# What dosage of Ivomec 1% do I give to my 68 lbs. Lab?



## Hodgesba

I have Ivomec 1% injection for cattle and Swine that I was told worked good for heart worms in dogs. What dosage should I give to my 11 month old Black lab that weighs 68 Lbs?


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## CFGD

its 1/10 of a cc per 10 lbs of body weight. so you should be safe anywhere from 6/10 - 7/10 cc.

also do it orally, instead of injection, its alot easier. just shoot it in the back of the throat, and hold his mouth closed for a sec.


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## funderburkjason

ramfreak said:


> its 1/10 of a cc per 10 lbs of body weight. so you should be safe anywhere from 6/10 - 7/10 cc.
> 
> also do it orally, instead of injection, its alot easier. just shoot it in the back of the throat, and hold his mouth closed for a sec.



Thats how we do it. Just make sure that he has been checked for heart worms in the last month. If he has heartworms and you give him any ivomec or heartguard it could kill the dog.


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## alex.allison

funderburkjason said:


> Thats how we do it. Just make sure that he has been checked for heart worms in the last month. If he has heartworms and you give him any ivomec or heartguard it could kill the dog.



not true. prevention and treatment are the same drug. for juvenile worms that is. A common treatment is using Ivermectin or Ivomec (generic) and doxycyline in combination. Doxy kills a bacteria that is vital for the life cycle of the adult worms thus sterilizing the adults worms. Ivo kills larvae or juvenile worms, but won't kill adults. An arsenic based drug is used by vets. this WILL kill your dog if not very carefully monitored. Not to mention no vet will guarantee the dog will live through the treatment, nor will they promise it will work.

The arsenic based "fast kill" obviously kills all adult worms at once, thus putting the pup at serious risk of pulmonary embolism. the "slow kill" stops them from reproducing. after 90 days of consistent dosage lab test show that the population will not increase. Adult worms live about 12 months. So it's sometimes up to an 18 month process. 

The slow kill method is used by many rescues and breeders. I've yet to come across a clinical trial in which a heartworm positive dog of any degree was ever killed as a result of the correct dosage of Ivermectin. 

Any vets out there that can contribute to this?


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## simpleman30

i wish someone would tell me right.  i've had 3 different folks at one feed store and many others at other feed stores tell me 3 different things:1/10th cc per 10 lbs, 1/2 cc per 10 lbs, or 1 cc per 10 lbs.  they all said that was what they did for their dogs and none have ever had an issue with their chosen dosage.  what is the correct dosage???


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## maker4life

1/10th cc per ten pounds is the most advised dosage .


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## grouper throat

maker4life said:


> 1/10th cc per ten pounds is the most advised dosage .


This is correct.


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## gsu51

I have three labs and regularly treat them with 1cc a piece.  The bottle says 1 cc per 100lbs swine.  So thats 1/10th cc per ten pound.


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## applejuice

Did you not find a home for the dog ?


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## gsu51

He ended up keeping it.  He didn't talk to the fam before posting and his kids were broke up about it when he told them, the dog was going.  The kids were spending alot of time with the dog that he didn't know about.  They are setting aside and hour a day for the dog.  This worked out for the best.  The dog or family won't be seperated.


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## georgiabuck6

We use 1/6th ivermec to cod liver oil, just mix the two and give one cc of the combo to our dogs orally, and they love the taste of the oil and It keeps thier coats shinny!


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## gsu51

Cod liver oil?  Where do you get it?  Never tried this usually give them eggs for their coat.


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## blood on the ground

who sales ivermec? i was told heart worms could only be treated by vet! and it aint cheep!! trust me


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## gsu51

Ivomec can be bought at most any feed and seed store. You were told that cause they want your money.


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## blood on the ground

well they did a good job at robbing me of a lot of money. how much does this cost? 
what about treating an older dog? is it still the same amount and once a month?


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## decoyed

most Vets won't tell you the dosage since it isn't "made" for dogs.  As far as ripping you off by selling you the appropriate dosage and version made to be used on dogs...good luck.  Wait till you OD that sucker and take him in for the Vet to try and save him.


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## grouper throat

decoyed said:


> most Vets won't tell you the dosage since it isn't "made" for dogs.  As far as ripping you off by selling you the appropriate dosage and version made to be used on dogs...good luck.  Wait till you OD that sucker and take him in for the Vet to try and save him.


