Remember that although Proheart has been recalled due to problems in
multiple dogs that there are not reports of such problems in ferrets,
in fact it appears to be the best option for treating ferrets who have
heartworm.  Previous medicines took survival up from 0% to about 50%
when caught early enough; Proheart took survival up to around 100% when
caught early enough.
 
Ferrets aren't humans and aren't cats and aren't dogs.  They differ in
a number of things (as we all know when we discuss things like adrenal
neoplasia, insulinoma, darkness, over the counter meds, anesthesia, etc.
 
For ferrets it might be a true tragedy if Proheart goes away.  Hopefully,
everyone in a heartworm endemic area is already using preventatives, but
in even areas like our's where it is very rare there can be a case in
some years.  Whatever he reason, a ferret with heartworms needs options.
Proheart safely provided the best option for them.
 
It's really sad about the dogs, but because dogs reacted badly can not
be taken to mean that ferrets have or will, because it just doesn't mean
that.  It may be that if even more ferrets used this med that some bad
responses may be seen, but it may also be that wouldn't happen.
 
What IS known is that it gave the best shot at life for ferrets who were
likely to die without it because of heartworms already present in them,
so losing it could mean ferret deaths which otherwise would have been
avoidable, so I hope they find a solution and can return it to market.
I'm not saying that I'd use it on a dog, given it's rough history with
dogs, but if we had a ferret with heartworms, knowing that it offers the
single best chance for survival we'd jump for it, yes.
 
If you had something terminal and suddenly found that there was a med
with a close to 100% chance of giving you your life back (when previously
your best shot was 50-50 with other treatment, or definite death without
treatment), and that new drug for your use had produced problems in
another species but had not been recorded of causing serious problems in
your species would you turn it down?
 
Recommended reading:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm
---
 
BTW, Lupron's preventive aspects have been discussed recently.  Here is
another excellent write-up at the above site, this one on melatonin as
a preventative:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm
[Posted in FML issue 4628]