# sick after Heartworm pill?



## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Hi all. Yesterday I gave our dog her heartworm pill and afterwards she was not herself. I didn't associate it with the pill until she started throwing up repeatedly yesterday evening. She hasn't eaten since breakfast yesterday, and still won't eat her breakfast today. I really do think it is the heartworm pill that made her so sick and I am wondering if anyone had any similar experiences like this? I am hesitant to give her something that makes her so ill, but I am not sure what the other options would be. She is active, in the woods daily and loves to roll in dead things and all things gross. I think the possibility of her getting a parasite are pretty high.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Make sure you don't give heart worm medicine on a empty stomach. It sometimes makes the difference on a dog becoming nauseaed. With that said you might try a different heartworm prevention. I had to do that with one of my dogs.


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## CincyVizsla (Jan 9, 2014)

It could be. Which meds did you use? We, and apparently many others have had problems with Trifexis.

https://www.facebook.com/TrifexisKillsDogs


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## cuddlebuglove (Apr 27, 2014)

Some medical have vomiting as a side effect. Can you bring your dog to the vet or call them? Maybe a prescription medications is in order. If rolling in bad areas do have to towel or bathe her more? Is there a safe topical cleaner that you can use also?


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

We are in the UK and use a testing service provided by wormcount.com 

We don't give any worm drugs, instead we test every 3 months. In 2.5 years one of our two dogs has got a mild hookworm infection on one occasion which we then treated. It works out about twice the cost of worming prophylactically and it is quite a lot of poo sample collecting (when you have two dogs you have to make sure whose you are collecting!) as the heartworm test requires a sample from three consecutive days but it means we don't have to give a fairly unpleasant drug to our dogs every three months.

Our dogs also roll in and eat all sorts of unpleasant things!


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## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Hi All - thank you for your responses - by the time she was done being sick with her medicine, she vomitted for 24 hrs, did not eat for a full 3 days, ate VERY little on day 4 and was lethargic all those days. back to herself day 5. she was given 'triHeart plus'. - we called the vet after her reaction and they did recommend a different pill (to be honest I forget what it was and have to call back to find out.) I LOVE the idea of just testing/treating, did not know this was a possibility and will ask the vet about it - thank you for that. She is now just about due for her next dose so will update all after that. She is also just finishing up her first heat cycle, so all in all, a difficult month for our little miss Willow.


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

If you want to go the testing route I would look for something on the internet - I think doing it through your vet would be expensive. 

If you let us know what country you live in then somebody may be able to recommend a service. I can't remember who but one of the US members (possibly TexasRed) tests their dogs but I don't know if they do it through their vet or another service. 

As I mentioned, I use wormcount.com in the UK. They charge £23+VAT for a worm count and a lungworm (includes heartworm) screen - they are two separate tests. The worm count is a single sample, the lunworm screen is three samples over consecutive days.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I don't worm my dogs for intestinal worms without first knowing they have them.
I live close to the Gulf Coast, and we have a heavy mosquito population year round. My dogs stay on a heartworm prevention. Your area maybe different. Some places with colder winters can skip giving the preventive during the cold months. I don't think letting a dog get heartworms, and then treating them is a good alternative. The dog would be taking a lot more medicine, than if it was on the monthly preventive.


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## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

I am in the Pacific Northwest and we never treat for any worms or fleas preventatively. I've never given my dogs these drugs and in all my years have never had a dog with worms or fleas.

We just focus on giving an excellent diet


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

The dangers of the internet!

The tests I do are for french heartworm (also called lungworm) - a different disease with a different vector. We don't have the US type of heartworm because we don't have the same mosquito vector (although global warming may change that!)

That said, I read an interesting article that pointed out that heartworm meds kill the larvae before they can become worms, they don't 'vaccinate' your dog against infection. As it takes 5 months for the larvae to become adult worms then regular testing rather than medicating is a viable alternative and arguably better for your dog.

