Oct
09
does my dog need to see a vet before receiving heart worm medicine?
Byi would like to know if my dog needs to see a vet or not and what are the difference between meds and the ones you can buy online or at the store
Stop Your Dog’s Annoying Barking
8 Comments
October 9th, 2011 at 11:35 PM
Yes. They will be able to recommend the correct medicine for your dog. You don’t have to buy it from the vet, however.
October 10th, 2011 at 12:03 AM
This is how it is suppose to go: You cannot buy heartworm medication from a vet without a blood test first to determine if the dog is positive or negative.
You cannot buy it online without a prescription from your vet. Supposedly.
The reason for this is if your dog is heartworm positive, giving the dog heartworm medication can have an adverse reaction that could be very serious.
So, take your dog to a vet and get it tested. Do it the right way for your dog.
October 10th, 2011 at 12:36 AM
Yes, if you give the medicine and your dog has untreated heartworms you can kill the dog. Part of the worms can die or break off then float around in the blood stream waiting to clog a vessel in the brain or heart.
October 10th, 2011 at 12:49 AM
yes, the dog needs to be tested to see if it has heartworms before giving it heartworn preventative. Giving the preventative if the dog has heartworms will actually harm the dog.
October 10th, 2011 at 1:48 AM
Yes your dog must be tested first before being on the preventative to know if dog has heartworms. Heartworms meds are only sold to vets & are only covered when sold by vets. They are bought 2nd hand or fakes sold on-line as proved by heartworm meds co. when they have taken them to court. Better safe than sorry to save a few bucks.
October 10th, 2011 at 2:45 AM
Absolutely. Your dog will need a blood test to determine if it already has heartworms before it is put on a heartworm preventative.
There are many brands available, but it’s best to let your vet recommend one. Some breeds can’t tolerate Ivermectin, which is the main ingredient in Heartguard, for example, and shouldn’t use that brand.
Once you know what brand, you can either buy it from your vet or online. Most vets these days charge about the same as the online places though.
October 10th, 2011 at 3:09 AM
Yes they need to do the blood work and give him the clean bill of health. The vet will give you the right kind of HW Meds for your dogs size and weight. After that you can get them online or frm him. the difference is cost.
October 10th, 2011 at 3:22 AM
Yes. Heart worm medicine is prescription only not OTC