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Bryant
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« on: November 10, 2009, 08:56:30 pm » |
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Mike, Was the Ivomec treatment something the vet recomended? Ivomec is only known to kill heartworm microfilaria (the juvenile stage of the parasite). To my knowledge, there are only two medications available to treat heartworm...Caparsolate and a newer arsenic based product called Immiticide (which has much fewer side effects...for example, no liver or kidney damage) which has become available over the last ten or so years.
Quote referenced from Merck Veterinary Manual:
"As far as anyone has shown through scientific studies, ivermectin has little to no effect on adult heartworms. There is a small amount of information that seems suggestive of some effect on lifespan of the worms but this has not been developed to the point that it is clear. If ivermectin does have an effect it probably is to shorten the average length of a heartworm's life from about 3 to 5 years to something like 2 years. At the present time, no one really knows for sure if this happens, or what reduction in lifespan is possible to achieve"
Lonewolf,
To answer your question, I would say whether or not to treat really depends on the dogs age, and how bad the dog is infected. (any clinical signs). If the dog appears otherwise healthy other than the positive test, the other option is to treat monthly with ivomec to keep any further adult worms from developing and let the present worms run their life cycle and die naturally.
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