Heartworm treatment

Thank you Tina - i'm going to get on the net tonight when i get home and see what i can find out!

This is how I treated the heartworm the little dog in my avatar had.  She was clear w/in six months, though it can take up to a year.  The danger is clotting during shedding of the worms, same as with the Immiticide, but the slow method is not as hard on the dog as a whole.

Good luck!

I've done this as well -- we took in a boxer/pit mix years ago that was super heavily infested with heartworms (so much so that the heart and lungs were *both* infiltrated and the heart was heavily damaged).  But she *did* survive and survive very well.

My point is -- it all depends on how "positive" they are as to how long it takes to fully treat, but as Tina says the treatment is actually far kinder to the dog than the imiticide.  We got Ms Socks a clear occult after a year, and she survived 6 1/2 more years (lost her at 17 -- she was an incredibly sweet girl). 

Tina, I'd forgotten Agnes was heartworm positive.  I "miss" her all the way to Florida.  You had good stories about her "adopting" you!. 

Thanks so much - i just put in a call to the shelter and i'm hoping we can start this.

Because of the shortage, the American Heartworm Society published some guidelines to manage the disease until the Immiticide is available again. You can read them here. I hope the shortage will not last long and that your dog will get the needed treatment soon if he is heavily infected. Good luck to both of you !

The shortage also has a big effect in rescue where the fast treatment is sometimes preferred so that the dogs can be transported to the North.

You are right, Erica.

Merial annouced they were out due to to technical issues with the company that supplies the finished product. It is my understanding (but I can be wrong) that in this case, Merial was just the distributor and that they don't know when Immiticide will be available again. It is possible some vets still have doses left but I agree that at this time, vets cannot be supplied . Overall, it sucks and we can only hope the issue is resolved soon.

Here is the DogAware site on using the slow kill method for heartworms:

"Important New Information Regarding Heartworm Treatment and Doxycycline"
http://www.dogaware.com/health/heartworm.html#wolbachia

"Recent research has shown that treatment of heartworm-infected dogs with doxycycline weakens and sterilizes adult heartworms, kills all migrating larvae and half of the juvenile worms, and reduces the adverse effects caused by heartworms, and by their death. Doxycycline should be given prior to treatment with Immiticide, to reduce the risk of treatment. It should also be used as part of a "slow kill" treatment protocol when Immiticide is not used. ...

Weekly ivermectin is not recommended for dogs with the MDR1 gene mutation that causes sensitivity to ivermectin. ... "

Thank you all so much for help (and thank you again Callie!!).  We were able to find a vet who still had some HW meds and Tux is heading there today.  Please wish him luck - we are very worried about him!