 You must be a vet pharmaceutical rep


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## deerslayer357

blood on the ground said:


> who sales ivermec? i was told heart worms could only be treated by vet! and it aint cheep!! trust me



Are you talking about TREATING heartworms or PREVENTING heartworms?   
If you are talking about TREATING heartworms, it can only be done by a vet and it is very expensive.  Ivermectin only kills the larvae, it does not kill the adult worms.  When you take a dog to the vet to be treated they use an arsenic based medicine which is very expensive by itself.  

Preventing heartworms is done with Ivermectin.  It is cheaper to do it with the large animal formula that you get at the feed store, but if you don't get the dose right your dog could get heartworms anyway or be overdosed and have ivermectin toxicity.

There is little to no treatment for Ivermectin toxicity, other than supportive care and see what happens.


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## muckalee

is a cc the same as a ml?  Ive been giving my dogs 1/2 mil for last 2 years. They weigh about 50 lbs.


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## deerslayer357

muckalee said:


> is a cc the same as a ml?  Ive been giving my dogs 1/2 mil for last 2 years. They weigh about 50 lbs.



Yeah, it's the same thing.


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## gsu51

*100% Wrong*



deerslayer357 said:


> Are you talking about TREATING heartworms or PREVENTING heartworms?
> If you are talking about TREATING heartworms, it can only be done by a vet and it is very expensive.  Ivermectin only kills the larvae, it does not kill the adult worms.  When you take a dog to the vet to be treated they use an arsenic based medicine which is very expensive by itself.
> 
> Preventing heartworms is done with Ivermectin.  It is cheaper to do it with the large animal formula that you get at the feed store, but if you don't get the dose right your dog could get heartworms anyway or be overdosed and have ivermectin toxicity.
> 
> There is little to no treatment for Ivermectin toxicity, other than supportive care and see what happens.



Wrong, Heartworms can be treated with ivermectin.  With consistant and appropriate dosage the heartworms will eventually go away.  IE.  If the larvae are not allowed to grow then you just have to wait for the existing adult worms to die off.

Also, what he didnt say is that 90% of dogs in shelters and rescues use the same idea of treating heartworm positive dogs.  They just use Heartguard instead of Ivermectin and wait for the adult hearworms to die.  Depending on how bad the case is could take 18 to 24 months to be rid of the worms. Besides the cost of the arsenic if the heartworms are bad enough the treatment can kill your dog.  Just imagine a heart full of worms now imagine them dieing and floating around the various parts of the heart and stopping up the arteries.

I respect the fact that these Vets have been educated and are definately indespensible.  However, pet and animal maitenance should be done by the owner.  The only thing I would go to the vet for is Rabies shots and surgery/emergency.  The rest, owners can handle themselves.  

The reason vets are opposed to the ivemectum in my opinion is the same reason McDonald's doesn't like Burger King, competition. Home treatment cuts a huge percentage of their business out and they have been conditioned by the pharmacuetical companies to be product loyal. (Heartguard)


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## deerslayer357

You are right, GSU51- you can treat a dog with ivermectin, what I should have said is that ivermectin does not kill the adult worms and it allows the adult worms to continue to damage the heart muscle until the worms eventually die of old age.

The problem with this method of treatment is that heart muscle does not regenerate like skin or other tissues.  Once the heart is damaged it is permanent.  

You are also right about the shelters, alot of shelters do use ivermectin/heartguard to treat hw positive dogs, but it is mostly because they don't have the funds to treat them the other way.

There was a research study done recently on heartworms, and I can't think of the name of it (I'm sure you could google it if you were interested).  Anyway, they found that heartworms (in some areas) are becoming resistant to heartguard/ivermectin drugs.  Many parasitologists have concluded that this is a side-effect of the "slow-kill" method using Ivermectin that you have described.

I don't know if it is a result of the slow-kill method or not, but the slow-kill method is definately not the best option (IMO) for preventing further damage to the dog.

And on your final point, I agree that owners should be responsible for the health and maintenance of their pets.


