[QUOTE=Calamber;7740627]
Poisons do not cause “idiosyncratic” reactions but they do kill and heartworm preventative is known to cause immune system damage.
http://vitalanimal.com/heartworms/[/QUOTE]
It would be great if you could provide a reference with actual evidence for your vaguely described “immune system damage”.
What sort of damage?
Ghazzu, if you had bothered to read what I linked, it is in there, 55 cases.
" Well over half of all cases were diagnosed as idiopathic. Precipitating factors or diseases most frequently implicated in secondary immune-mediated thrombocytopenia or hemolytic anemia were: recent vaccination, drug therapy, obstetrical complications, stress, recent viral infection and neoplasia."
This one?
Pretty much disproves your assertion that heartworm prophylaxis was the cause of 55 cases.
Of the 3 cases associated with drug therapy, one was griseofulvin, one was sulfonamide, and one was sulfonamid and Pen G.
Just wanted to update that my girl is back go her old self again! Of course now I am waging a war on fleas in my house, as she skipped a week of flea treatment, because she was do sick. Now she is flea free…unlike my house. Yuck. I think I am slowly winning though. I’ve been using Borax, and sprays, though I am thinking I may have to go the bomb route. 
I was told that once your dog has tested positively for Erlichiosis, it will always test positive. Is this true?
[QUOTE=Freebird!;7790237]
Just wanted to update that my girl is back go her old self again! Of course now I am waging a war on fleas in my house, as she skipped a week of flea treatment, because she was do sick. Now she is flea free…unlike my house. Yuck. I think I am slowly winning though. I’ve been using Borax, and sprays, though I am thinking I may have to go the bomb route. :/[/QUOTE]
So glad to hear this 
She had the sweetest sad old girl dog face on in that FB photo you posted. Clearly a beloved member of the family.
I can’t believe a week of skipping flea treatment led to an infestation in your house! You must have so many fleas around. I guess it’s the southern weather they like?
Glad your girl is doing better!
My 8 year old bitch was just dx with Lyme “exposure” on Thursday. As far as we can tell, she was asymptomatic, but we are treating with Doxy anyway. We live in tick heaven, and my dogs run through long grass daily, so it’s something we can’t mess around with. My dogs were on Frontline, but we switched to Advantix some months ago because it supposedly will act as a repellent to some degree. Two of my 3 dogs have had Lyme now, and they are all vaccinated for Lyme and are on tick preventative almost all the time too. But, we literally pick live ticks off them all spring and fall - all kinds of ticks.
And even with topical tick preventatives, sometimes the ticks can bite them in an area that is not well protected because the topical meds travel through body fat – so, for example, their eyelids and lips may not be as protected as other parts. For anyone that didn’t see the tick that bit their dog - it’s not a surprise at all. Deer ticks are so tiny, and even with white dogs we can miss them.
Ticks are evil! 
Bells, that is what my vet told me. I took my dog over to the University for an unrelated item, and they asked about it as it showed up in her blood work.
[QUOTE=S1969;7790875]
Glad your girl is doing better!
My 8 year old bitch was just dx with Lyme “exposure” on Thursday. As far as we can tell, she was asymptomatic, but we are treating with Doxy anyway. We live in tick heaven, and my dogs run through long grass daily, so it’s something we can’t mess around with. My dogs were on Frontline, but we switched to Advantix some months ago because it supposedly will act as a repellent to some degree. Two of my 3 dogs have had Lyme now, and they are all vaccinated for Lyme and are on tick preventative almost all the time too. But, we literally pick live ticks off them all spring and fall - all kinds of ticks.
And even with topical tick preventatives, sometimes the ticks can bite them in an area that is not well protected because the topical meds travel through body fat – so, for example, their eyelids and lips may not be as protected as other parts. For anyone that didn’t see the tick that bit their dog - it’s not a surprise at all. Deer ticks are so tiny, and even with white dogs we can miss them.
Ticks are evil! :([/QUOTE]
I had to go to Frontline plus Preventic collars when we lived in tick heaven. Watch out for human symptoms too…if you dog has it, you could be exposed as well and doctors don’t diagnose it as well as vets.
Just to dispel some “myths” on this thread:
The yearly SNAP test screens for antibodies for ehrlichiosis. As long as there are antibodies in your pet the test will be positive. Antibodies do not always correlate with actual illness. A second blood test called a PCR test screens for DNA material of the Ehrlichia bacteria proper and can be performed to confirm actual disease carrier state. However, often if we have antibodies and clinical signs consistent with tick borne illness we will treat. It is true that once positive a pet may remain “positive” for years as antibodies can be persistently elevated. Alternately if a pet is positive for years there is also the possibility of re-exposure through new tick bites.
