Heartgard Plus (Ivermectin) and seizures?

[Marni and Hanna]

Hi group--I saw some earlier posts about the possibility of seizures after taking Heartgard.... 

Hanna, my otherwise very healthy almost 4.5 year old goldendoodle had all her shots (3yr core, 3 yr rabies, and lepto) on April 10.  A few days later she had real bad diarrhea that we were able to clear up with pumpkin and rice.  On Fri May 1st I gave her her HeartgardPlus (dose for 51-100 lb dog) she weighed 58.5 lbs.

On Wed May 6 she had her first mini seizure (high stepping leg cramps, no drooling, no paddling, no heavy breathing, no eye buggouts, but kind of out of it for a little bit.)  On Sun May10, she had another mini seizure, similar to the first.   We have a vet apt for this afternoon (Mon May 11).

Have been reading a bunch of stuff about interactions with rabies vaccine, and Heartgard...Its the only thing different for her --no food changes, no bad treats, no fertilizer/weed killer on the lawn, no new stressful situations, etc.

I plan on NOT giving her the Heartgard next month....What are other alternatives that might be safer?  How high is her risk? does she really need a heartworm prevetative?  We live in CO (granted it has rained here for the last week straight), but we don't even give flea or tick preventative here mainly because of the dry climate.

any thoughts? comments?

thanks-

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd talk to the vet about it. The risk of HW is lower in CO than in many other states, but it's not non-existent, and HW is a very dangerous and serious disease. Please let us know how your vet visit goes.

[Tammy McIver]

I really struggle with this as well.  My doodle (bella-6) has sporadic seizures and i have been trying to pin point the cause for a few years.  She is not on medicine for this.  My reason for not medicating is they are pretty spaced out (every few months) and she recovers very good from them . Reading about side effects of the seizure meds scares me.  I have also thought about heart guard and or tic meds being the cause.  But there have been a few months where I do not give her these and lo and behold a seizure.  She is due for both of these meds as we speak and I have been holding off but I think its better to give them (we are in mass w lots of tics).  

These are some of the things I am trying now.  I have started making her food (been doing it for a few months knock on wood all is good).  I put one teaspoon of salmon oil in her food in the am.  I also got some 'drops'  that are supposed to help prevent (i give her 3 drops a couple times a day on a biscuit).  I also got some drops that if she has a siezure you put the drops in her mouth and it is supposed to make them shorted and less severe. Have not had to use them since I bought them.  Got the oil and the drops at a health food for animals store.  They are all more holistic approaches but I will try anything for my girl to be well.   Good luck!  I know its scary....

[Marni and Hanna]

Thanks for your comments.. We went to the vet Monday afternoon, and vet thought it was highly unlikely that the Heartgard interacted negatively with shots 3 weeks earlier, but couldn't be 100% sure.  I know her 2 seizures were very mild, (I had another dog that had grand mals, and we know we are very lucky this time!)  but like you said, still disconcerting...should I have done something different?!  Vet definitely didn't want to give her any anti seizure anything yet as they were so mild, which I totally agreed with... I just need to watch her and take good notes....Talked with vet and we decided not to give her the 2nd half of the Lepto booster this week--I want to give her system a break..... and still deciding what to do about the heartworm...Right now Im leaning at 51% to 49% to continue to give the Heartgard to her .....I know I will definitely ask about titers going forward next time she is due for any of her regular shots......Tammy, hope your Bella is doing good.

[Debbie and Toby]

I hope Hanna is doing better. I am sorry to hear this. Our Toby is also a seizure dog, almost all grand mals. Toby usually has at least one seizure right after his annuals. We had previously thought it was the bordatella. Last year we did the annuals in two visits to the vet. Still had seizures. This year we did each vaccine separate. After the lepto he had 3 full grand mal seizures within 5 days. We have agreed with our vet to start doing titers now. We also use Heartguard Plus, and does not seem to trigger seizures with him. We did notice more seizures after applying Frontline, though. We had also been told that "rosemary" could trigger seizures, so we try to buy treats that are grain free with no rosemary. (Baby carrots and green beans also make good treats..) Toby has had seizures for 6 1/2 years, with clusters, and although we still do not have any definite cause, these things I have mentioned seem to help for us. I wish we could wave the magic wand and make the seizures go away completely, but we know that is not likely, so we just try to make changes however we need to in hopes it will help reduce the frequency and severity of the seizures. Keeping a journal is an excellent idea. I everything works out for you and Hanna.

[Marni and Hanna]

Thanks for your thoughts and concerns.  (Sorry, I just saw this post today 8/24) Yeah, Im thinking Ill try asking for the titers too.  Hugs to Toby !

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Hi Marni, just wondering how Hanna is doing?  I recently found out that the ingredient in Interceptor can be given in lower dosages and still be effective.  Safeheart was approved by the FDA more than a decade ago but was never marketed.  However, based on this information my vet was willing to reduce the dosage Finn gets by prescribing the up to 50 lb Interceptor rather than the 50 to 100 lb he had previously prescribed.  Note that you cannot reduce the dosage with products like Heargard containing Ivermectin because that is not proven effective.  Here's the link for the info.  I hope all's well.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-2/

[Marni and Hanna]

Hi Cheryl!  Sorry I just saw your post today (8/24) Thanks for asking about Hanna.  She had one more VERY small seizure  again 5 days after giving her Heartworm/Heartgard (on July 6).  It was really more of just a "spacey" moment when she was kind of lost.  Didn't see anything after the June 1 dose, but we are also working 8 hours a day, so don't know what happens when we are gone during the day or at night? 

I will be sure to read the article/link--thanks for the info!  How is Finnegan doing?