Originally posted by Mike Taylor:
You can buy Ivermectin in liquid form with no perscription at any large Farm supply store and give it orally once a month or as you prefer in measured doses. Much cheaper and more control of exactly what the dog gets. You will, however, have to buy a fairly large bottle...but it will last a long time! This has come up before on this board. The ivermectin you can buy at a farm store is not labeled for dog use and the dosage has got to be exactly right or you could cause problems with your dog. I don't recommend doing this unless your vet knows that you are doing it and will show you exactly how to dose. We won't be giving out dosage instruction on this on this board, that's for sure!!

I personally have used it years ago and have decided that the potential side effects of ivermectin (i.e. suppressing your dogs immune system, for one) is not worth it. If you have a collie, sighthound or some of the other herding breeds they have found adverse reactions...are you willing to risk your dogs health or life on this? I put my dogs in a study done by U of Cal on ivermectin sensitivity in Malinois..(dna swabs)Don't know the results yet but will post them on the board when I have more info. (my dogs have NOT had ivermectin, they needed swabs of Belgian Malinois whether or not they had ever been exposed to this)

There are a lot of safer alternatives available that are made specifically for dogs. Stick with those!

Cindy;

I do not disagree with you here. I was shown years ago by our vet how to dose and always carefully measured. It worked for me for well over a decade, but my dogs are checked on a regular basis. I don't do this either any more, mainly because I got tired of wrestling GSD's to take it .all mine hated it! Ha!) But it is commonly done by many, many people...and you know as well as I that some schmuck will find this out and try it at home. There is a reason why Preparation "H" includes the instructions "DO NOT EAT"!

Lauren Woods:
"Biospot isn't an option because we have a cat."

Can you elaborate on that statement Lauren? I don't know much about cats or biospot <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Biospot contains Permithrin, which can be fatal for a cat.

I've had very good results with garlic as an alternative to toxic chemicals. I'm not sure which is more effective, but garlic seems to be worth it's weight in gold. With chemicals, the area of application is limited because of the exposure to toxins. Garlic, on the other hand, get's throughout the bloodstream, protection the entire dog. It's a natural repellent, antibiotic, and proven good for the heart. I just wish I had a tic-tac for every clove I fed him <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> But those are small things. Has anyone else tried garlic?

Permethrin makes cats seizure and drool excessively and will kill them. It effects their nervous system. Some owners get lucky and the dog and cat stay away from each other, but I don't want to chance it.

Re: cattle and horse products
When dosing, it is very easy for someone to do one of many things:
a) give it to a sensitive breed or dog and kill the animal (ivermectin crosses the blood brain barrier in some dogs)
b) miss a . and give the dog way too much, same symptoms
c) give the wrong product and kill the dog
d) give the product at the wrong interval and cause problems (daily vs. monthly, etc.)
e) dog spit out the dose (it's very small) and get heartworms because the stuff tastes bad.
f) get a conversion wrong when figuring out the dose (% solution to mcg/mL is not a simple task)

I rescued an adult Border Collie from the streets and she was positive for heartworms. The vet put her on Heartguard and 15 months later she was heartworm free. She didn't have a severe case as she didn't cough or show any other signs that she was even infected. She is about 5 years old we estimate. Just thought I'd pass this on.

Also, down in N.O. where I live we have to keep our animals on HW and flea preventative year round.

I noted that someone mention that Ivermec supresses the immune system, is this true? I have a friend that gives the 1% Ivermec to her dogs as HW preventative. If there is any information that I could pass on to her I will.

I, like some folks, would rather keep mine dogs on Heartguard rather than risk harming them with the Ivermec for cattle, etc.

Thanks

This is what I know about the natural way to prevent heartworms. I work with a homeopathic vet for my dog, because he had severe reactions to Heartgaurd plus and Frontline. The homeopathic perspective on HW is this if your dog is feed an all natural raw diet and has had no vac's or limited vac's it's immune system should be strong enough to fight the heartworms. Do I beleive this or want to take that chance? The jury is still out. I will be doing the 45 day interceptor plan starting May 1st. I will not be using Frontline but instead an all natural flea and tick spray. My dog was just at the vet and checked out clean for HW and any other worms. I could never live with myself if he came down with HW and I know there are some risks with the med's I think by taking a limited approach and feeding raw, limiting vaccines we will be on a much better path.

Here's something interesting in my local (Raleigh, NC) news on the heartworm prevention question. http://www.wral.com/news/3242624/detail.html
I had been doing research, and had already decided to stick with Heartgard, but this just seems to confirm what I've seen elsewhere. Also, if anyone knows of a good homeopathic/holistic vet in the RDU area of NC. Triad is ok too, I'm willing to drive for a good vet.

Tricia, I take Auster to Dr. Jeff Todd at Hidden Valley Animal Hospital in Raleigh. Not all of the vets in the practice are holistic (I think 1 other might be). Email me for more info (lauren@tarheelweb.com).

Have you joined TriangleRAW? Lots of good info in the archive.