This ivomec thing.

Hello!

I have an 8 1/2 months old pitbull puppy with demodex, My vet had been giving him an ivermectin shot once a week whilst I bathed him once a week in some medecated shampoo along with tactic dip.

I was informed my a 3rd party that i'd save alot of money by getting and issueing the ivomec myself considering I was paying like $3o a visit and that I have five other dogs and I have to constantly but heart gaurd, I was also told that I could just use the ivomec as a substatute to the heart gaurd.

So firstly I want to know how much and how often I should give the demodex puppy the ivomeec. judging by the earlier case here it would seem like roughly 0.3 ml for every 10 lbs. My problem in going threw with that is what is on the ivomec box, 1cc to 110 lbs for a cow! My dog is 45 lbs so 0.3 x 4.5 is over a cc. can dogs take ivomec better than bing meaty live stock or im I doing something wrong?

lastly, What should the monthly dosage be for my other dogs?
80 lbs
55 lbs
40 lbs
60 lbs

weights rounded to closest five from last weighings.

Oh and does anyone know weather the effectivness is different weather you inject it or give it oraly? thank you.

ps. sorry for crappy spellingz. :sorry:

Hi Rico-

I want to start off by saying we are NOT veterinarians here and legally we cannot advise you on how much medication to give. There is potential that if one of else tells you the wrong dose you could (unlikely with ivermectin but still) kill or poison your dog.

Ivomec is listed for cattle and farm animals, not cats and dogs. While frequently in my shelter we will use cattle products and dose it down for cats and dogs to be cost efficient, I would not recommend just a regular pet owner to attempt to do this. We often have to dilute things with sterile water to make the proper dose, ivermectin included.

Also I am fairly certain you need a prescription for ivermectin, just like you need a prescription for Heartgard, Revolution etc. Heartgard is only once a month, and I'm not sure about where you live but a 6 pack where I live is only about 20$. You can try other brands and other forms of Heartworm preventative like Advantage Multi and topical treatments like that. Also Tri-Heart is a cheaper alternative to Heartgard.

Demodex mange is very annoying. There is really no cure and it can come back whenever a dog is stressed or has allergies or anything like that. It is NOT contagious to other dogs. They are born with it. Sarcoptic mange is the only one that is contagious, but is more easily treated.

I would suggest you talk to your veterinarian about alternative treatments. $30 an office visit is a bargain by the way. The most recent estimate I had gotten for an exam at a vet I don't normally use was $47.

The only other suggestion I have is to try a holistic food. I've heard of some success from people who have switched their demodex dogs to a food with more natural ingredients. You can try raw food, but if you are unfamiliar with that kinda stuff another good brand would be Zinpro. It may not be available where you live

http://www.dogfooddirect.com/category_ZPDG_Zinpro-Dog-Food.html

I know a few people who have had luck with it :shrug: Might be worth stopping by a private pet food store and check out some alternative foods and supplements. Also you might want to check into some natural dog shampoos that have oatmeal and whatnot in it... You can never get rid of demodex but you can help relieve the symptoms.

Thanks for the advise...

I have a late timmy as a pet aswell by the way. Was a dog though.

While I can't comment on price or proper dosage, I CAN say that we treated our puppy for demodex with oral ivomec. If I recall correctly it was a small daily oral dose. We bought one bottle, which kept in the fridge, and the only vet visits were follow ups to recheck the skin with a new scraping.

Now that I have more time i'll comment m ore on the first reply.

Were I live the only heart worm preventitive is heart gaurd and the medium is $22 and the large is $32.

My vet has like 5 yrs experience but often she reffers to a drug book to issue dossages, but when i asked her about dossages forall my dogs she said 1 ml for all..and you can see the wide range of weights. Needless to say, I'm not to quick to jump on that advise. I was good at math so if I can get a look at something like that book online I'd be able to figure it out. Would be a bit disrespectfal of me to say "gimme dat book, you don't know what your doing".

Now that I have more time i'll comment m ore on the first reply.

Were I live the only heart worm preventitive is heart gaurd and the medium is $22 and the large is $32.

My vet has like 5 yrs experience but often she reffers to a drug book to issue dossages, but when i asked her about dossages forall my dogs she said 1 ml for all..and you can see the wide range of weights. Needless to say, I'm not to quick to jump on that advise. I was good at math so if I can get a look at something like that book online I'd be able to figure it out. Would be a bit disrespectfal of me to say "gimme dat book, you don't know what your doing".

5 years can sometimes be alot of experience but to be honest I don't know of even any newbie vets that carry books like that around :shrug:

I would suggest a second opinion. Any doubts in your vet need to be addressed. Very few things have a universal dose. About the only thing that has a one size fits all dose would be vaccinations.

Oral ivermectin doses are usually diluted a bit so yeah, 1ml for an oral dose sounds very excessive... but it depends on the strength.

It's all very confusing to be honest. Next time I am in the shelter I will check out our ivermectin doses out of curiosity and can atleast give you something for comparison. But yeah I would try getting a second opinion...

There's nothing wrong with looking up drug doses:rolleyes:...I would rather a vet consult with the texts than guess or be expected to remember every dosage for every medication and every possible interaction with other drugs that might be taken. Many, many vets I've either worked with or taken my animals to consult with their texts, even those with decades of experience. That's absolutely no reason to doubt your vet.
That said, if you're nonetheless uncomfortable with your vet for any reason, then you should look around for another-the relationship you have with your vet needs to be built on trust and respect.

I also thought that Ivomec was oral. We give it to our dogs orally at the rescue. But we found what helped even better than Ivomec was Promeris. Most vets in Canada recommend the Ivomec. And it works great. That along with baths. I would get some Aveno Oatmeal soap for your dog (baby aisle in drugstore) it soothes the skin. Along with rubbing some Aloe vera (the plant form) on the soars. A good diet with EFAs help too.

If I were you I would continue to do the Ivomec with your vet. Ask about the oral stuff. Never hurts to get a 2nd opinion too! Maybe switch to a different vet