I remember a thread quite awhile back where people were taliking about using the oral cattle ivermectin for their dogs for heartworm prevention. Being exceedingly lame, I cannot find that thread and am hoping that someone might be able to give me the proper dosage for the liquid ivermectin. To put it simply, I have way too many dogs to feed them the little treats laced with the medicine, but I need to keep them safe from heartworm. Any help? Thanks!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 24, 2000

Answers

1/10cc per 25 pounds, given orally. Remember,it's not labeled for dogs and vets hate it when you do this.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

Just went back and reread your post. My dosage is for injectable, not oral,so I'm not sure about this. Also, if you suspect dog already has heartworm, you shouldn't give it. Adult worms in system can become lodged in heart and kill the dog. Get a heartworm test, then go from there.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

Use 1cc per 100lb body weight. Injectable form (for concentration) but administered orally. Also be careful to use PLAIN Ivermectin: recently the manufacturer has been selling a product called Ivermectin Plus that has another cattle specific wormer in it. Keep the unused Ivermectin in the refrigerator (butter compartment works nice). One treatment per month is sufficient. Be sure dogs are checked for heartworm before beginning application; a severely infected dog could die from large die off of microfilaria and adult worms.

-- Rags (RaggedReb@aol.com), November 24, 2000.

Just have to be contrary but:

1% Ivermectin cattle injectable: 14cc Propolyn Glycol or Sterile water: 86cc

Mix together and keep in the fridge. This mixture comes very close to the percent of Ivermectin in heartguard, and is what was given to Rottwiler breeders. This is given orally, and heartworms, does not stomach worm.

Give 1cc per 100 pounds once a week for 5 weeks then once monthly for life. Start puppies at 3 months.

You can also use the Pig .27% Ivermectin straight at 1cc per 20 pounds, orally, monthly. And yes same advice for having the test run before, and also for not using on collies etc. that can't take Heartguard. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

Thanks, guys! I have Border Collies that I know are negative for heartworm, but they are very sensitive to ivermectin so do you think I should lighten the dosage a tic for them? Also, I have one poor rescue mix breed dog that is heartworm positive, the course we have been taking with him for the past 8 months has been using the Heartgard preventative once a month to slow the growth...do you think I should just keep him on the preventative from the vet?

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 24, 2000.

Doreen,be careful when using Ivermectin on your dogs.We sometimes use it for our goats and give the guard dogs a dose at the same time.Once.Ann's little dog "Usless Sh" was with us and we grabbed him up and gave him a tiny bit of paste orally(of course).Next day he was blind.3 days and 283.00 later his sight returned.Vet said it could have gone either way.Seems 1 in 10,000 is allergic to Ivermec.Lucky us.Strangely enough,Usless Sh had been on Heartgard since he was a puppy.Same stuff so it must have been the dosage.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

Doreen, do not use Ivermectin in any collie type breed, it can be deadly, they have unique genetics that make them hypersensitive to it! Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 26, 2000.

I have been using the Heartguard with ivermectin for prevention of heartworms on my dogs for years. They are all collie of some type, except for the 'God only knows what' dropped off dog. Here in Central Texas if you don't use heartworm preventative you may as well just inject you dog with heartworm and forget the pretenses.

My vet said that with collies it is better to slightly under treat. For example I have one Border Collie who weighs 48 lbs and one who weighs 58 lbs and he suggested that I use the up to 50 lb dosage for both of them.

Awhile back when I found out that Wiley was positive I did a lot of research on heartworm and it didn't seem that there were any viable holistic alternatives. Do you know of something, Annie?

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 26, 2000.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NATURAL PET CARE by CJ Puotinen has a good bit on heartworm. Its too long to post here,but basically talks about how the incidence of heartworm has not decreased one iota since the intro of wide use of the drugs for it; how canines in the wild do not die of heartworm, they develop a mild case and then become immune; that pets have become suseptible because of commercial diets (no raw meat and bones,their natural food)and because of routine vaccinations; how to use certain herbs as a vermifuge; getting rid of mosquito-breeding places on your property (heartworm is carried by mosquitoes).

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), November 26, 2000.

Doreen, yes! Garlic! I have not had to worm any of our five large dogs for over a year now because of garlic (saves me lots of money on the tapeworm remedy,Droncit, which for a 75 pound animal costs 20-30 dollars a piece, for a double dose separated 2-3 weeks apart).

I started feeding garlic two years ago for a natural solution to the fleas and ticks that are abundant here, and the skin problems that come with the fleas ( flea allergy reactions). After a month, the fleas were gone, and the ticks greatly reduced, just an occasional one or two on the dogs. And their coats are gorgeous, and shiney, with no brushing required.

I buy organic garlic in bulk from Frontier Natural Products Co-op, 1- 800-669-3275, but any garlic would work, it's only 3.75 a pound from Frontier, so for me, they're the cheapest way to go. I mix 2 pounds of garlic with one pound of kelp powder (for micro nutrient supplementation), and one pound of nutritional yeast powder (for B complex vitamins), in a two gallon sealed container, and shake/stir well. Every dog gets a tablespoon of this mixture a day on/in their food, add a vegetable oil (an ounce or less, depending on size of the dog) to a dry dog food so it will stick and coat the food pieces evenly, per portion.

It is easiest for me to mix a five gallon bucket of dry food, oil, and garlic, kelp, yeast mixture, at a time, and then dole it out of the bucket, for the dogs. If you only have a few dogs, or small dogs, you could mix it up as needed, but I go through 50 pounds, or more, of dry food per week.

Basically, every 50 pound dog should get a tablespoon of the garlic mixture (just garlic can be used) per day, and at least a tablespoon of added oil, the amount of quality oils in pet food is usually under supplied, leading to coat, flea, and other problems.

It takes at least a month to notice improvement/elimination of the fleas and ticks, and a good six months to notice elimination of worms, but this does work. Every one who has used this consistently is amazed at the results, my vet included. BTW, the dry dog food base I use is the high protein Walmart brand, 13.00 for 50 pounds, so it is not necessary to use a high dollar dry food with this added supplementation.

The dogs all seem to like the garlic taste, and do not suffer from "garlic breath" at all, so getting them to eat it is not a problem. Good luck, if you have any additional questions, feel free to e-mail me. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 27, 2000.

Thanks for typing all of that, Annie!

I think I will continue with the ivermectin for heartworm though. This is heavy clay soil here and if there has been any rain we have A LOT of mosquitos. A friend of mine lost her dog last year to heartworm and I love mine too much to risk it. It isn't like stomach or intestinal worms where you can get rid of them after they are there. From what I have read on the heartworm the average lifespan is five years and a dog can outlive a few heartworms so long as they are sterilized or nuetralized while in the animal.

I don't know that the incidence of heartworm has increased at all. I would just think that people have become more attached to their pets and diagnostics are better now than they were so we know why things die.

I will take your suggestion on the garlic for general worming in my dogs as in the spring it seems I always seem to have one of them show up with tapeworms. I feed mine well and even though I don't eat meat I get them cow bones from the famous barbecue place here and they love them!

Thanks for all of your help everyone!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), November 28, 2000.

I want to know sideeffect of ivermectin to semen quality in dog and cat ? please ask to me,thank you. I'm student in thailand

-- Monchai Lekcharunewong (Pang10@chaiyo.com), April 04, 2001.