Ivermectin injectible

I know the recommended dosage is .1cc/10lb of dog, but at what age do you guys start treating your dogs?

1 year and don't go over or under 1/2 cc on normal size dog regardless of wt if your talking regular old cattle injectable

Have them tested for heart worms before you start them on any of the drugs.

Mine have always started between 7-8 week mark, but it wasn't the Ivermectin from the feed store. My vet always gave the first month heartworm prevention for free. If you are using a country style vet, stop by their office and ask him/her.

Kindell did you start the ivermectin at 12 weeks per your vet?

No, it was not per my vet. That is why I told him to ask his vet. My vet does not get upset if someone wants to use it for heartworm prevention on their dog, but I haven't used it on puppies. So I have no idea at what age would be fine to start, or if you need to wait until they are a certain weight.
I would rather tell someone to ask a vet, than give them the wrong information.
I only have three dogs at the house now, so I don't use it. When we had a herd of them years ago we did. I thought about going back to it a few months ago, but would have still needed to use a flea med. I just stayed on the heartworm prevention meds they were already on, because it takes care of fleas too.

Why do the vets always say get a heart worm test first?

Because if your dog has already contracted heartworms, some preventatives can cause a severe reaction or even death of the dog. Ivermectin is fortunately less likely to cause a severe reaction, but it can kill the baby microfilariae and leave the adult worms alive in the dog's heart. Since your vet's heartworm test looks for microfilariae, not adults, you can unfortunately get a negative/favorable heartworm test even though your dog is being harmed by adult heartworms.

I have been using ivermectin with excellent results since the 1980's. I give it once a month, year round, to each and every dog I have, and have never lost a dog due to oral ivermectin dosage, but I am very careful to use the correct dosage as prescribed by my vet, who is also my brother.
If I get a dog that tests positive for heartworms, I treat them myself and have had positive results every time. I have cured dogs that were already coughing from heartworms with ivermectin.
From my actual experience using this medication at the proper dosage I am confident it is the best treatment for the prevention of heartworms and very effective in treating dogs that are infected with adult heartworms as well.
At present, I have a 13 year old Setter, a 12 year old Pointer, a 10 year old Pointer, and a mixed breed yard dog that is probably crowding 15, deaf from old age but heartworm free.
Before Ivermectin, I never had a dog make it to ten years of age. It is a miracle drug for dogs.

We used to use it for our dogs, per our vet. he would give us a bottle when he came out for vet checks on other animals if we where low. All we ever did was oral, iirc he said one drop per 10#'s, could have been 1 per 20#. We treated every other month.

We've used Ivermectin liquid for years. Dosage has always been 1/10 cc per 10 lbs. delivered orally.

Never had a problem with worms.

I just looked it up. It seems as if heartworms would eventually go away with everyone preventing them.

Are you saying that we can completely eradicate the mosquito? We are a hell of a long ways away from making that happen.

No. The host is another dog. The mosquito carries it from one dog another.

Yup.

I would imagine coyotes and fox or anything else wild and in the canine class are affected to some degree so heartworms are here to stay. The first dogs I knew of dying of heartworms were in the early 1960's. By the time ivermectin came along twenty some years later, heartworms had become epidemic. If a dog lived to be 7-8 in those days it was unusual. Usually about the time they hit their prime they would come down with heartworms so bad they could barely go. Lost a lot of dogs and spent a lot of money and time trying home remedies but none of it worked. If you took one to a vet they might give them a little time but the dog never had any stamina after the arsenic treatments. It was tough. Sure glad those days are behind us.

I moved from Dallas to New Orleans in 1971. I had two pointes. they both tested positive for heartworms. That's when I had them treated and put on whatever the vet recommended. I went from tablets to Ivermectin which was given to me by a vet in 1992. My dogs have been clean since then. I give it to them on a piece of buttered bread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirofilaria_immitis#Hosts


Distribution[edit]

Although at one time confined to the southern United States, heartworm has now spread to nearly all locations where its vector, the mosquito, is found. Transmission of the parasite occurs in all of the United States (cases have even been reported in Alaska), and the warmer regions of Canada. The highest infection rates are found within 150 miles of the coast from Texas to New Jersey, and along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries.[3] It has also been found in South America,[4] southern Europe,[5][6] Southeast Asia,[7] the Middle East,[8] Australia, Korea, and Japan.[3][9]

I've used it since 1998 at 1/2 CC per 50lbs and no heart worms.

I have used ivermectin mixed with propylene glycol for 25 or 30 years and never had a dog infected. If you use ivermectin alone, your absorption is spotty and it is difficult to get the proper dose which is 6mcg per kg. Place 9cc of propylene glycol with 1 cc of ivermectin. A 50 lb dog should get about .3cc of this solution orally. Propylene glycol is available from pharmacies.