Sentinel & Interceptor Are The Safest Heartworm Preventatives
Posted by: Rebecca Foxton in FamilyHeartworm is a serious concern for pet owners, and you need to choose the heartworm prevention medication you give to your pet with care.
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.
According to the FDA (2004), Revolution heartworm protection had reports of an average of 36 annual deaths from over 8,500 reactions. Keep in mind however, that the statistics read higher than Proheart 6, simply because the product has been on the market much longer and has been administered to many more pets. Proheart 6 has actually caused more than three times as many deaths.
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.
Interceptor heartworm protection had only 84 deaths recorded between 1995 and 2004. Ivermectin is the active ingredient in Heartgard heartworm protection, which led to an average of six deaths and 355 adverse reactions each year.
Causing the very least amount of allergic reactions or deaths was Sentinel, a flea, parasite and heartworm protection medication. Statistics show that information gathered in the years of 1999 through 2004 that Sentinel heartworm prevention for dogs resulted in 900 reactions which is an average of 233 as opposed to Revolution heartworm treatment for dogs which had 1,737 reactions with a total of 25 deaths averaging to be 6 annually.
Proheart 6 should only be used as a preventative heartworm control for your dog and never be used if a heartworm infection has already presented itself. Your vet may still recommend Proheart 6 as many still believe it to be safe. However other vets only provide the monthly heartworm prevention and treatment option as they feel that it is safer. As of 2007, the heartworm protection medicine was still on the market despite the fact that Proheart 6 was recalled three years before in September of 2004.
We realize your pet is a member of the family and not a statistic in a dogs heartworm protection table, but be reassured that these are the results of millions of dogs being given the drugs worldwide. Speak to your vet if you are at all concerned, but do choose a prevention.
Please do not underestimate the devastating effect of heartworms in dogs. By choosing an easy to administer monthly dose of heartworm preventive medicine, you can spare your pet a lot of hardship.
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