Slow Kill Heartworm treatment

[jetsmom]

Anyone have experiences with the slow kill method (Heartworm pill weekly for a yr, and Doxycycline twice a day for a month then 2 months off, then month again, repeat.)?

Just started it about 3 weeks ago on a stray, with mild heartworm (no symptoms) that is absolutely fearful of people and cannot be handled by strangers without it REALLY stressing him, even when we are just trying to sedate. When I brought him in for vaccs/heartworm test, they tried to give him an injectable sedation (Torb and something else) and he blew right thru it, so we had to hold him down and do gas which took about 10 min to even affect him. Fast kill treatment wasn’t an option because bringing him back in for the 2nd shot would stress him/raise heartrate and risk killing him w/embolism. If he had any complications, they would not be able to sedate, and he’d be stressed enough to throw an embolism. So slow kill was my only option.

He seems to be handling it very well so far. I’m wondering if anyone else has done it, and if I can relax and assume it should go fine, or was there a point where things got rough? Vet said he can do normal activity, which is laying around, and nightly quiet walks for about 25 min.

[dalpal]

I did slow kill on my girl…We just did Heartgard Plus, nothing extra. She was tested a couple years later and was heartworm negative. :yes:

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=dalpal;6510526]
I did slow kill on my girl…We just did Heartgard Plus, nothing extra. She was tested a couple years later and was heartworm negative. :yes:[/QUOTE]

THX!

[LauraKY]

Doesn’t that possibly cause a problem with resistance?

[Marshfield]

Why not just give some valium or alprazolam and or phenobarb at home orally to sedate prior to taking into the vet for treatment?

[tradewind]

Slow kill has worked quite well for some semi feral rescues that came to me. More people might be chosing that option soon if they do not repopen the plant that makes the traditional fast kill drug.

[Kat_the_Horse]

I think it is better than the ‘fast-kill’ for the dog!

I have two shelter-adoptees that I am doing the slow-kill with–just started in July. I am following a slightly different protocol. They received double-dose ivermection every 2 weeks, as this also killed the hook worms and roundworms both dogs were infected with (gotta love city-run shelters).

I am giving doxycycline for two weeks…off a week…then giving the doxycycline for two weeks. This was found to kill a far more significant percentage of the Wolbachia (site: http://dogaware.com/health/heartworm.html#wolbachia).

I will give them 2 months off the doxy, but keep to ivermection double-dose twice monthly.

Both dogs have responded wonderfully, with energy to spare, no coughing upon activity. The puppy (who was suffering from white-gum anemia, bloody stool and severe gastro bacteria infection when my daughter brought him home from the shelter) has become so healthy, putting on weight and acting just like the wee troublemaker every 1-year old puppy is apt to be. We still restrict activity, but it is hard when he is apt to race about the house being chased or chasing by ‘his’ cat.

Both dogs were diagnosed with heartworms, hook and round worms by our vet, but beyond the ‘fast-kill’ for the dogs’ heartworms and $20 a dog a month Heartgard, plus overinflated tablets for their hooks and worms, he could offer no real help. I researched alternative treatments, found the ‘slow-kill’ protocol, and proceeded on my own.

I’m not suggesting this to anyone who can afford clinic prices, but I buy my doxycycline from a seller who supplies fisheries and aquarium hobbyists with pharma-grade capsules of 100mg doxycycline. I’m using livestock injectible ivermectin dispensed by weight of the dog.

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=Marshfield;6510916]
Why not just give some valium or alprazolam and or phenobarb at home orally to sedate prior to taking into the vet for treatment?[/QUOTE]

Because he blows thru most sedation due to being feral for 3 yrs. He is very hyper-alert in strange surroundings. When I brought him in for testing, they gave Torb and something else, and assured me it would completely knock him out. Thirty min later, they came in the room and he was still standing watching the door. Not sedated at all.

You can’t let their heart rate go way up once being treated by fast kill or they can get an embolism. Plus vet said No sedation is possible once he would be getting fast kill. So if he had a complication, and needed vet care, he’d be at very high risk for an embolism, since he panics around strangers.

