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.