[Paige L]

My vet recently put my dog on Iverhart Max and she seems to be having a reaction to it. I was wondering where I could find the inactive ingredients in the drug, usually it is on the product label or the FDA website but I can’t seem to find any inactive ingredients for this drug

[pitlove]

Hi Paige-

Here is the package insert for IVERHART MAX Chewable Tablets: http://www.virbacvet.com/pdf/product_pdfs/IVERHART_MAX_Chewable_Tablets_Insert.pdf

It contains ivermectin, pyrantel pamoate, and praziquantel, so it treats heart worm as well as round, hook, and tape worms.

Sometimes products with inactive ingredients will not list them, but still list the % of inactive ingredients. So this product may not have any. You also may want to check the list of side effects to see if her reaction matches one of the listed side effects. Otherwise you might want to call Virbac and ask if there are any inactive ingredients.

[Jenn H]

This seems to be an increasingly scary problem with preventatives.
I have stopped them all together. The puppy has never even had anything.
Instead I have been using holistic preventatives for ticks. That has been awesome for my dogs. For heartworm I have their fecal tested every 4 months. Before the parasites reach the worm stage. This way if something shows up they can take the preventatives at that point, but not have to have the full blown heartworm treatment. (That’s how I understand it anyway.)
My older dogs have enough problems. They always had a very mild reaction to the monthly topicals, but since they have acquired other issues due to Lyme (despite doing everything I was told like vaccines and using Advantix every 28 days), IBD and age-related stuff I am not comfortable with using any of those products anymore. Plus they keep changing them. Dogs that have never had problems suddenly do. I’m just too scared now.
I don’t think I’m saving much money if any at all by not buying the stuff and having the tests, but if they were to get sick I am saving a ton.
The tick repellent isn’t as convenient as a 1x/month thing, but it’s also not difficult.
Next year I will have pet safe mosquito repelling flowers planted and see how that works.
There are alternatives out there. Some work better than other on individual pets, but I haven’t seen any adverse reactions. Not sure if there is any science to back up these methods. This is all anecdotal as far as I know so use as much caution as you would with the more conveniential methods.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Jenn H.

[aimee]

Hi Jenn H,

I wanted to comment on this statement you made for others who read it.

“For heartworm I have their fecal tested every 4 months. Before the parasites reach the worm stage. This way if something shows up they can take the preventatives at that point, but not have to have the full blown heartworm treatment.”

I’m assuming that it is a simple “typo” when you said you have your dog’s feces tested every 4 months for heartworm, but for clarification I wanted to correct that error as it is blood that is tested not feces.

The current antigen heartworm tests detect the presence of a protein from adult female worms. The test does not detect the parasites in the larval form. If the test is positive, with the rare exception of a false positive test result, adult heartworms are present and “full blown” heartworm treatment will be needed.

[anonymous]

@Jenn H,
I agree with the above post. In my experience the natural stuff does not work. The fact that some animals test heartworm positive even with preventatives (vet prescribed) and annual blood testing, just shows you how serious this thing is.
An acquaintance of mine just went through this with a puppy he adopted from a shelter down South, the pup initially tested negative. Heartworm took a few months to show up (he was on heartworm preventive), the pup required aggressive treatment, so far he is doing well.
The vet thinks the dog was positive when he arrived in our area, just took a while to show up.

[Author]

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