Heartworms question

My cur had a litter of pups early november. She usually gets real wormy during weining so I have to keep a close eye on her. Well, I wormed her with happy jack, which is what I've always used, as soon as she whelped. I wormed again early december. She put weight on for a week or so then she started looking wormy again. I sold her to a fella with the agreement that if she tested positive for heart worms at his vet, we'd call the deal off. She did test positive and I have an appt with my vet tomorrow.

My question is, if a dog has other worms, will it show up as positive on the heart worm test?

She was wormed 2 days before the test and has already started looking better a week later. I have doubled up her food as well, which is a high fat/protein content.

No, it is a blood test to show heartworms. You need to remember on worms that you have to break the egg/worm cycle and that one worming won't get them. Carry the dog to a vet and he can probably better explain the cycle.

Heartworm test is a blood test. It only shows positive or negative to heartworms. For all other type parasitic infections you need a fecal examination done on her. Did you have her on heartworm preventative meds?

Man I hate to hear that Bowtarist. Thankfully I've never dealt with heart worms so I don't have any advice. I have always heard if you kill the heart worms the dog will not make it, but that could easily be a myth. I hope a vet can help you get her fixed up.

I did not. I knew heart worms were a bad deal but I didn't know anything else about them. I took her to the vet Tuesday. He started her on some pills to prep her for the next round of treatment. He said he could xray her and see how many she had, but judging from her appearance and energy level at the office, he would say she didnt have many. He see's no reason why she won't pull thru and that the treatment has come along way from what it used to be as far as the dog dying. He said he rarely has an issue anymore. The worst time for it will be around the 2 week mark after the shots. She has to stay in a small kennel for 4 weeks to prevent any clots from dislodging. That's gonna be hell for us. She hates kennels and has chewed her way out of everyone of them that I've put her in. I have to keep her on a steel cable.

Ivermectin is good cheap way to prevent heart and some digestive system worms. I start my dogs on ivermectin at 6months old and give them a dose every 3 months. Don’t give it to a older dog unless you have had it tested and results were negative for heart worms. The dosage is 1cc per 100lbs. All of my dogs except the pups are roughly 50lbs so I just give them all 1/2 a cc straight down their mouth every 3 months and the 2 months in between I worm them with Panacur or Valbazen for digestive system worms.

Is that Ivermectin a liquid ? I got some equine wormer once, I don't remember the name, that was a paste.

Yes its a liquid injection that is for cows and swine but works good on dogs also. You can inject it under the skin on the neck or squirt it down the mouth. A 25ml bottle will treat 50 dogs that weigh 50 pounds.

I used Ivomectrin for years on my dogs, about .75ml per dog. I think I was giving it once per month for heartworms and all other worms, but you have to start them young.

Equine wormer is for intestinal worms. It doesn’t treat heart worms. You need to have your dogs on heart worm medicine.

I never used it. The vet said if she had heartworms and I gave that stuff to her, itd kill her stone dead.

I have never understood the mentality of using a product designed for one species of animal on a different species.

I guess it's all in the name of trying to save a little coin.

I.E. using an injectable bovine product or a paste equine product in dogs.

They aren't designed for dogs and can be detrimental to a dogs health.

Use the right product for your dog.

Sadie is my buddy. No way am I compromising her health over a few dollars.

This isn't directed at you bowtarist in any way.

Just commenting because I know lots of folks who do this.

The local vets around here use panacur paste (which is a horse wormer) as the main ingredient in the dog wormer they use and sell. They water it down, pour it in a blue bottle, and slap a label on it. All the ingredients are the same. I have had or been around dogs all my life and have never seen any harm or side effects from using any of the wormers above. It’s not about saving money although it does save money. I have done my research and seen first hand over the last 20 years. I wouldn’t give my dogs anything that I thought would harm them.

It’s about the same as vaccinating pups. You can buy the shot for $15 and give it yourself if you have done the research and know what you are doing or you can go to the vet and get charged $50-$75 to do the same thing.

All the old timers I've talked with have all used horse wormer. When you have a kennel full of dogs, it'd be impossible to give them all heartworm prescriptions without going broke. Ex. rabbit hunters with 8 or 10 dogs.

I had 6-9 beagles for over 20 years. Gave them Ivermectin and nemex once a month. Break whitebread slice in half and squirt both meds on each piece and feed it to them. All lived long healthy lives. Cheap and easy.

Used Ivomec for years with no problems. Ivomec is the active ingredient in Heartguard. The packaging is not worth the difference in price. With the arrival of resistant strains of heart worms, I switched to AD Multi and will continue to use that product until another is proven more effective.

Disclaimer: I am not a Veterinarian nor pretend to be one. I apologize for run on sentences, punctuation and spelling in advance. If you are unhappy with my comments please refer all complaints to my good friend Sea Bass.

Vets rape pet owners. People who own hunting dogs especially a lot of them, learn to save money. They give the dogs their shot themselves and so forth. BTW, if you look at the ingredients on safeguard for goats, it's the same ingredient and same percentage, but the dog form is a lot higher price because the vets know people will sell their kidney to save scruffy. When I had a pack of beagle rabbit dogs, I gave them 1/10th of a cc per 10lbs of body weight of the liquid ivermectin. I squirted it down their throat.

Warning bout ivomec .like someone said Don t give to dogs without having them tested first if they are older dog. Also can t give it to herding type dogs like collies . Works great on all other dogs as long as you don t overdose. Very strong drug. Had a dog die from vet overdosing trying to kill heartworms. Not a pretty sight. Last one had heartworms done great . just had keep it confine to cage for month.