Heartguard is over the counter, right?

[Scott M]

Had a big box puppy plan for my lab that was cancelled a while ago after my wife and I decided it was no longer cost effective. Now its time for us to order Heartguard and the online company is asking for a referrel from a vet, as in you need a check up and prescription. I was under the impression that heartguard was over the counter. Am I wrong? It feels like a case of the company working with the big box store to fleece me into coming in for a needless check up.

Am I taking crazy pills?

[Scott M]

I am taking crazy pills. It's on the box as restricted to use by a licensed vet.

[Kyhl]

The reason for the vet referral is probably because you can't give heartworm pills to a dog with heartworm. It can kill them.

You want to have the dog tested for heartworm before beginning a monthly heartworm plan, which requires a vet.

[Kyhl]

Another thought on this, in order to keep your business, your vet may offer a discount once they find out you are planning to go online to purchase the medication.

Myself, I like the job my vet does and am happy with their office visit pricing. I also enjoy their friendly attitude and how they handle my dogs with care so I don't mind if I pay a little more for medication.

We both win if it helps keep my vet in business.

[Acemac]

pretty sure I just buy mine at waconia farm supply no one has ever asked for a vet.

[JayinMN]

Heartgard Plus is only guaranteed to work if its been prescribed from a vet and that is why the boxes say a prescription is required. Under Merials "Plus Guarantee," if your dog gets heart worms and its been prescribed by a vet, Merial will pay for the dogs treatment. No prescription and your covering it on your own.

[harvey lee]

The reason for the vet referral is probably because you can't give heartworm pills to a dog with heartworm. It can kill them.

You want to have the dog tested for heartworm before beginning a monthly heartworm plan, which requires a vet.

I agree 100%. I put my new dog on Heartworm pills when I got her at age 1.5 years old. She had been on the pills and screened for heartworm so I could buy the pills without a checkup.

I gave her all the pills abnd ran out in Jan. Since I fed them to her until then, now I can get the pills for this spring without a check up.

I would guess it is for the liability end for the Vet.

I once had a dog and missed a year of Heartwom pills so he had to be checked again as it could kill the dog if it has issues with the worm.

I guess better safe than sorry and a very sick dog with costly vet bills.

[nolte]

Do yourself a favor and just go buy 50mL bottle of Ivomec Injection (make sure it's not the PLUS kind)from fleet farm for about $35. Pull out 1/10 of a cc/ml per 10 lbs, mix it with some grape juice, unscrew the needle and squirt it in the dog's mouth. You can do it without the juice but the dogs don't like it. Do this once every 45-60 days and you're good to go. One bottle will last a dog's entire life. I wouldn't worry too much about it in the winter months. It is transmitted by blood (mosquitoes).

If you look at Heartguard, it's the same active ingredient.

[311Hemi]

If your going to dilute Ivermec it should be with propylene glycol, not water as it's not water soluble.

[reddog]

How many people are doing the Ivermec treatment themselves? Is it common, or rare?

[JayinMN]

A lot of people do it when they have more then a few dogs. Before you do it though make sure you do not have a breed known to be sensitive too it. Collies and their mixes are especially sensitive to it and can die from it.

The grape juice is not to dilute it, its to make it taste better. I have never heard of that before, everyone I know who does just shoots it straight in the dogs mouth.

[harvey lee]

I do the pill as I get it when I have a check up for the dog annualy. No added fee for an extra office visit.

I do have friends that give the stuff themselves also and yes, it is less expensive.

[311Hemi]

I misunderstood what you were saying.

I do strait shots into the mouth as well, undiluted. People who dilute it are doing so to get more accurate dosing. The .1ml/10 lb dosing is providing a dosing much higher than what is contained in a regular Heartguard pill, but this is commonly used and given out as a dosing for most dogs. I believe this higher dosing helps protect against certain other intestinal worms (gatroinstestinal/hook/ring?). I have not read any reports of dogs having adverse affects from the .1ml/10lb dosing though. I personally use a smaller dose.

I would recommend talking with your vet for any more details.

[brittman]

The current heartworm blood test also tests for tick borne diseases. One of my dogs tested positive and had undergone antibiotic treatment. I consider it a good test to run on my dogs since I hunt in tick country.

Agree that vet prices are not cheap, but they also need to earn a living. Some people want the vet there for emergency situations, but want to cut around them on the routine. I used to look for that opportunity too, but running bird dogs hard I have come to appreciate that my vet knows my dogs and their health history.

I bet you most vets will waive their office visit fees and provide shots for cost if you are in a difficult financial situation (ie unemployeed).

[St_Croix_Banks]

You don't need to give heartworm pills to your dog this time of year in MN after Dec. Why do you need them now?

