ProHeart6: Heartworm Preventive w/o the Remembering

One of the great struggles in human and veterinary medicine is compliance with taking medication. We’ve all had prescriptions that we were supposed to finish, but for one reason or another we didn’t. And how many of us have simply forgotten to take the sedative drugs that we were supposed to take?

Let’s relate this to veterinary medicine. Have you been absolutely faithful in giving your dog’s monthly heartworm preventive? Or have you missed doses here and there?

There is a solution available now in the world of monthly heartworm preventive. ProHeart 6 is an injectable treatment that provides heartworm preventive for 6 months. You read that correctly.

ProHeart6 was available around 2000 and was recalled from the market in September of 2004 after claims of adverse events, from local soreness to death. It is the opinion of this author that internet chat rooms serving as echo chambers, along with coverage of these adverse reactions on popular daytime talk shows contributed more to the recall than controlled, scientific studies to determine the connection, if one existed, between ProHeart 6 and any of the adverse events. Search the internet and you’ll find websites describing ProHeart6 as a bad thing.

Our experience differs. When ProHeart6 was previously available, thousands of doses were given at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic alone with only a small number of cases of injection-site soreness (which is not unusual for any injectable treatment). Further, while the treatment was unavailable in America between late-2004 and mid-2008, it was on the market in Australia, Japan and Europe with great success. It was re-introduced in America in mid-2008 on a provisional basis, which included a series of “hoops” to jump through in order to use the treatment.

As of this month, the restrictions have been lifted, and ProHeart 6 is now available to dogs who meet the criteria given on the label. Owners wishing to have ProHeart6 administered to their dog must read a product information sheet which is designed to inform the owner that very serious side effects can possibly occur. Owners must then sign a consent form prior to the first administration of the treatment. Understand that the doctors at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic do not make recommendations for their patients that they would not choose for their own dogs.

We at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic are glad to see that ProHeart6 is available again. It is a good thing for dogs to be protected against life-threatening disease. If you want to know that your dog is protected against heartworm disease, and you don’t want to have to worry about remembering to administer a treatment every month, then talk with one of our doctors about ProHeart6 when you set up an appointment by calling 330-929-3223.