by LORIE HUSTON, DVM on JULY 28, 2010


Recently, I came across an article about the use of heartworm preventive medications in dogs written by Dr. Karen Becker. Dr. Becker opens by quoting an article that I wrote for Examiner.com about the currently recommended methods of heartworm prevention in dogs and asks in the title of her article why I did not share various “facts” with my pet-owning readers.

Quite simply, and with all due respect to Dr. Becker’s opinion, I did not inform my readers of these “facts” because I do not believe them to be true.

Further, I believe that advising people not to administer heartworm preventive medications to their dogs when they live in endemic areas places their dogs at risk needlessly. And, to be quite clear here, we are talking about the risk of death. Heartworms can be a fatal condition!

Conspiracy Between the American Heartworm Society and Pharmaceutical Companies?

Dr. Becker implies that there is a conspiracy between the American Heartworm Society (AHS), an organization that recommends heartworm prevention for all pets, and the major pharmaceutical companies. In my opinion, this is stretching the truth a bit. Is the AHS sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Probably. Does that mean that their recommendations are not based in science? No. What it means is that the AHS has examined the issue thoroughly (based on the known science) and made appropriate recommendations to provide adequate protection for your dog. It also means that the pharmaceutical companies have realized that helping the AHS educate veterinarians and pet owners about the fact that this protection is necessary helps sell their products. However, it does not invalidate those recommendations.

Are Heartworm Infections in Dogs Uncommon and Not Usually Lethal?

Dr. Becker says “Heartworm disease is more difficult to acquire – and less lethal – than the dire warnings and marketing claims for chemical preventives would have you believe.” This has not been my experience. I’ve diagnosed heartworm disease in more dogs than I care to count and some of them did not survive the infection. Others were critically ill as a result of the infection, making treatment for the disease much more difficult and dangerous.

My experience is shared by April Ellis Mitchem, the Birmingham Dog Care Examiner at Examiner.com and long-time rescue worker, who says “We take in enough heartworm positive dogs with rescue that I completely disagree with the assessment that it’s hard to acquire.”

April’s assessment is shared by Karen Wood Philhower, who runs a Beagle rescue group. Karen says, “We get A LOT of heartworm positive dogs and not just from the South, though it’s all too common there. I’ve had dogs from New Jersey that were infected as well. I also disagree with Dr. Becker’s statements and I am alarmed that a practicing veterinarian would potentially jeopardize the health of pets by following this advice. Heartworm preventatives have been around a long time and when given at the proper intervals and in the correct dosage they are very safe and effective. I give monthly ivermectin/pyrantel to my own dogs as well as foster dogs year-round. I’ve lost foster dogs to advanced stage HW disease and it angers me because it is so preventable. Treatment is expensive and hard on the dogs, even under the best of circumstances.”

In my experience, April and Karen are absolutely correct. Heartworm disease is seen frequently in the south and often enough in colder climates that not administering heartworm preventive medication, in my opinion, is irresponsible and risky.

Are There Less Toxic Alternatives to Monthly Heartworm Preventive Medicines?

In my opinion and experience, the monthly heartworm preventive medications are both effective and quite safe. I have serious doubts about whether Dr. Becker’s recommendations are sufficient to prevent heartworms, especially in endemic areas with high risk of exposure.

While I respect Dr. Becker both as a colleague and as a person, I believe that she is somewhat misguided in these recommendations for heartworm control. My fear is that her recommendations will cause pet owners to forego administering heartworm medications to their dogs, thereby unknowingly exposing their pets to unneeded risk.

Not giving the heartworm meds in the winteris not about saving money its about giving them meds they dont need

While reading different article relating to this topic at hand I can across something that I found very interesting. I notice at the top of article written by Dr. Karen Becker the name Mercola. So I decided to do little research on who and what Mercola was since it sounded very familiar to me. This is what I found!

FDA Orders Dr. Joseph Mercola
to Stop Illegal Claims

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Joseph Mercola, D.O., who practices in Schaumburg, Illinois, also operates one of the Internet's largest and most trafficked health information sites. In 2012, Mercola stated that his site had over 300,000 pages and is visited by "millions of people each day" and that his electronic newsletter has close 1,500,000 subscribers [1]. The site vigorously promotes and sells dietary supplements, many of which bear his name.

In 2004, Medical Economics reported that Mercola's practice employed 50 people and that he employed 15 people to run his newsletter, including three editors [2]. Much of his support comes from chiropractors who promote his newsletter from their Web sites. Two of his books hit the #2 sales rank on Amazon Books shortly after his newsletter plugged them for the first time. In 2006, according to an article in Chicago Magazine, Mercola stopped practicing medicine to focus on his Web site [3]. I have not seen the fact that he is no longer in practice mentioned on his Web site.

Many of Mercola's articles make unsubstantiated claims and clash with those of leading medical and public health organizations. For example, he opposes immunization [4] fluoridation [5], mammography [6], and the routine administration of vitamin K shots to the newborn [7]; claims that amalgam fillings are toxic [8]; and makes many unsubstantiated recommendations for dietary supplements. Mercola's reach has been greatly boosted by repeated promotion on the "Dr. Oz Show."

Mercola's Profits

Mercola is very critical of drug company profits and proudly states:

Mercola.com does NOT accept any third-party advertising or sponsorship, and I am in no way tied into any pharmaceutical company or any other corporate "interest" whatsoever. So you get the real inside scoop on health issues, with practical advice that matters to you untainted by outside influence! [1]

He also states:

Mercola.com is not . . . a tool to get me a bigger house and car, or to run for Senate. I fund this site, and therefore, am not handcuffed to any advertisers, silent partners or corporate parents. . . .

