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Veterinary Clinic: Dewclaw Removal, Disease Caused By Foreign Bodies
Your response suggests the dog would be overdosed at that level. You list the Heartgard Plus dosage expressed in units of "mcg." What is mcg? Is it units of mass? If so, how does it relate to units of volume?
Novartis Interceptor Flavor Tabs list milbemycin oxime as the active ingredient. Ivomec lists ivermectin as its active ingredient. Are the active ingredients in the two products comparable? Do they work the same way?
I guess what I am trying to say is that a valid comparison would judge apples to apples and I am wondering if such a comparison is even possible.
I live in Hawaii where heartworm is a concern. Many hunters, particularly those with pig-hunting dogs, maintain large numbers of dogs. In such cases, heartworm medication is costly. That is the reason Ivomec is popular here. If it were truly believed that such use is harmful, I would go back to conventional prevention methods immediately, regardless of cost.
I hope you can shed some light on these questions. Thanks. --RH
(Answer) I was not comparing Ivomec injectable to Interceptor. I was comparing it to Heartgard, which is the oral dog product containing ivermectin. The other critical point in this discussion is that you cannot compare these two products unless you state the concentration of the liquid Ivomec.
In the case of the horse product it is a 10 percent solution. The feeder pig product is a 2.7 percent solution. This means that the horse product has 10mg of ivermectin in each cc; the pig product has 2.7mg ivermectin per cc. If you look up a metric weight table you will find that 1mg equals 1,000mcg.
Now we have something to compare. At .5 cc of Ivomec per 50-pound dog, you are giving your dog 5mg or 5,000 mcg. The dosage of Heartgard is equivalent to 136 mcg per month for a 25- to 50-pound dog. This means you are giving 37 times the normal recommended dose of ivermectin.
If squirting the oral horse or pig product into a dog was such a good idea, why hasn't the drug company marketed it in that form? If expense is truly an issue, perhaps owning a fewer dogs might be the solution.
(Question) My three-year-old German shorthair recently started licking her front leg. She has a sore spot about the size of a quarter, and the hair is gone. My vet prescribed Diazepam, thinking that anxiety might be the cause. After two weeks and no improvement, I stopped that and got an over-the-counter spray called Bitter Apple. This seemed to help a little, but she still has the problem.
We moved to another home about three months ago, but she adapted very well and her lifestyle is the same. We have a large fenced backyard just like our other location. She comes in every night to be near us, and I take her with me a lot in the pickup. Her appetite is good and her great personality is the same as always. I'm 75 years old and have had a lot of bird dogs in my time, but this one might be the best hunter I ever had. She did fine in the field this past season. --BW
(Answer) You're on the right track but need to add an antibiotic to the treatment plan. After these things have gone on for a few days they become infected with staph and this causes an irritation in the wound that induces the dog to lick.
I use cephalexin or erythromycin and give it for a long period, 30 to 60 days. You might try Clomicalm to change her thinking about the wound. The big problem is that these wounds are typically on the anterior surface of the carpus, right where it is convenient to lick when lying around with nothing better to do.
Now answer a question from me to all of you. I'm going to be 64 in June. Should I get a pointer pup?
Contact Tom Holcomb at his e-mail address: htholcombdvm@qwest.net
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