NO, I repeat NO, tick preventative is a panacea of prevention of tick borne illness. ALL, I repeat ALL, tick preventatives can take up to 12-24 hours for a tick to die. Disease transmission can happen in as few as 8 hours of feeding time. However, disease transmission increases significantly with length of feeding time.
Ehrlichiosis is a dangerous tick borne illness. Common symptoms are low platelets, low RBC (anemia), joint pain, fever, swollen lymph nodes, neurological signs, kidney failure. We have dogs dies annually from tick borne illness, even with aggressive appropriate therapy. Tick preventatives should be applied monthly to help greatly reduce the chances of illness.
The fact that one poster here had dogs not on HW prevention and lived in an area that has it was pure luck, nothing more nothing less. The fact that she had a dog die from HW treatment with Immiticide could have been prevented had that dog been on a preventative (or at least 99% prevented as that is how effective HW prevention is). NO dog, or at least 99% of dogs, should die of HW disease as it is an easily prevented disease.
I am quite certain pesticides have long term health effects on us all. You have more contact with pesticides in your daily life than you do via monthly preventative application on your pet(s). Additionally, pesticide side effects are usually cumulative over long periods of time. IMO, our pets do not have a natural life span long enough to really see those effects. We do as we live 60,70,80+ years. Our pets live 10,12,14 years. If we shorten their lifespan by 6 months but have made their lives better through being flea, tick and heartworm free I see that as a win, win.
It was not luck, both of my dogs are 13 years old and have never had heartworm disease. They are but only 2 of the nearly 10 dogs I had while in the area and none were given monthly heartworm treatment because they did not live outside. In fact the latest two did have Erlichiosis but were treated with Doxy, they never showed any sign of the disease but I treated once it was detected. The dog that died from the Immiticide treatment had hydrocephalus as a puppy and was a rescue. If I could have treated him with slow kill Heartguard treatment he would probably be alive today, but, of course, I was told that he had some damage to his heart and should take Doxy and then get heartworm treatment asap. I am pretty aware of tick borne diseases as I have Lyme, and a pretty high titer but I am not crippled from it, and have not had the high dose, long term antibiotic treatment. I use an MD who is a specialist in Lyme treatments (I am in Seattle now) and most of my problem were from mold and heavy metal toxicity. I do take a rather large number of supplements to deal with intermittent die off problems and to facilitate my ability to deal with toxins of varying kinds.
All I can say is that I would not use Immiticide again, definitely, now that the new research has discovered that the Wolbachia parasite causes the issues with the treatment for the disease and the use of Doxy plus Heartguard actually sterilizes the adult HWs, I would have gone that route. If I lived in HW central again, and my dogs lived inside, I would still not use heartworm preventative.
Here is an excellent website which includes the new research.
It was luck. Your dogs did go outside to go potty, most likely at the times of day when mosquito activity is at its highest. I have seen Huskies, Collies, Chihuahuas, Shih Tzus…you name it get heartworm disease. Alomst all of them “inside dogs”. I have also seen the 1% of dogs that get HWD despite being on HWP. Until you work in the veterinary field and actually diagnose and treat these animals please do not use your n=10 as an example of success. You were lucky.
For reference of what HWD is and recommended treatment please visit a REAL website published by veterinarians and scientists working in the field:
https://www.heartwormsociety.org/
[QUOTE=Calamber;7791744]
It was not luck, both of my dogs are 13 years old and have never had heartworm disease. They are but only 2 of the nearly 10 dogs I had while in the area and none were given monthly heartworm treatment because they did not live outside. In fact the latest two did have Erlichiosis but were treated with Doxy, they never showed any sign of the disease but I treated once it was detected. The dog that died from the Immiticide treatment had hydrocephalus as a puppy and was a rescue. If I could have treated him with slow kill Heartguard treatment he would probably be alive today, but, of course, I was told that he had some damage to his heart and should take Doxy and then get heartworm treatment asap. I am pretty aware of tick borne diseases as I have Lyme, and a pretty high titer but I am not crippled from it, and have not had the high dose, long term antibiotic treatment. I use an MD who is a specialist in Lyme treatments (I am in Seattle now) and most of my problem were from mold and heavy metal toxicity. I do take a rather large number of supplements to deal with intermittent die off problems and to facilitate my ability to deal with toxins of varying kinds.
All I can say is that I would not use Immiticide again, definitely, now that the new research has discovered that the Wolbachia parasite causes the issues with the treatment for the disease and the use of Doxy plus Heartguard actually sterilizes the adult HWs, I would have gone that route. If I lived in HW central again, and my dogs lived inside, I would still not use heartworm preventative.
Here is an excellent website which includes the new research.
http://www.dogaware.com/articles/wdjheartwormtreatment.html[/QUOTE]
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