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## gsu51

*Interesting*

I did not know that about the Heartworms becoming resistant to the ivemectum/heatguard.  I will have to do some research on that topic.  Just a questiong though.  How would say the slow kill treatment contribute to the heartworms becoming immune?  It seems to me that ressitance is built up over repeated exposure, but if administered correctly the exposure to ivamectum would kill the heartworm.  Only if one treated with the slow kill method but stopped short of irradication would a worm start to build up a resistance.  Interesting.  HMMMM? 

What do the coyotes, wolves and foxes do for heartworms?  

Love the quote Orwell is the man


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## decoyed

the reason Vets are not a fan of feed store Ivermectin is that it is not approved for use in dogs.


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## p&y finally

I had one of my beagles treated about a year ago for heartworms. I specifically asked my vet about using ivermectin as a heartworm preventative and she said that its basically the same thing thats in Safeguard and that its definately the way to go since I have 6 dogs to treat. She could have just as well fed me the sales pitch on how I need to buy the high dollar Safeguard from her (VERY few vets like that around anymore!)
 The dosage she said to use is .027cc/ POUND, so for the 68# dog you would need 1.84cc.

My vet is Blueridge in Watkinsville Ga. and their # is 706 769 7205. Give them a call, there always very helpful over the phone too.


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## deerslayer357

gsu51 said:


> I did not know that about the Heartworms becoming resistant to the ivemectum/heatguard.  I will have to do some research on that topic.  Just a questiong though.  How would say the slow kill treatment contribute to the heartworms becoming immune?  It seems to me that ressitance is built up over repeated exposure, but if administered correctly the exposure to ivamectum would kill the heartworm.  Only if one treated with the slow kill method but stopped short of irradication would a worm start to build up a resistance.  Interesting.  HMMMM?
> 
> What do the coyotes, wolves and foxes do for heartworms?
> 
> Love the quote Orwell is the man



From what I have been told it has to do with the adult worms being subjected to the ivermectin without being killed.  Larvae are still produced by the adult worms and  the ivermectin kills most of these larvae, except for a few that are able to survive and are more resistant to the drug. 
      This in turn leads to mosquitoes picking up resistant larvae from one dog and passing them on after some development and then another dog gets exposed.  These larvae are resistant, so even if the dog is on monthly preventative (ivermectin or heartguard) the dog can still become infected and become a disease reservoir.

I'm sure that resistance could stem from stopping the slow kill method early, too (just like bacteria when you stop taking your antibiotics too early).

It is important to remember that resistance occurs over generations (which for heartworms would be a couple years).  The resistance that is supposedly built up to ivermectin would not necessarily affect the dog that is being treated, but it would more likely affect the dog(s) that was(were) bitten by the mosquito afterwards that would have the resistance problem.

Hope this answers your question.  

Coyotes and foxes get heartworms pretty regularly in the wild.  I don't know about wolves, but I would think that they probably do too.  Raccoons can even get heartworms in the wild.  


IMHO.....  As long as these examples of wildlife are not too heavily infected they would take a while to start having ill effects from the heartworms, just like dogs.  A lot of dogs that have severe cases of heartworms are dogs that have been positive for a longer time  (the longer the dog goes without treatment the more damage the worms do).  My guess is that since the average dog lives longer than the average coyote/fox, the symptoms of heartworms in dogs are more pronounced.

Another consideration would be that coyotes have to be physically able to survive (hunt/escape predators/etc), where dogs' owners look after them for the most part.  It may be that coyotes die earlier from heartworms because they loose the physical ability to run/hunt/etc.

sorry for the long reply.


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## deerslayer357

decoyed said:


> the reason Vets are not a fan of feed store Ivermectin is that it is not approved for use in dogs.



You are right.  The formula sold at the feed stores is not labeled for dogs, but there is a formula that is approved for dogs. 

  I'm sure that vets don't like being cut out of the equation, but I worked at a vet's office for several years and I can honestly tell you that I have seen the results of people giving the wrong dosage of ivermectin and it is not a pretty sight.

I personally think that another reason that many vets don't tell people just to use ivermectin from the feed store is that they don't want to be held responsible if someone OD's their dog on it.  ("Well you told me that it was safe and it killed my dog!")  From a veterinarian's point of view, you don't want clients telling people that YOU told them wrong and killed their dog (even if you told them right and they did it wrong).