[dalpal]

Jetsmom…IMHO, slow kill is the safest route for a dog in your situation. Personally, I’m not willing to risk killing a dog with the fast kill protocal. That method comes with heavy risks. True, so does having heartworms…but if I get another rescue in who is HW positive, I will once again use the Slow Kill method.

[Marshfield]

[QUOTE=jetsmom;6511225]
Because he blows thru most sedation due to being feral for 3 yrs. He is very hyper-alert in strange surroundings. When I brought him in for testing, they gave Torb and something else, and assured me it would completely knock him out. Thirty min later, they came in the room and he was still standing watching the door. Not sedated at all.

You can’t let their heart rate go way up once being treated by fast kill or they can get an embolism. Plus vet said No sedation is possible once he would be getting fast kill. So if he had a complication, and needed vet care, he’d be at very high risk for an embolism, since he panics around strangers.[/QUOTE]

Which is why you would give it at home before going to the vet’s office. This gets the sedation in effect before the stress.

[irkenequine]

I did the slow kill treatment with my 9 year old rescue who was a low positive, as per the recommendation of the vets I work with. (Cardiologist approved!) Heartguard and doxycycline.

She was negative in 9 months. I would do it over again in a second.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

After nearly killing a rescue with immiticide and milbemycin oxime, I’ll never do the fast kill method again.

I just give ivermectin every month and eventually the dog is negative.

A old vet in our area told me once that when we first got HWs fifty years or so ago, they were more quickly lethal to their hosts. He believes the parasites evolved to be less lethal over time, since a parasite who kills its host slowly would produce more offspring and therefore that trait would perpetuate itself. He only does slow-kill, AFAIK.

Last I heard, the ivermectin-resistant HW has been identified only in the Gulf states.

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=Marshfield;6514819]
Which is why you would give it at home before going to the vet’s office. This gets the sedation in effect before the stress.[/QUOTE]

But if there were a complication from the fast kill, the vet says they CANNOT be sedated. So he would basically die. And I still think that even with valium, he’d blow thru it as soon as someone tried to handle him.

[Calamber]

I did kill my sweet little cocker boy with immiticide. I would never use any fast kill method again ever. The use of doxycycline had been, perhaps still is, utilized to ameliorate the effect of the cohost to the heartworm parasite (I forget what it is), but that is the reason for the doxy protocol. It also will help with erlichiosis which my boy also had. If I had treated him with slow kill, I am sure he would be alive today.

[glfprncs]

I volunteer at a local no-kill shelter and we currently have 5 dogs who are heartworm positive. Three tested as low heartworm positive, while two have heavy infestations.

All 5 are on Tri-heart each month, but only the three low positive dogs receive any other treatment (doxycycline).

The three low positives are still able to go out into yards and play and they still are able to be walked by our volunteers. The two dogs that have heavy infestations are only allowed limited activity (no walks, only socialization with humans over at the park–not that they mind getting their bellies rubbed for 30 minutes while hanging out under a tree) and very restricted time outside (we don’t want them to start running like crazy for fear of what the heartworm infestation may do).

The problem, IMO, with treating a heavier infestation with the slow kill method is that is will take years and year, and the dogs’ activity levels have to be restricted during that time.

I adopted out a medium positive dog last spring. His new mom contacted me just last week that share that he was finally heartworm negative.

[jetsmom]

Thank you everybody for your stories. It’s sets my mind at ease.

[LauraKY]

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary-resources/canine-guidelines.html#8

[leaf]

I’ve many years working in small animal clinics, and we haven’t used immiticide for a long time. Had to dispose of the expired immiticide on the shelf and haven’t ordered any new.
My vets do the slow kill: keep dog on preventative monthly, and doxy. As I understand it, the doxy kills off a symbiotic bacteria that lives on the cuticle of the heartworm causing the heartworm to die off sooner. Within a year, in most cases, the dog tests negative.
I’ll bet that your dog will do fine.