I discovered this recently when we took our daughter's adopted stray to be neutered. He tested positive for heartworm, but the vet told us that the medication is no longer available.
All they can do for him now is give him the monthly preventative and not allow any new heartworms to form, but that the adults will still be there.
The article says that there's an expensive alternative, but the vet told us that there was NO alternative treatment to kill the adults.
For the last few years, there's been a growing shortages for people and our beloved pets. My mother can no longer get Armour Thyroid and my daughter's migraine medication is no longer being manufactured. (My mother is having her thyroid medication made for her at a compounding pharmacy, but it's expensive. My daughter is out of options and is desperate.)
Now we can't treat a heartworm infection. This is a huge problem for dogs in Texas. Our vet told us that local shelters and most pet owners are just putting down every dog that tests positive.
What the heck is going on people?! We live in the richest country in the world in 2011 and we can't get basic, old medications??
Obama is like the Pharoah of the Old Testament, bringing one plague after another on us.
He is a monster, a freak, a failure at running a government unless his goal is, as I suspect, to totally destrooy us.
All these stories about drug shortages seem to just nibble around the edges. It says the US drug maker can no longer produce the drug because the active ingredient is not available in the US, and US authorities are reluctant to allow the ingredient to be imported.
They don’t say who supplied the active ingredient previously, why it is no longer available, why it would have to be imported and why the imports are not allowed.
Shoddy reporting by very un-curious reporters. And it seems to be the same in other stories about drug shortages: no explanation about why there are now shortages where there were none previously.
Moslems HATE dogs, don’t they?
Bo is just window dressing.
It's an eventual horrible death sentence for infected dogs across the entire south.
Thank you FDA and central government control freaks/tyrants.
When has Central Planning EVER worked???
What. The. Hell.
We adopted a great Lab mix from the pound who happened to be infested with heartworm. The treatment was done for free but it was very dangerous and we had to nurse him for several weeks afterward.
It’s a terrible way for these pups to go. Apparently they’d rather allow pets to die than import something that might be...dangerous?
Good question, what is going on?
My little terrier died, 12 plus years old never had heart worms. My pitt bull is 10 years, never had heart worms. He has the softest, thickest hair, really nice.
I thought giving the preventative heart worm meds would kill a dog with heart worms.
As someone who works in the pharma industry, I can tell you that much of the API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) that goes into medicines is produced overseas. For whatever reason, API is becoming harder to find, and consequently, drug shortages.
I hate to think this, but maybe the administration is setting the stage to nationalize drug companies. That would be a total failure, and I would imagine that any new, innovative drug research would be halted.
the overseas supplier wouldn’t happen to be china, would it?
let’s see... obey the FDA and not produce the ingredients we need... ir let our dogs and elderly die... hmmm... tough decision
of course, the libtards are trying to make people disobey the govt... so they can crackdown
there is a solution... it’s been employed before
The answer, in one word: ivermectin. It can be used (in proper doses) for all sorts of worms, including heart worms. As a breeder, we use it, as it is cheap, can be purchased at feed stores, and it works. One $40 bottle of injectable ivermecin will last us over a year (with approximately 30 dogs at any one time). If you are curious about this, just ask your vet about the proper dosage (I cannot remember, as my wife actually does the monthly worming).
Doggie (((ping)))
Joe, please put me on your ping list.
The FDA will soon make all kinds of human drugs in short supply.
We need to get rid of the people who are burdening their health care system.
Dosage is 1/2 cc. monthly can also be used in the treatment of red mange , all I ever use house and cow dawgs
Why can’t your mom get Armour? I knew they were having quality problems and recalls, but didn’t realize that it wasn’t available. Tell her to look into Nature-throid made by RLC Labs. My ND had me switch when they were having issues with the Armour. I’m able to get it at my local Target pharmacy, but they do have to order it for me.
Many drugs in short supply at hospitals, pharmacies
Fear Not. There is an herbal heartworm treatment that is very effective and much less dangerous to your dog’s health. I have used it and cured my dog’s heartworms with it.
About 10 years ago I took my dog (Beagle) Buddy in off the street and when I took him to the vet for a checkup and shots he tested positive for heartworms. They put him through the immiticide treatment which I cannot tell you how horrible it is and for 30 days afterward the dog has to be kept very quiet and can only be taken out in the yard on a leash to go to the bathroom. Its a nightmare. Anyway after 6 mos they re-tested and told me he was still testing weak positive for heartworms and they wanted to put Buddy through this treatment again. I was horrified. So I went online and started educating myself on heartworms.
I found an herbal alternative which had been developed by a lady in Atlanta where I live. Her dog Bandit had developed heartworms and the doctors said he was too old to treat. She researched the herbal way and came up with a remedy which cured her dog of the heartworms. I contacted an holistic vet who was familiar with the herbal treatment and she said my dog was probably a good candidate since he was not exhibiting any symptoms yet. She said to keep Buddy on his monthly heartworm (Heartguard Plus) meds and then give him the herbal treatment on top of it. I contacted Robin Sockness Bandit’s owner directly and she was good enough to call me on the phone and discuss the treatment. I purchased the herbs and began the daily regimen. 4 months later I took Buddy in for a heartworm test and he tested negative. He has never had a positive test since. The vet is still trying to come up with some other explanation for the cure.
Bottom line foks the vets will seldom if ever tell you this stuff but if your dog has a very mild case of heartworms and you just keep the dog on the Heartguard Plus in about 12 mos the few worms he has will die of old age and the monthly treatment will keep any other worms from forming.
I am posting the website to go to for Bandit’s cure. The main thing to remember is that you need to purchase the herbs from Nature’s Sunshine and you have to maintain the daily regimen pretty strictly. After about 4 mos your dog should be cured. Don’t forget to keep them on their monthly heartworm pill during treatment. This stuff really works. I will never ever put another dog through that immiticide treatment.
www.banditsbuddies.com/treatmentshtml
Why does the FDA regulate pet medicine? I mean, even if you feel like pets are people too, and you’d like the FDA to tell you whether they think a drug is safe, why take the extra step of prohibiting drugs that the FDA hasn’t proclaimed yet?
For people, you could argue that the risk of illness or death due to drugs is severe enough that the FDA needs to protect us from making our own bad choices.
But these are just dogs. And they are going to be killed if they don’t get HW medicine. So why prohibit importing medicine? It makes no sense. Just have the FDA put a stamp on stuff they approve, and the pet owners can decide if they want to risk using an untested foreign drug or putting their dog to sleep.
Having written that, what choice is that? Just give them the untested medicine, and if it makes them sicker, you can still just put them to sleep.
The government is into every single aspect of our lives. We need to get government off our backs, out of our medicine cabinets, out of our wallets, and out of our decision-making process.
This is where the Cass Sunstein ‘nudge’ becomes the ‘shove’. The same thing is happening to other drugs and medications. Anaesthesiologists can’t get what they need either - they’re making do with a secondary choice. There wil lbe ever more ‘regulations’ to follow. Until you’ve been ‘regulated’ out of your own life.
Wake up and smell the killing fields that inhabit the imaginations of the current occupants of the White House.
You cannot regulate something and get more of it, period, in any field and for any lame reason like Vets not making enough money or one out of ten thousand dogs who are treated getting ill or dying from the pills. What about the ten thousand that will die now that their owners can't afford to keep their dogs healthy? It's just another example of “concerned” people looking out for themselves and saying they're looking out for someone else.