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Sentinel & Interceptor Are The Top Heartworm Preventatives

You need to be careful when choosing which heartworm prevention medication that you give your dog, given the seriousness of a heartworm infestation.

Proheart Six, first available in 2001, is a medication administered as one injection once every six months. This was originally seen as a safe & simple way to provide heartworm prevention every six months. However it peaked the FDA’s attention after more than 5,000 reports were filed detailing poor reactions, which included 415 deaths.

The results from the investigations conducted by the FDA proved that ProHeart 6 caused a much higher amount of deaths than regular, monthly heartworm medications. The comparison of ProHeart 6 with 138 deaths in one year, was overwhelmingly higher than the six deaths reported yearly from Heartgard heartworm protection and Sentinel. (FDA May 3, 2004)

Without wanting to scare any pet owners out there, it’s wise to remind people that giving any kind of dogs heartworm control can cause allergic reactions. In the worst case scenario, they might result in the death of your pet.

The FDA 2004 study showed that Revolution had a total of over 8500 adverse reactions and 36 deaths each year; the average number of reactions was about the same as for ProHeart 6, but since the latter is newer to the market, ProHeart 6 has a death rate thrice as high.

Revolution is a very popular flea and heartworm prevention, and these figures do not mean you should not use it, but just be aware. Interceptor for dogs only had an average of 214 adverse reactions over its entire lifespan - that’s eight times fewer than the flea and heartworm control of Revolution. The average deaths from Interceptor for dogs is a staggering 9 compared to 138 for Proheart Six.

Indeed between 1995 and 2004 only 84 deaths were recorded for Interceptor heart worm protection. Heartgard, which uses ivermectin for heartworm protection in its Heartgard chewables, had an average of 355 reactions and 6 deaths.

The parasite, flea and heartworm medication with the fewest adverse reactions and deaths is Sentinel. From 1999 to 2004, fewer than 900 adverse reactions were caused by this heartworm prevention treatment for dogs, averaging 233 per year in comparison with 1737 reactions caused by Revolution heartworm treatment, and the total number of deaths reported was 25, or an average of 6 per year.

ProHeart 6 should only be used for preventative heartworm control, and should not be used if heartworms have already become established. Monthly heartworm prevention and treatment is a popular choice, but numerous vets maintain that Proheart is safe. In 2007 Proheart 6 was still on the market as a heartworm prevention medicine despite the fact that it was recalled in September 2004.

Keep in mind that these statistics are resulted from millions of dogs that have received medications from all over the world. Since your pet is a member of the family and not a statistic on paper, you should speak with the family vet so that he can aid you in choosing the right form of preventative.

The devastating effect of heartworms in dogs should not be underestimated. Your pet can be spared pain and health problems with a simple monthly heartworm preventive medicine.

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 3:26 am and is filed under Dog Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.