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Heartworm Prevention Options
We offer both "Interceptor" once monthly oral
heartworm preventatives and "Proheart" once annual
injectable heartworm preventative. Both are still
available, but we now recommend the Interceptor oral option
for the following reason:
In the fall of 2004 the American FDA recommended that Proheart
be withdrawn from the market due to concerns about the number
of adverse reaction reports. We have seen only one
relatively mild reaction in one of our patients (not uncommon
for any drug) here at Birchwood Animal Hospital and the drug
is still approved in Canada and most other countries.
The rate of reactions reported was 1 in 3000 injections and
the great majority of those reactions were minor swellings and
itchiness. However, approximately 1% of those reaction
reports (i.e. 1 in 300,000 injections) involved the death of
the patient. It is unknown whether Proheart was
responsible, as these reports have not yet been studied in
detail, and certainly some will turn out to be coincidence.
It is also important to recognize that any medication can
cause reactions in individual patients. If your dog was
previously given Proheart without any problems, the chances
are excellent that he/she is not a sensitive individual.
Nonetheless, until the matter is clarified we feel obligated
to inform our clients of the facts.
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