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DecacideŽ or NemacideŽ (Diethylcarbamazine
-DEC)
This is an oral tablet given on a daily basis to prevent
heartworm disease. Dosed per pound of body weight,
the appropriate amount utilized daily will prevent heartworm
infection in the dog.
With any daily heartworm preventative, administration
must be done EVERY DAY, without missing any days in-between.
The reason behind this, is that if the dog is affected
with adult heartworms, and is on a daily preventative
drug, the drug will act to kill the young heartworms
being produced by the adults.
If any days are missed while on the daily preventative,
and should the dog have adult heartworms which are producing
young, re-introducing the daily prevention will cause
a rapid kill of these young heartworms in the circulation.
This rapid kill of young heartworms overwhelms the liver
with their toxic end products, resulting in severe
liver failure and death.
Therefore, if your dog is on a daily preventative medication,
and has missed some days in-between, it is best to have
the dog checked for heartworm disease before starting
up the dose again.
Some veterinarians will suggest treating the dog with
a monthly preventative dose to SLOWLY kill any young
heartworms which may be present, followed by re-introduction
of the daily preventative. In this case, a blood
test would not be necessary.
(If a mosquito infected with the heartworm larva
bites the dog when there is no daily preventative in
its system, the larvae will develop into an adult heartworm,
as daily preventative can only kill the earliest stage
of the heartworm larvae).
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