[311Hemi]

The current heartworm blood test also tests for tick borne diseases. One of my dogs tested positive and had undergone antibiotic treatment. I consider it a good test to run on my dogs since I hunt in tick country.

Agree that vet prices are not cheap, but they also need to earn a living. Some people want the vet there for emergency situations, but want to cut around them on the routine. I used to look for that opportunity too, but running bird dogs hard I have come to appreciate that my vet knows my dogs and their health history.

I bet you most vets will waive their office visit fees and provide shots for cost if you are in a difficult financial situation (ie unemployeed).

I don't know if anyone is suggesting not getting the dog tested or getting the dog routinely checked out. My vet has no issue with me using Ivomec, he even verified the amount that I was giving the dogs and even prescribed Strongid for both my dogs for worm control at his recommendation. I still get the dogs tested every year. It's just one area to save a little cash.

[Acemac]

glycol will kill a dog wont it?

[311Hemi]

glycol will kill a dog wont it?

[nolte]

The current heartworm blood test also tests for tick borne diseases. One of my dogs tested positive and had undergone antibiotic treatment. I consider it a good test to run on my dogs since I hunt in tick country.

Agree that vet prices are not cheap, but they also need to earn a living. Some people want the vet there for emergency situations, but want to cut around them on the routine. I used to look for that opportunity too, but running bird dogs hard I have come to appreciate that my vet knows my dogs and their health history.

Brittman,

I agree that vets need to earn a living, but I'm not going to let them soak me for the minor stuff if I can easily do it myself. Worming and Vaccninations are not too difficult. A vet has about $6 into an 8-way shot and $2 for a rabies. I still get the opportunity to spend plenty at a vet's office and they do charge me extra for any emergency visits. I'm fine with that, I should pay for time outside their normal hours.

On another subject, we quit vaccinating for lymes and usually won't do the test unless a dog really needs to tested if it's in bad health. The treatment for tick diseases is the same (doxycycline) and it's cheaper to treat them than test for it. Many lymes tests will come up postive for hunting dogs but it is very possilbe that won't be the underlying issue that is affecting your dog's health.

As for ivomec, like what was said before many guys use it that have multiple dogs. Dad had a dog die from heartworm back in the early 80s and since has done the Ivomec routine, we haven't seen any problems since. I believe it is the Ivomec Plus that is bad for collies. I would check on that though. The dosage is higher than heartguard but still safe. It does help a little with other worms at the dosage but there are better alternatives available. I use the grap juice just for taste, some dogs dislike it otherwise and put up a fuss.

[deerminator]

You don't need to give heartworm pills to your dog this time of year in MN after Dec. Why do you need them now?

Our vet said its "a good idea" to keep them on it all year as it has general worm preventatives too and that way you don't miss any timeframe where mosquitos may have been present. Still, she doesn't push it. We keep the flea/tick preventative going all year as well as the dogs get boarded occassionally and you just never know what bugs or insects are staying alive living inside in the winter. It's a relatively small price to pay for the dogs health and welfare, considering they're on these medicines most of the year anyway.

I used to get my meds from an online place too until my vet said they'll match any price the web pharmacies are running. It would still be more convenient to get them online but I'd rather support the vet.

[brittman]

Again the current blood test that is run on our dogs is a combination test ... heart worm and tick diseases ... more than lyme. I believe dogs vaccinated for lyme may test positive.

One dog tested postive for aniplasmosis. She was treated and fine. Shows you need to be diligent on preventing ticks too.

[nolte]

Again the current blood test that is run on our dogs is a combination test ... heart worm and tick diseases ... more than lyme. I believe dogs vaccinated for lyme may test positive.

One dog tested postive for aniplasmosis. She was treated and fine. Shows you need to be diligent on preventing ticks too.

Yep, that is correct on the current blood test. If it is a snap 3dx test, I think it should test for a aniplasmosis, ehrlichiosis (which is very similar to animplasmosis), lymes and heartworm. Dogs vaccinated for lymes, shouldn't test positive for it. In previous types of tests they did. My vet mentioned that there is/could be a few different strains of lymes.

My point from before was mainly to say that many dogs have/are carriers for lymes but won't show any signs/symptoms until something else is bothering them. By treating for just lymes, you might be missing the real problem. If I think a dog has lymes (I've seen/had a few dogs with it), I will give them doxycycine. You will be able to tell in a day or two with remarkable improvement in the dog. If it's still looking rough, then it needs a trip to the vet. From my experience the treatment is cheaper/more effective than testing or vaccinating for it.

Totally agree with you on tick prevention, especially in the spring of the year and again in the fall. Those are the real peak times for ticks. Sure you get a few in the summer, but nothing like spring/early summer and fall. My vet thinks there has been some resiliency by ticks to frontline as of late. He's seen many dogs that are front-lined that still got lymes. In his opinion it is the best option, but there is still foolproof.