This was originally posted on Craigslist by a vet tech, in december but I thought it would be helpful for your son's dog. I use Ivermectin sheep/cattle wormer on monthly basis. I have read about Ivermectin being used on all the dogs after the hurricane in New Orleans. That was posted on the Heartworms societys website. This maybe an option worth talking over with the vet. Could save you hundreds of dollars. Ivomec http://www.internetvets.com/Articles/ivermectin_dosing.htm http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=11 Ivermectin Ivermectin (Heartgard® & Heartgard® Plus by Merial, Iverhart® Plus & Iverhart MAX by Virbac and Tri-Heart® Plus by Schering-Plough) was the first in this family of drugs to be approved for preventing heartworm infection. An infection with larvae as long as two months prior to the initiation of ivermectin treatment will be blocked from development. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=610 Ivermectin Only? Melarsomine treatment is expensive and often out of reach for rescue groups, shelters, and many individuals. If the dog is stable (Class I) one option is to simply leave the dog on an ivermectin-based preventive. This option has led to a great deal of misconception about the ability of ivermectin to kill adult heartworms. Let us lay the rumors to rest now: Ivermectin does not kill adult heartworms. Ivermectin does shorten the lifespan of adult heartworms. Ivermectin does sterilize adult heartworms. Ivermectin does kill microfilaria (keeping the dog from being a source of contagion) Ivermectin does kill L3 and L4 larvae (preventing new infections). This means that if one opts to treat a heartworm positive dog with an ivermectin heartworm preventive only, one can expect the dog to remain heartworm positive for a good 2 years and the heartworm disease will be progressing during that 2 years. This is not good for the dog but certainly beats getting no treatment of any kind. This approach should only be considered for patients who are Class I and may be able to withstand 2 years of heartworm infection. Now the theory in doing ivomec treatment only is this. Instead of killing the heartworms fast kill them slower. The heartworm treatment that vets use kill the heartworms faster. The dog given the heartworm treatment must remain calm and on a baby aspirin to prevent clots. Why? Because when the heartworms are killed they don't exit the body like roundworms do. The heart worms head for the lungs and this can cause the lungs bronchi to get clogged therefore the dogs can't breath and die. With the ivomec treatment you prevent the larvae from hatching and sterilize the adult heartworms. The life span of a adult heartworm is less than two years. It is cheaper for animal rescue groups to do this instead of the other. Animal rescue groups take in so many animals that cost is always a factor for them and they have to save money if possible. Instead of posting negative posts of what the original person posted about what vets don't want you to know. Maybe you should thank that person for all the rescues they have done. You see they have rescued over 600 dogs in the last 5 years. Not one time have they lost a dog to the ivomec treatment. I know I am a vet tech that works for the groups veterinarian. I have seen the work they have done and all the lives they have saved. The veterinarian I work for is the one who approves of the ivomec treatment as an option. They have spent over $20,000 dollars a year out of their pocket. They do this because they care. Depending on the vet if he/she only cares about money then they won't tell you about this option. Did you know a heartworm positive dog can be given heartguard but not interceptor. Why? Because interceptor will cause a dog to dies if they are heartworm positive becsuse the ingredients in intercept are stronger than ivomec. You can though give a heartworm positive dog Heartguard. Now there are some vets that will dispute this but the makers of heartguard have said that yes you can give a dog heartguard that is heartworm positive. vet clinic

Is that like artificial disks Linda? I had a double fusion last fall and then they went back in a few months later and removed a bone they took from my hip that had slid out of place and widened the foramen around the nerve. I have never been out of pain in my neck and arm since all that started but its the all over pain that gets to me the worst. My sister had an artificial disk put in her neck and has done much better. My surgeon act like he doesn't even want to discuss that since he doesn't do it and they said no other surgeon will work on my neck since he has already done stuff to it. I wanted to work outside today and just couldn't do much. Something has got to give. I was feeling so much better before I got all these side effects. I guess I will have to try something different or at least a smaller dose at bedtime and a small one for during the day. The nerve pain in my arm is coming back big time but my vision is getting worse causing me to have headache. So many people have this you would think there is something better to help. The medrol dosepack things are the only thing that really make me feel better but I have to save those for if I have to take a trip or I know I am going to be doing something like building a flower bed and hope the weather cooperates for the week I take it. I wonder how much a hurricane drink machine costs, lol. I still haven't recovered from that trip to New Orleans, lol. I sure hope you find something to help you. Its a miserable things living in pain. I know it will get better after a while so that keeps me going and looking forward to the days I feel better for a little while before it starts again. I have so much I need to do before winter.

Oh, you all have made me laugh and then cry reading these posts. I believe we are going to send it in ourselves so I know it will get to the foundation and not get sold. They had the directions on how it needs to be done at locks for love. Karma that is so sad. I used to do hospice work when I was still able to do nursing and it crushed me to lose so many people I got attached to. Bonnie I am so glad you beat the cancer. It is the worst thing I have ever imagined going through. My father died of cancer when I was 5 and my strongest memories are of pushing him around in his wheelchair and him riding me in his lap in the halls of the hospital but the best one is before he got so sick and riding me on his shoulders and handing me a bag of candy, lol. I was too young to know it then but he chose not to have treatment. Back then I guess it wasn't as much hope as there is now and his had spread already when they found it so he chose to live his last days feeling good enough to play with us instead of being sick from the treatments that he felt would not work. I have a special place in my heart for cancer patients and was glad when John told me what he wanted to do. I used to help my best friend take care of her mother for years when I moved here and couldn't work anymore and went took her to the Cancer Treatment Center in Tulsa, OK every few weeks for a long time. They were wonderful there and helped her live 5 years with a good quality of life when doctors here told her she would only live 6 weeks. It was worth the long drive to get the better treatment for her. They offered to give her a wig and she told them no. Give it to a child. I'm old and don't care what I look like. They need it worse. She was so funny. We bought her all kinds of hats and beannies and she would pull them up into a point on top of her head and looked like a hershey kiss, lol. I still smile everytime I think of her and miss her a lot. She rode into chemo one day with her hat on backwards and hanging to the side and gave them the peace sign and said. Whuz up peeps, roflamo. She cracked us all up. She had been watching the show cops on tv when they came in to get her. She lived to be 81 and if it was up to me I would send it there. That place was great and the staff so good to us. I was single then and stayed with her there a lot and they used to sneak me extra food since they knew how far we came to go there so we didn't have to pay to eat and just little things like that and it meant so much. I am on an the organ donor list Mary and so is my husband. I figure if someone else can use my organs they are welcome to them. Its a waste to not give them away to me. Its good to know someone else will live on with a part of me to keep them with their family longer. Geeze I'm all mushy feeling now. John is going to come in and ask why I am crying.

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