[Rashputin]

As soon as they started requiring a prescription from your Vet to buy heart worm pills to prevent your dog from getting them in the first place this was bound to happen. People just can't afford the hundred or more dollars the Vet wants to perform a checkup before they sell you the heart worm pills at an exorbetant price rather than writing you a prescrition you can fill wherever you like. I regularly gave my dogs these pills every month and now, no can do. The does will without a doubt get heart worms because this is a farm area and people have goats, hogs, cattle, etc. Everyone who hasn't given their dog the pills on a regular basis has lost a dog to heart worms and now, thanks to the deep concern of the wonderful Vets who insisted we need prescriptions, I'll end up losing one to heart worms as well.

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.

[Marie]

Please go to petshed.com. That’s where I get my animals’ monthly wormers and flea and tick meds.

What really upsets me is that this little guy is the sweetest dog in the world. He’s calm, friendly and happy. We’re going to try to save him and he is worth saving.

I did my homework on ivermectin. It is the same medication in the monthly heartworm preventative. It does not kill the adults, but it does weaken them and shorten their lifespan.

In less than two years, the dog can become heartworm free with this medicine alone.

The problem we’re having at the moment is that the larva are dying and the little guy is pretty sick with that.

The vet says that we’ll know within 6 months if he’s healthy enough to survive the prolonged heartworm infection. In the meantime, we need to keep him calm and happy. He also said that sometimes it doesn’t work and the dog is not cured in the two-year time frame.