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Annual Heartworm Injection


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In my searching of the forums, I've found the response to the annual heartworm injection tends to be "don't do it" - but I can't find anyone explaining why not.

My pup is going in to be desexed next month and they've suggested the heartworm injection. Is it suggested more for convinence than anything? My pup is flea'd every 2 weeks, so a monthly heartworm tablet (using Interceptor Spectrum at the moment) is just part of the routine and definetly isn't an inconvinence.

Are there benefits to the injection vs monthly tablets?

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Heartworm preventatives that we tend to take for granted as we administer them monthly are in reality very serious chemicals.

Whilst there are obviously differing schools of thought my opinion for what its worth is that I would rather give a smaller dose of poison to my dogs on a monthly basis than a larger dose yearly.

Now I know that it is not that simplistic but I have kept and bred dogs for many years and so far have not run into any problems by giving the heartworm chews monthly.

There has been some research done that says that there can be some types of heartworm that are becoming resistant to some heartworm medications - in particular the moxidextin in the yearly doses.

"According to Dr. Byron Blagburn, an expert in parasitology who has studied heartworms extensively, there are some strains of heartworms that are indeed resistant to all of the currently available heartworm prevention medicines.

As drastic as that sounds, that does not mean we should stop giving our dogs heartworm prevention medicines. However, it does mean that we need to be aware of the potential for failure. We can no longer assume that our heartworm prevention is going to be 100% effective in preventing heartworms in all dogs."

From a different angle & IMO, all chemicals that are given to dogs should be kept to the lowest dose/frequency possible without compromising the dog and that includes immunisations and all types of worming meds.

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Rogue had the annual injection the other day when he had his vaccination.. The vet said that it is great as you don't need to think about it as it's annual.. I sat there wracking my brain trying to think what I had read about this on here lol lol I went blank so I said yes .. I watched her give him the injection and as she pressed the syringe I saw the amount of serum and I straight away though oh crap that's a lot... couldn't go back but I wish I had of said I'll take the tablet till I look into it .. I did ask her if there was any reactions with the injection and she said all she has had is a little reaction on the site and a long time ago there was a case but that's it..

He has shown no I'll effects but I will definatley look into it further before I make any decision on heartworm again...

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Guest lavendergirl

In my opinion giving a tablet once a month is a very small inconvenience compared to any doubt about the safety of the yearly injection - why take the risk I think.

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In my searching of the forums, I've found the response to the annual heartworm injection tends to be "don't do it" - but I can't find anyone explaining why not.

My pup is going in to be desexed next month and they've suggested the heartworm injection. Is it suggested more for convinence than anything? My pup is flea'd every 2 weeks, so a monthly heartworm tablet (using Interceptor Spectrum at the moment) is just part of the routine and definetly isn't an inconvinence.

Are there benefits to the injection vs monthly tablets?

The 6 month injection was removed from use overseas after serious reactions, including death. In Australia we use the 12 month injection... That's a good enough reason for me never to use it on my dogs!

Apart from that, while it may be an 'easier' option it's actually more expensive.

If you do chose to use it then at least consider giving it separately to vaccinations and/or desexing to avoid overloading the dogs system.

ETA *Many vets won't vaccinate and desex during the same appointment so I'm unsure on why a vet would want to dose a dog up on Proheart at that time either?

Edited by SecretKei
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I have a dog that almost died from the annual heart worm injection - he went into anaphylactic shock and my other dog had a lump at the injection site that took months to go down. I will never use it again.

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it then at least consider giving it separately to vaccinations and/or desexing to avoid overloading the dogs system.

ETA *Many vets won't vaccinate and desex during the same appointment so I'm unsure on why a vet would want to dose a dog up on Proheart at that time either?

My vet suggested it (well, she mentioned it, she didn't say I had to do it,) and just told me it was an option at the time of desexing.

I was leaning towards not doing it, and then after investigating and reading here I'm pretty convinced it's not necessary. I'm not a fan of unnecessary injections/chemicals in myself or my pup, especially not in large doses like the injection.

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My two (Kelpie and a Kelpie/Border Collie cross) are both on the annual heart worm injection and are fine. I've printed the stuff from DOL out to discuss with our vet and in the early days, also bought the monthly chews - but then decided to stick with the annual injection. Most DOLers don't do the annual injection for reasons you will read about in this thread and many, many other threads - but most people at our vet's do. It's personal choice.

Edited by koalathebear
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I have always used the yearly heartworm vax on my dogs & never had a drama. Just had Stella done during the week for the first time so both mine are done now.

With a medium size dog my vet said it works out roughly the same price as medicating them monthly. I suppose there is 'good' & 'bad' sides to this. I probably should

have done more research into the pro's & con's but I have been going to my wonderful vet for the last 17 years & trust him 100% so when he suggested both monthly & yearly

just seemed like it was safe option.

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I have always used the yearly heartworm vax on my dogs & never had a drama. Just had Stella done during the week for the first time so both mine are done now.

With a medium size dog my vet said it works out roughly the same price as medicating them monthly. I suppose there is 'good' & 'bad' sides to this. I probably should

have done more research into the pro's & con's but I have been going to my wonderful vet for the last 17 years & trust him 100% so when he suggested both monthly & yearly

just seemed like it was safe option.

Not really. For a large dog up to 45kg it will cost slightly under $100 per year to use Interceptor monthly. If you use a cheaper brand and/or dose 6 weekly it's well under that and of course for a smaller dog would cost much less again.

I believe the ProHeart injection is well in excess of $100 and requires a booster dose at 6 months for a puppy too?

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My vet advised against the annual heartworm injection. He's not at all keen on it.

I have my dogs on Sentinel Spectrum and that's all they need. It takes care of heartworm, all intestinal worms and is a flea contraceptive so even if they pick up a hitch hiker flea it won't create an infestation.

It's not difficult to remember to give them a tablet once a month....or in our case, every 5 weeks.

On this regime none of the dogs have ever had any fleas or worms.

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What i find scary is people are happy to have there dog vac & heartwormed on the same day .What a chemical overload ,originally it was always product guideline never to have the 2 done on the same day ,i wonder if this has changed or vets don't bother .

We won't use it & we don't recommend it to our puppy owners & if they do use it its at there own risk .

The prices we see clients pay for the yearly jab is atotal rip off the av cost is around $150 plus total madness to pay that much

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There was a problem with the 6 month injection, with many reactions, but the 12 month one seems to have been more vigourously tested and not have the significant side effects of the 6 month injection.

I don't use it as I don't believe heartworm is a significant risk in South Australia. I may consider it if I was in a more tropical area, with a higher prevalence of heartworm.

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My dogs were on monthly heartworm stuff up until Jan this year. I found that I kept missing the monthly, either because I forgot or because I couldn't afford it that month and put it off. And of course that defeats the purpose. So when we went in for annual vaccines in Jan I asked the vet about the annual heartworm injection. I mentioned that a lot of people seem to be against them, but she didn't see any problem with it. My dog had to be tested for heartworm first, because I'd missed some of the monthly doses, but she was negative, so she was given the injections. No issues at all, and now I don't have to worry about it. The injection was about $75, so that works out cheaper than the monthly stuff as well.

Planning to take my other dog in for the test and injection as well. I don't see why you wouldn't. Fair enough that it probably shouldn't be done at the same time as the annual vaccines, but like I said, no issues at all here.

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There was a "bad batch" of the 6 monthly injection in the United States and some dogs ended up dying.

I think this is where most of the concern for the vaccine comes from. Also we sometimes see an injection site reaction- a small granuloma forms at the injection site and can feel like a hard lump, it is a bit scary as it can pop up weeks after the injection so appears to be unrelated. A FNA or biopsy can usually confirm an inflammatory response rather than a cancerous growth.

This can happen with any injection though.

For a large breed dog, the monthly tablets are more economical for me. I set a reminder on my phone so I give them on time.

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It's a personal choice and at the time we made the decision - convenience was very important because of a variety of other things happening at the same time. I talked about the issue at great length with my vet and I do trust my vet - it's not in her best interests to make my dogs sick. I think it's fine that people want to avoid the annual injection but thought it important to also state that the annual injection is fine for some dogs i.e. doesn't end in death or illness, because it's always nice to have both sides of the story in any discussion...

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