Profit generated from the sale of the products I recommend goes right back into maintaining and building a better site. A site that, startling as it may be with all the greed-motivated hype out there in health care land, is truly for you [9].

I don't doubt Mercola's sincerity—and I know nothing about how he allocates his income. But I recently made some interesting observations. The word "Mercola" on the labels of his "Dr. Mercola Premium Supplements" is service-marked. Records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office say that he began using the mark in commerce in 2000, applied to register it in 2009, and was granted registration in 2010. The registration address is for his home in South Barrington, Illinois, which the BlockShopper Chicago Web site states has 5,083 square feet and was purchased by Mercola in 2006 for $2 million. The Bing Maps aerial view indicates that it is quite luxurious.
In 2011, Mercola announced the formation of Health Liberty, a nonprofit coalition whose goals include promoting organic foods and targeting fluoridation, vaccination, genetically modified foods, and the use of amalgam fillings [10]. In a video accompanying the announcement, Mercola stated that he planned to donate $1 million to catalyze the project. In addition to Mercola.com, The coalition members are:

National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), which understates the benefits and exaggerates the risks of vaccination
Fluoride Action Network (FAN), the leading promoter of misinformation about fluoridation
Institute for Responsible Technology, which understates the benefits and exaggerates the risks of genetically modification of foods
Consumers for Dental Choice, which vigorously attacks amalgam use with misinformation, propaganda, lobbying, and lawsuits
Organic Consumers Association, which irresponsibly promotes unpasteurized milk and spreads false alarms about food irradiation, agricultural biotechnology, and vaccines.
The "health freedom" argument involves deception by misdirection. It focuses on individual freedom but does not consider how people who fail to protect their health put the rest of society at physical and/or financial risk. Failing to vaccinate, for example, decreases herd immunity so that contagious diseases spread more widely. In 2012, Mercola becan calling his newsletter "Health Liberty Newsletter."

In 2013, Williamette Week reported that Mercola had donated a total of $26,975 in cash and in-kind contributions that included polling and a YouTube video to support the efforts of the antifluoridation group that is opposing a fluoridation referendum in Portland, Oregon. The report also stated that "Mercola has questioned whether HIV causes AIDS, suggests that many cancers can be cured by baking soda, and warns parents not to vaccinate their children. He also says that animals are psychic." [11]

Better Business Bureau Report

Mercola markets his supplements through Mercola Health Resources, LLC. In 2011, after a customer complained that she thought a product she purchased was overpriced, I began checking whether the Better Business Bureau had received any complaints. I found that the company was rated C- on a scale of A+ through F. On February 1, 2012, the BBB reported that during the previous 36 months, there were 26 complaints—which is not an unusually high number for a high-volume business—but the report contained the following comments:

A recent review of consumer complaints filed with the BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois against your Mercola Health Resources, LLC delineates a pattern of consumer allegations. Consumers are alleging that Mercola Health Resources does not honor the 100% money-back guarantee listed on your website. Customers have reported that refunds have not been provided for returns that were specifically covered under this guarantee. Consumers have also reported that they have experienced delivery issues. While Natural Health Information Articles and Health Newsletter by Dr. Joseph Mercola states that orders ship within 10 business days, consumers say they have waited much longer for their products. Customers allege that the company's service staff has been unable to provide explanations regarding this delay. Some consumers have also reported that Mercola provided them with shipment tracking numbers that were not valid with their respective carriers [12].

On November 26, 2013, I checked again and found that during the previous 36 months there had been 34 complaints, complaints but the Mercola Health Resouces was rated A+.

FDA Warnings

In 2005, the FDA ordered Mercola and his Optimal Wellness Center to stop making illegal claims for products sold through his Web site [13]. The claims to which the FDA objected involved three products:

Living Fuel Rx, claimed to offer an "exceptional countermeasure" against cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, etc.
Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil, claimed to reduce the risk of heart disease and has beneficial effects against Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and many infectious agents
Chlorella, claimed to fight cancer and normalize blood pressure.
In 2006, the FDA sent Mercola and his center a second warning that was based on product labels collected during an inspection at his facility and on claims made on the Optimum Wellness Center Web site [14]. This time the claims to which the FDA objected involve four products:

Vibrant Health Research Chlorella XP, claimed to "help to virtually eliminate your risk of developing cancer in the future."
Fresh Shores Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, claimed to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and degenerative diseases.
Momentum Health Products Vitamin K2, possibly useful in treating certain kinds of cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Momentum Health Products Cardio Essentials Nattokinase NSK-SD, claimed to be "a much safer and effective option than aspirin and other pharmaceutical agents to treating heart disease."
The warning letters explained that the use of such claims in the marketing of these products violates the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which bans unapproved claims for products that are intended for curing, mitigating, treating, or preventing of diseases. (Intended use can be established through product labels, catalogs, brochures, tapes, Web sites, or other circumstances surrounding the distribution of the product.)

In 2011, the FDA ordered Mercola to stop making claims for thermography that go beyond what the equipment he uses (Medtherm2000 infrared camera) was cleared for. The warning letter said that statements on Mercola's site improperly imply that the Meditherm camera can be used alone to diagnose or screen for various diseases or conditions associated with the breast, they also represent that the sensitivity of the Meditherm Med2000 Telethermographic camera is greater than that of machines used in mammography. The statements to which the FDA objected included: