rusty
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Jul 8, 2005, 6:22 AM
Post #2 of 3
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Re: [yarfen] heartguard for large breed suitable for small breed?
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Dear Yarfen,
In terms of Heartworm prevention, you actually have three choices. Daily, monthly or yearly prevention. Since your down is less than 6 months, the yearly injection is not recommended. Nowadays, daily prevention is no longer popular. Therefore, you have to put your dog on monthly prevention. As far as I know, there are many brands eg. Interceptor, Heartgard plus, Heartz, Heartsaver, Proheart tablets etc. If you drop by at any vet clinic and read the Heartgard plus leaflet, it is recommended that you have to start giving as young as 6 weeks old. After that, you have to ensure that the dog is heartworm free by doing a test so that you won't waste money by giving prevention to an infected dog. One important point to take note is that the test detects adult worms only ! The period from the time a dog is bitten by an infected mosquito until the worm becomes an adult, it will take a minimum period of 6 months. That is to say, if you send any dog that is less than 6 months old for testing, it will definitely test negative. Therefore, don't test now. In your dog's case, discuss with your vet and I am sure he will recommend that you should start giving the monthly prevention and do the test later. Once your dog reaches 6 months and above, you can opt for the yearly heartworm prevention injection ie. Proheart SR-12. Don't worry about the product recall of Proheart 6 injection in USA as the product in Malaysia is a different product. This product gives you the convenience and peace of mind as compared to other monthly prevention whereby you have to always remember to give. The type of heartworm prevention to be given to the dog depends on you. If you feel that you are the forgetful type, then Proheart injection will be the choice. If you think you can religiously follow the monthly regime of giving the tablet or chewable, then the monthly preventation is the choice. The moral of the story : the longer you delay giving the prevention, the higher chance the dog will come down with Heartworm infection.
Coming back to your question of giving the large dog dose to a small dog. Theoretically, it should work. However, do you and I know whether the medication in the tablet or chewable chunk was distributed equally ???
It will always be a question mark if you have to cut it into half. Therefore, it is always wiser to opt for the correct weight range of heartworm prevention. Otherwise, why would the veterinary pharmaceutical companies come up with different weight range packing.
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hopefully i can get that from another vet that i will visit tomorrow. 