Posted on 08/23/2011 7:14:11 AM PDT by Marie
FORT WORTH, Texas - If your dog has heartworms it will be harder to get a cure. The only company producing the parasite-killing drug has run out and veterinarians don’t know when they’ll get more.
Veterinarians across the country are in a quandary because Immiticide is the only FDA-approved drug available to treat dogs with heartworms.
Drug company Merial said its supply is gone and it can’t produce any more because it can’t get the drug’s active ingredient in the United States. The FDA has been hesitant to allow overseas suppliers to fill American orders.
Vets are working with what they have left in their stock room or they’re prescribing a costly combination of drugs as a substitute to keep dogs stable.
“Not only do we have to purchase the drug later, we don’t know whether there is going to be an increase. We will have to keep the dogs stable until we get the Immiticide,” said Dr. Cynthia Jones.
Dr. Jones said the situation is heartbreaking. She knows most shelters won’t be able to afford the substitute treatment and families will be hesitant to pick up sick dogs. They may be put down.
“Those dogs make wonderful pets. We can cure it. We can fix this. If we can fix a problem like this, we want to try,” she said.
No one is quite sure when the heartworm drug will be available again.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/entertainment/pets/081211-dog-heartworm-drug-supply-runs-out#ixzz1VrOgSpgd
Yikes!
While my pure-bread Ausie black-tri was alive, I had him on IverHart Max (ivermectin / pyrantel pamoate / praziquantel). Never had a problem while he was alive (lived to 17!).
I have since adopted another dog that had been picked up as a stray, so the lineage is unknown. The adoption counselor thought he might be a Catahoula Leopard Dog, or a mix. He has the blue merle gene. I’ve had him on Iverhard Max as well this summer. So far, no problem, but with an unknown breed, which obviously shares a gene with other breeds which are sensitive to ivermectin, I’m now concerned.
Should I proceed with a MDR1 test?
Here’s some pictures of him:
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/michael-litscher/sets/72157622814251321/
I think you are fine to use Iverhart for your Catahoula. I have two clients with Catahoulas who have their dogs on Iverhart. One of them has been on it for almost a decade without problems. If your dog were going to have a problem with the ivermectin it would have most likely happened with the first dose. Also, the dose of ivermectin in the packaged heartworm preventives is unlikely to be enough to cause a problem. But if it’s going to worry you, yeah, you can do the test.
Thank you. I appreciate the reply. I will keep him on Iverhart while watching for symptoms.
I get mine from overseas. Armour has changed and another does the same. Higher than with insurance but I could not get a doc to prescribe it for me. Has helped me immensely. Been using it for 5 years now. If you are interested, pm me and I’ll forward the email that I was sent with the links to sites. For instance on the one that I got it at, the Armour 2 grain, 100 tab is $104.49 and ERFA Thyroid Natural 2 Grain is $89.95 It is as good as Armour.
I'm a life-long migrainer and have made the emergency room trip a few times when I've lost control of one. That is why I was curious about the drug.
I seem to recall the attempted use of Midrin during those ER runs. It was my pit stop up to the drugs that actually worked like Morphine or Dilaudid.
The last ER trip the doc would not use those drugs and instead went for the steroid/benadryl route. He said something about the morphine and Dilaudid causing rebound.
Anyways, I use Zomig but have recently picked up the generic Imitrex to see how that works. It is the first triptan to go generic (I believe).
Oh, and something I found that helps especially at bed time is an ice pak for the head. Keeps the pain and nausea down.
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