Why Won’t I Prescribe ProHeart 6/12?
It’s not because of money!
I’d *double* my preventative revenues recommending and giving that product!
It’s not because of effectiveness!
It works just fine! In fact, fully 1% (one percent) better than monthlies.
Not because of convenience!
What could be easier than a shot every year to prevent heartworms?
Nope.
It’s because nobody’s dog dies from heartworm pills. But people’s dogs die every year from ProHeart 6 and ProHeart 12 injections.
Liver disease: Once ProHeart’s in the dog, that’s “it” …there’s no ‘stopping it’ if it starts to ruin the liver. It’s a 12 month decline you can watch with your hand over your mouth. Oops.
And more: If the dog starts to mysteriously lose weight after the first injection, and nobody pays attention or remembers that’s “A Thing”, the second injection ^will^ kill it.
Anaphylaxis: While a chewable is available, and that chewable literally can’t kill your dog, why would you use an injection that has been known to (rarely) kill dogs?
Forgetting a dose?
As long as you’ve got receipts for 12 doses a year of the chewable pills directly from your Vet, *IF* your dog contracts heartworms, the preventative manufacturer will pay for the diagnosis and adulticide treatment. So the fear of ‘missing a dose’ is just marketing.
So my position is: “Why risk it?”
You would KICK yourself if you killed your dog for nothing but convenience.
The monthly chewables are guaranteed*, taste like a tail wagging treat, cost considerably less, (especially with rebates), and they CAN’T jack up your dog like ProHeart can.
To close:
What dog *WOULD* you give ProHeart to?
Three types of dog should get ProHeart:
•Any dog that bites women and children without provocation.
•Any dog that routinely gets out and kills people’s cats.
•Any dog that just won’t get preventative any other way.
*ProHeart 6 and 12 are injections that form a small reservoir of preventative in the body which is absorbed over 6, or 12 months respectively.
Facts: proheart-6-prescribing-information
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Dr Erik Johnson Dr Erik Johnson is a Marietta, Georgia Veterinarian with a practice in small animal medicine. He graduated from University of Georgia with his Doctorate in 1991. Dr Johnson is the author of several texts on Koi and Pond Fish Health and Disease as well as numerous articles on dog and cat health topics.