The full article is here: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/dont-give-dogs-heartworm-meds-shouldnt-either/

Personally I took the arguments about immunity and vaccination in the first part of the article with a pinch of salt. Not because I don't believe it but the facts stated are not backed with links to scientific research. Personally, I believe we over vaccinate and medicate our dogs and it is not without a cost to their long term health and have posted previously about this with links to articles and research.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

The article is missing the fact that it only takes 2 months without preventive, for your dog to test heartworm positive. So yes, some people add a week or two, to stretch the monthly dosage. In doing that, you better be on the ball in giving the meds on the correct day, or you put your dog at risk. 
I can be in the fields during the winter months, and mosquitoes will rise like a cloud. I have to use Avon skin so soft on the dogs or the mosquitoes will cover them.
My best advice is to go with what is recommended in your area.


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## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Wow - lots of good information. I spent a good part of the day researching and while I do feel cautious about over-'preventative-caring' and over-vaccinating (dogs, children, everyone) not being preventative on this one does have me a bit scared. I think alot of it does depend on location, as Texas Red said. (Lyra we are in the US in Northeast PA) I actually did not even realize it was a mosquito born illness - which I suppose is why our vet did not have us start until June. I guess like with everything else it all comes down to weighing the pros and cons, I do think I will give the other heartworm pill a chance, and see how she does. Our vet says it is a different active ingredient (ok, I realize it is a poison), I will see how she does on it. If she has the same reaction, we will have to look into other routes. 

Thanks again for your experiences - this forum is always a big help.


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## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Hi all - I just wanted to update this post in case anyone else runs into similar situation. Our vet recommended we try Inceptor, which we gave Willow last night and she seems to do be doing very well with it. We will give it to her monthly until October, then take a break for the winter months. It is a huge relief to find something that agrees with her.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Dharma gets both Heartgard (Ivermectin) for heartworm prevention and NexGard(afoxolaner) for flea and tick prevention. She gets these in chewable form and takes them both at the same time with no problem. We give both sets of medicine from I think May to November. More the flea and tick in May and the heartworm starts in June. The vet suggested giving on separate days to see if there was any reaction to the meds. I live in London, Ontario(Canada).
I also know that one of the key ingredients in Horse Dewormer is also Ivermectin. 
We do not have the same type of weather here all year around. Half of our year is warm and the other half can very often be down right freezing and very snowy! (I don't want to think about her fall and winter gear! It's very depressing!)


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

We are in Ontario Canada too but more north of MCD. 
Revolution ( http://www.revolution4dogs.com/ ) is recommended here and it is current what we are using. In the past, Bacchus has been fine with maybe looser stools than normal but that’s about it. Well two days ago we gave him his regular dose. He wanted out two times at night but still seemed fine. He was crated yesterday morning like normal. When I went home at lunch he had diarrhea in his crate. Probably %90 liquid and VERY sour, I could smell it as soon as I opened the door. I let him out of his crate and he did his happy dance for about 5 seconds then straight to the door. I let him out and he went straight to the woods where he stayed for a few minutes. The top of him nose was red and bleeding slightly. He was probably scratching or biting to get out of his crate.  He wouldn’t eat much and was pretty sleepy. 

I took the afternoon off, did 3 loads of laundry, pressure washed and sanitised the crate, gave the boy a tub and got a few cups of rice into him. I let him sleep as much as he wanted. He wanted out every 2 hours or so then slept again. Not too bad last night, only went out once. My wife is off today so another relaxing day with a chicken, pumpkin, rice mix and he should be good to go.

I guess now that I know the “_potential reaction he can have to it_” I can plan better for a day or two after his dose. If he isn’t back to being himself by tomorrow I will be looking for something else for him.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I think the all in one's can be to much for some dogs systems to handle. If you need both, some people split up the heartworm prevention, and the flea control by a couple of weeks. 
Owning multiple dogs, I can switch off on who gets the flea meds, and (so far) it's kept fleas off all the dogs.


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

That's a good idea
I can handle him being out of sorts but not physically sick.


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## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Trevor - you may want to consider the Interceptor - I am not familiar with the brand you mentioned, but with Willow it was a night and day difference between last month and this month. After I compared with the one we were using - I notice one of the listed advantages is that there is only one main ingredient. So far I am happy with it. I'm with you - the physically sick part scares me.


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