Amy wrote:
>I would never use Proheart in ANY animal, too many deaths and adverse
>reactions.
 
Well, first off, let's remember that adult heartworms are 100% fatal.
 
As Dr. Deborah Kemmerer-Cottrell who is very much a veterianary expert
on many cardiac things for ferrets and was the first to successfully
implant a pacemaker in a ferret has written in
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm :
 
>Clinical signs are similar to those in the dog, but often progress much
>more rapidly, so early diagnosis is extremely important.  Clinical signs
>include dyspnea (trouble breathing), tachypnea (rapid breathing),
>anorexia, pulmonary rales (harsh lung sounds), holosystolic heart
>murmur, ascites (fluid in the abdomen), coughing, fluid in the thoracic
>cavity, and sometimes sudden death.  Many cases of "unexplained" sudden
>death in ferrets are heartworm-related.
 
Then let's recall that treating for adult heartworms pulls the survival
rate up from ZERO to about 50% with Caparsolate and Immiticide.  That
is a LOT better than all of the ferrets dying.
 
Then let's recall that Proheart in study ( again see
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm ) has gotten the survival
rate in the animals studied who had adult heartworms up to 100% without
side effects.  That is even better.  (Now, THERE is an understatement
on my part -- that going from all dying without treatment to virtually
all living with Proheart use is "better".)
 
Granted, there may be some who don't respond well to the med, or wouldn't
respond well if they got the recalled lots (but any vet should have
already returned those for lots which are just fine), and there may be
future ferrets whose heartworm damage is too advanced.  Still to go from
ALL dying, to half living with other meds, and then to VIRTUALLY ALL
LIVING with Proheart doesn't exactly give a reason to "never use
Proheart".  For some uses it is a marvelous med which can be a ferret's
single best chance of surviving what would otherwise be a death sentence.
Going from a probability of 100% fatal to a probability of approaching
100% survival is a probability risk rate which is pretty danged GOOD in
my view!
 
There are other meds which can make more sense to me personally for
prevention in endemic areas, I think (so far, at least, but that is only
as a non-vet with 23 years of ferret experience), but DO remember the
words of yet another highly reputable ferret vet, Dr. Jerry Murray DVM,
who also has helped a huge number of ferrets and their people, and also
has the experience, education, and information access to make the most
informed judgment call.  Dr. Murray wrote:
 
>Do you remember the Febreeze warnings?  [Much to do about nothing
>without any logical reason.]  Proheart is a safe and effective product.
>It has been out in Australia for a long time and is the number 1
>heartworm preventative in Australia.  Recently Ft Dodge (the
>manufacture) did recall Proheart and just about all of their injectable
>products.  There was a probelm with the sterilization procedures at the
>manufacturing plant.  Not a safety problem.
>
>Hope that clears up the confusion
 
which shows that the problem was a temporary problem, not with the med,
but with a manufacturing sterilization situation that has been corrected.
ALL of those quoted words are his, including the ones in brackets.
[Posted in FML issue 4595]