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## funderburkjason

p&y finally said:


> I had one of my beagles treated about a year ago for heartworms. I specifically asked my vet about using ivermectin as a heartworm preventative and she said that its basically the same thing thats in Safeguard and that its definately the way to go since I have 6 dogs to treat. She could have just as well fed me the sales pitch on how I need to buy the high dollar Safeguard from her (VERY few vets like that around anymore!)
> The dosage she said to use is .027cc/ POUND, so for the 68# dog you would need 1.84cc.
> 
> My vet is Blueridge in Watkinsville Ga. and their # is 706 769 7205. Give them a call, there always very helpful over the phone too.



Ivermectin and safeguard are not the same thing. Ivermectin is the active ingredient in Ivomec which should only be given at 1/10 cc per ten pounds so a 68lb dog should only get .68cc. Now safeguard is the same thing as panacur that you can get from your vet which is used to treat hooks and rounds.


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## 5forfighting

p&y finally said:


> I had one of my beagles treated about a year ago for heartworms. I specifically asked my vet about using ivermectin as a heartworm preventative and she said that its basically the same thing thats in Safeguard and that its definately the way to go since I have 6 dogs to treat. She could have just as well fed me the sales pitch on how I need to buy the high dollar Safeguard from her (VERY few vets like that around anymore!)
> The dosage she said to use is .027cc/ POUND, so for the 68# dog you would need 1.84cc.
> 
> My vet is Blueridge in Watkinsville Ga. and their # is 706 769 7205. Give them a call, there always very helpful over the phone too.




.0272/CC is exactly the entire dosage that is in large dog Heartguard. This is safe for herding dogs, they are very sensitive to Ivermectin. FYI..... there is 10,000 MCG/CC of Ivermectin in Ivomec.


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## buckhunter3987

I just want to make sure I understand correct. The 1/10 cc per 10 lb ratio only works for the 1% ivomec.  I have seen different percentages of ivomec at the feed store, e.g. 1.25%, 1.65% etc. These would require a lower dosage correct? I just need to be sure I get the 1%.


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## MudDucker

deerslayer357 said:


> Ivermectin only kills the larvae, it does not kill the adult worms.



I don't know who told you this, but it is wrong.  Ivermectin will kill larvae and adult worms.  This is why you need to know if the dog has heartworms before you treat it, otherwise the adult larvae can break off and cause death.

If treatment is your goal, a larger dose is used.  I recommend that you use a vet for treatment.


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## dwills

MudDucker said:


> I don't know who told you this, but it is wrong.  Ivermectin will kill larvae and adult worms.  This is why you need to know if the dog has heartworms before you treat it, otherwise the adult larvae can break off and cause death.
> 
> If treatment is your goal, a larger dose is used.  I recommend that you use a vet for treatment.



I can vouch for deerslayer357, as he is receiving his HW information from someone who researches this very topic on a daily basis and is developing several of the pharmaceuticals that we use in the prevention and treatment of HWs. He is correct in his statement that ivermectin is microfilaricidal only, NOT adulticidal. Ivermectin is only effective agaist the L3 and L4 stages of dirofilaria larvae, up to 30-35 days post infection. There are several reasons that we run HW tests before beginning preventative treatment. 

1) To make sure that the dog doesn't have a prepatent infection. If the dog currently has adult worms living, the preventative treatment will not kill them. Therefore, the dog will subject to the cardiac muscle damage caused by the adult worms until their death (approximately 16 months).
2) If the dog is HW positive, it can pass it's L1 larvae even once prophylaxis is started. As stated earlier, ivermectin is only effective against L3 and L4, so it is not effective until the larvae has undergone its vital development inside the mosquito from L1 to L3. Because of this, it does not prevent the transmission of L1 from the HW positive dogs to other cats and dogs that may not be on prophylactic treatment.
3) To test for microfilaria before the administration of Diethylcarbamazine (DEC), or Filaribits, as prophylaxis. DEC is rarely used nowadays, and I think it may be off the market. If DEC is used in a dog that is microfilaria positive animal, it can have devastating effects.

Hope this helps!


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## fqueen1

I have to throw in my 2 cents.  I've had beagles still running strong at 12 and 14 yrs old. Ivomec pour on .1cc per 10 lbs on their back once a month along with safeguard horse paste 1cc per 10lbs orally once a month and they will live to be a nice old age. Just thought i might be able to simplify things a little.


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