Koda’s Heartworm Treatment

I give Koda her her heartworm treatment every other Sunday. I am continuing the slow kill (gentle) heartworm treatment that was started in rescue. It’s actually a pretty simple process but is somewhat time consuming. And I give the treatments on Sundays so I can be available if Koda has any side effects, though she hasn’t so far.

The gentle heartworm treatment method uses Ivermectin (Ivermec) which is given orally every two weeks. Ivermectin is actually the active ingredient in most heartworm medication. Ivermectin can be purchased from most feed stores, but I bought mine at JeffersPet.com .  It was about $30 for 50 ml and they shipped it really fast. 

The treatment is given on an empty stomach.  A half hour prior to giving the Ivermectin I give Koda 1/2 a prednisone tablet.  This is given to help reduce the inflammation caused by the death of the heartworms. 

Ivermectin doses for heartworm treatment are 1/10 cc per 10 pounds of body weight.  You have to use a hypodermic syringe to withdraw the medication and measure the correct amount.  Koda’s foster recommended putting the Ivermectin on a piece of bread about the size of a quarter with some peanut butter on top to disguise the bitter flavor.  Luckily Koda loves peanut butter and eats it right up.

When I adopted Koda, I agreed to treat her heartworm disease using a slow kill heartworm treatment.  This method is used by rescue groups and is being embraced by a growing number of veterinarians.  This method uses Ivermectin (aka Ivermec) given to dogs every two weeks or giving Heartguard on a monthly basis.  Ivermectin is the active ingredient of most heartworm preventatives. 

Ivermectin kills the microfilare or larvae living in the dog’s blood.  This keeps the adult heartworms from multiplying.  And so the heartworms die off at a rate that most dogs can handle without suffering side effects.  In most cases a dog will be heartworm free in 1 to 1 1/2 years. 

Heartworms are parasites that are spread from heartworm positive dogs to other dogs by mosquito bites.  When a mosquito bites a heartworm positive dog the heartworm larvae (aka microfilare) are carried from the blood that the mosquite sucks from the infected dog.  Then when the mosquito bites another dog the heartworm larvae are spread to the other dog.  If a heartworm positive dog is not treated, the heartworms grow and spread and will eventually kill the dog.  Once in the dog’s heart, the worms grow and cause significant damage to the heart, lungs and other vital organs.  Death by heartworms is a horrible.

Traditionally heartworm treatment for dogs is with one or more extremely painful injections of Immitacide (which is a form of arsenic).  During the course of this heartworm treatment a dog may suffer major organ damage or develop pneumonia as a result of the adult heartworms dying and decomposing all at once. 

This blog however is devoted to the “slow kill” or gentle heartworm treatment that is used by dog rescue organizations. 

This the blog of Koda, a heartworm positive, German Shepherd rescue.  She was adopted from Heidi’s Legacy Dog Rescue.  As part of the agreement with Heidi’s Legacy, we agreed to treat Koda’s Heartworm disease using the gentle method treatment that involves treating with Ivermectin.  

Heidi’s Legacy Dog Rescue has had positive results with the gentle Heartworm treatment method.