I was an RN in an ICU for many years. I worked in Burn ICU where everyone and their dog and their brother's dog was on TPN (That's a high glucose infusion with vitamins, minerals and a host of other stuff that laymen are referring to when they say something like 'They had to feed him in his veins', LOL. It's short for 'Total Parenteral Nurtition' and is formulated by a registered dietitian on a per-patient basis and is horrendously expensive...most TPN is ordered once daily, but on our patients, the orders could change literally 3-4 times a day) Our medical director was a stickler for detail, and if a patient started to crater, often the TPN orders were re-written after the pharmacy had already mixed up the TPN. Since it was strictly a "custom order" for one patient only and couldn't be re-used for any other patient or any other purpose, it would have to be thrown into the trash. At an average cost of upwards of $300 a bag in the 1980's, that was a tragic waste. We started taking the discards home and diluting them down and using them as plant food. It worked fantastically, but, due to the high sugar content, you had to REALLY dilute it so as not to cause mold in the soil. Illegal? Maybe. Unethical? Maybe. But, I worked at the equivalent of a County Hospital, and taxpayers had already footed the bill for that TPN from the second it was ordered on the chart. So as a taxpayer, I kinda feel like I paid for it and had a right to it, to keep it out of the landfill, LOL

I am sorry you are going through this - and worry it could be in our future in Canada as well. My sister-in-law works for Canada Post and has just signed new medical contracts that would require her meds to be mailed to her. She is not happy and neither is anyone else. One woman takes the same eyedrops as my husband and they have to be refrigerated until opened. What about during the freezing weather and boy have we had it this year. Then there is the summer warmth - what will that do to prescriptions meds? We hardly have any prescriptions but in the warmer weather I take a cooler bag with me to big up the meds and always go directly home with them. Then we have the thievery issue - and it happens. And of course, delays in the mail. I was surprised that Canada Post which has a very strong union in Canada is doing this. I suspect that Canada Post in an attempt to retain business will be trying to market mail-order drugs to private companies and would look kind of foolish if they did not do it themselves (even for a Crown Corp. - the shareholders being the taxpayer). I hope you get everything sorted out. I know exactly what you mean about getting a different person every time you call and the next person having no record of the previous call.

Actually neither milbemycin nor lufenuron are metabolized in the liver, so Sentinel will not be "hard on the dog's liver." Both drugs are excreted unchanged in the bile to feces. Also, tapeworms, while common, are mostly harmless. I say mostly because a gigantic infection may cause disease in theory, but I have never seen nor heard of any disease attributed solely to tapeworm infestation. They are gross though. Finally, if you are using Heartgard, Interceptor, Sentinel, or Revolution then you are deworming for intestinal parasites every time you give it. None of the products kill tapeworms, but they all kill roundworms and hookworms, plus Interceptor and Sentinel also kill whipworms. So the statement that "but I dont think regular treatment for intestinal parasites is as necessary as the heartguard" is incorrect because you are in fact treating intestinal parasites every month by using heartgard. Advantage is to be used once monthly, not weekly. Quirky, your vet may be referring to Preventic collar, which is amitraz. It only protects against ticks, but seems to be very effective even for dogs that are exposed a LOT. The major downside is that amitraz is a powerful CNS agent and that if swallowed can cause serious toxicity. I wouldn't allow the Preventic collar near children, and I'd be VERY cautious about cats in the household as well, especially if the cats are known to groom their canine friends. I do know one vet who puts Preventic collar on her dogs only when they are running around in the woods, then she stores it safely out of reach of her pets and neices and nephews. Right now, it appears that Frontline Plus is working well on my dogs, but I do like to watch out for ticks. I am lucky that we don't have a lot of Lyme disease here, but we do have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and having had it myself once, it is awful. So I use Frontline Plus year round. I also use Sentinel, but only because I get it free through school. Once I have to pay for heartworm prevention again, I'll switch to just Interceptor because I think Sentinel plus Frontline Plus is overkill and a waste of money. But for now, free is free :)

Wow Lucille! Are you sure your reading was 35? At that level, I'd think you'd be passing out. I have been diabetic type 2 for 20 years and I get fuzzy headed if my glucose reading falls to 60. Usually, I become aware of a low glucose condition at 90 and below. I watch for signs of low glucose when driving. Its very important to correct low glucose if driving. One should not let it fall below 90 and 100 is a better low mark when driving. I keep a tube of 10 glucose tablets in my auto's console and carry 5 hard candies in my back pocket. Reasonable cost glucose tablets are available from Walmart. They have tubes of 10 tabs and jars with 100 tabs. The tabs are lower cost in the 100 tab jar. I keep my empty 10 tab tubes and refill those from the larger jar.