ARE OUR DOGS TEST SUBJECTS?

So the lunch was given by Fort Dodge?  Ugh.  Yup, sounds like them.

There's a new generation of parasite control on the horizon coming.  I'm hoping it arrives soon.  It's available in livestock as external parasite control and is just a year or so away from being approved for internal parasites.  From there, as usual, it should move to pets fairly soon.  I have fears of ivermectin and Interceptor becoming ineffective soon.

I've asked that NO FORT DODGE be written on all my pet's charts and explained why.  I also have stopped using one of the only products currently effective on stomach worms in livestock in this area, Cydectin, because it's also made by Fort Dodge.  I will not take that risk, even on a sheep.  We EAT those sheep.  Instead, I've gone to a very work intensive, but more natural method of control, and it looks like I'll be able to continue it at the new place (thank you God!).

And guess what?  Because I went to that method, I've had people knocking down my door wanting sheep for their freezer - I've found a niche for low-chemical input meat here that I never would have thought was sustainable, until I ditched Fort Dodge.  Mysterious ways, huh?

I only offer this as information, but it is rightful distrust of these pharmaceutical companies that makes us seek alternative treatments for things like heartworm.  The advantage of alternative treatments is that it puts the safety of our pets (and livestock) directly in our own hands.  Of course, the disavantage to weigh is the lack of scientific data behind most of these alternatives, and also the lack of support if something goes wrong, many times.  An excellent compromise is a holistic DVM.

Thank you for your continued information, Sandra. 

MY VET DOES NOT EVEN SAY THE NAME FORT DODGE TO ME....CALLS IT THE COMPANY I DO NOT LIKE.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE HOW STPID I WAS 5 YEARS AGO.  I NOTIFIED FORT DODGE THAT PROHEART6 HAD KILLED MY HUNTER---AIHA ND LIVER AMAGE, BTHALREADY KNOWN TO E REACIONS OF THE WORST KID.    SHORT TIME LATER MY VET CALLED ME.  HE HAD GOTTEN A LETTER FROM FORT DODGE ASKING FOR HUNTER'S ENTIRE MEDICAL RECORD, NOT JUST FOR THE AIHAS AND LIVER DAMAGE, BUT CLEAR BACK TO WHEN WE GOT HIM AT 8 WEEKS OLD. NAIVE ME, I WAS SURE THEY WOULD SEE IT WAS THE PH6 THAT KILLED HIM.  HE HAD NEVER BEEN SICK A DAY IN HIS LIFE, NOT EVEN THE DREADED GOLDEN RETRIEVER EAR INFECTION.  RICKEY WOULD NOT SEND THEM WITHOUT MY OKAY, SO I SAID SURE.

AS TIME WENT ON AND I WAS IN CONTACT WITH MORE AND MORE WHO LOST OR ALMOST LOST THEIR DOG/DOGS I BECAMED CONVINCED AS SO MANY OF THEM WERE THAT WHILE FORT DODGE WAS DENYING IT WAS THEIR PRODUCT THAT KILLED OUR DOGS THEY WERE TRYING TO THINGS IN MEDICAL HISTORIES  THAT COULDS CAUSE CERTAIN DOGS TO HAVE REACTIONS--LIKE IF A HIGH NUMBER OF THEDOGS HAD HAD ENVIRONMENTAL ALLERGIES,  OR WERE ON CERTAIN MEDS, ETC.  AND SEEING HOW THEY ARE WARNING AGAINSAT GIVING IT WITHIN A MONTH OF VACCINES, THAT WAS PROBABLY PART OF THE PUZZLE.  THEY ARE ALSO SAYING TO BE CAREFUL GIVING IT TO DOGS WITH ALLERGIES, EVEN FOOD ALLERGIES.  YES SIR-EEEEETHEY LEARNED FROM OUR DOGS DEATHS.

 Yeah, I'm sorry.  I learned many years ago not to disclose medical histories in toto.  That's called "fishing" when someone goes looking for information in that way.  As a semi-public person I have to be on guard against it.  There's nothing I really mind disclosing to people - I freely share my dog's information among vets and the like - and heaven knows I'm open about my dogs' care publicly!  But it's easy to use almost anything out of context to be twisted against you.

"The company you don't like. . . ." that's an understatement!   

this isn't really anything new- FDA standards are alarmingly lax. For both human and animal meds they require very limited evidence of safety, and even more limited evidence of efficacy. Then they require the manufacturer to do "post marketing study" which means collecting data on people and dogs dropping dead or getting seriously ill after taking the drug.

 I view new medications the same way I do new car models.  It takes a few years to get the "bugs" out.  So, when my vet offered me Proheart 6 when it first came out, I declined it, and thank goodness I did.  Reading about Sandra's poor Hunter, and all the other dogs, makes me wonder at how a company could even think of re-introducing such a product to more unsuspecting owners.  Vets need to be extremely careful to keep up with information about adverse reactions, not just to this crap, but to any veterinary pharmaceutical.  People listen to their vets.  They don't realize that, in many cases, they are just listening to some salesman...

The comments that person from Fort Dodge made are akin to the statements we can all envision the mortgage salespeople making - and look where that got us.  I will now be retiring at age 120.