A Fallacy… Heartgard Causes Dog Infertility

Posted on October 2nd, 2007 in News by heartgard

For non-dog lovers, raising a dog can be a daunting task. Imagine the effort and money you have to expend. Feeding, cleaning and most importantly housebreaking the dog would take a considerable chunk of a busy person’s time. Regular visit to a vet would mean a dent on the pocket. But for dog lovers, these are not insurmountable challenges. And these tasks are very rewarding. A dog lover would look forward to the many pleasurable hours with his pet.

Caring for a dog would mean more than the usual feeding and cleaning. The general welfare and safety of the pet should be ensured. The health of a pet is a responsibility that should be taken seriously by the owner. A pet’s death could be a traumatic experience for the owner and could make him shy away from caring for another pet.

Heartworm is a fatal disease that infests dogs. Heartgard is one of the most popular pet medicines to prevent canine heartworm diseases. It is an anthelminthic (dewormer) that eliminates heartworm larvae. One tablet of heartgard can be given monthly to a dog with a body weight of up to 25 pounds. The tablet is taken orally so it is advisable to have it crushed and mixed with dog food.

Heartgard has no known side effects if the recommended dosage is followed. The dog would have dilated pupils, a considerable body weight loss, manifest shaking or trembling movement if an over dosage is administered.

Some dog breeders though believe that heartgard causes dog infertility. There is a wide spread misconception that preventive medicines for heartworm also causes infertility. A breeder who has invested time and money would be greatly disappointed if no pups would result from his efforts. Dog infertility could result from many factors. The most common is the timing of breeding. This accounts for 80% of dog infertility. The time of ovulation was miscalculated. This can be corrected by closely monitoring the ovulation period of the female dog. Another reason for dog infertility is if the male dog is infertile. Bringing the male dog to a vet for testing will solve this problem. A bacterium that infects the dog could also cause infertility. Infertility can also be caused by heartworm infestation. There is no truth to the belief that heartgard or any other heartworm disease medicine could cause dog infertility.

The dog’s health should be a foremost consideration of a pet owner. The joys a person experience with his pet dog is priceless. After all a dog is man’s best friend.

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The Real Issue Behind Heartgard Recall

Posted on September 19th, 2007 in News by heartgard

Sometime in March 2007, pet manufacturers made a voluntary recall of their pet food products. The recall was prompted by the current issue on the increasing reported incidents of dogs and cats alike that developed kidney failure. Pet owners suspect that the cause of the condition might be coming from the affected pet products consumed by their pets.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the agency responsible on the manufacture and distribution of pet foods and animal drugs. The FDA immediately launched the pet food and drug recall to conduct a thorough investigation on what caused the outbreak. Many pet products were recalled from the market to prevent further animal injury and deaths. The investigation undertaken by the FDA lead to heartgard recall as the initial conduct of investigation commenced.

Heartgard recall was due to the effort of the FDA to recall all pet products, both animal foods and drugs in order to trace the villain that caused that kidney failure outbreak among dogs and cats. There was no exemption with the recall of products. All spectrums of ingredients underwent laboratory tests. The heartgard recall subjected heartgard product ingredients for laboratory tests and scrutiny as well.

The FDA investigation efforts were paid off when they finally tracked down the ingredients that caused kidney failures among dogs and cats. The culprit of the outbreak was identified as the substance wheat gluten that is extremely toxic to animals. After the heartgard recall, it was proven that heartgard products do not contain wheat gluten in their product ingredients. The advantage of the heartgard recall is that the laboratory studies conducted by the FDA strengthen the fact that heartgard does not contain toxic ingredients in their pet products.

Heartgard is an effective brand in treating heartworm disease among dogs as well as providing effective prevention in the development of hookworm among cats. From the generic ivermectin, it is available in chewable flavored tablets. An effective antihelminthic product used to deworm dogs, the brand remains unaffected with the issue regarding recalls of pet products that contain wheat gluten.

Heartgard continues to remain as the leading brand for pet products. It is an excellent pet product that was proven to provide quality care among pet dogs and cats without the fear of having intoxicating ingredients in its products such as wheat gluten. Proven after the heartgard recall, all heartgard products still remains to be safe and effective in animal supplements. With this premise in mind, all pet owners using heartgard products continue to groom their pets with confidence that they are using quality and safe heartgard products for their pets.

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Heartgard Recall Proves Insignificant Findings

Posted on September 17th, 2007 in News by heartgard

Heartgard is one of the popular brands in pet care and medicine. It has proven its efficient care for pet dogs against heartworm and intestinal worms such as hookworms and ringworms. Dogs and cats are susceptible to these conditions and one of the best preventive measures taken is the once a month administration of Heartgard products to your pet dogs and cats.

Recently, the alarming reports among pet owners about their pet cats and dogs suffering from kidney failure leads to the immediate recall of animal products and medicine from the market initiated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Included on this step taken by the FDA is the Heartgard recall. The Heartgard recall was actually done due to the investigation taken by the FDA in an effort to trace the cause of the outbreak among pet animals. Thorough laboratory tests and studies of the different ingredients contained in all pet products were conducted. No pet products were exempted in the conduct of the investigation thereby included Heartgard recall in the investigative procedure undertaken.

The FDA research later points out to wheat gluten as an ingredient which unquestionably affects the animal’s kidney resulting to their death. Furthermore, it was found out that Heartgard products are cleared from this substance.

The Heartgard recall proved that the Heartgard products are not harmful and provides safe treatments for pet dogs and cats. The Heartgard recall also proved that pet owners can reliably use and continue buying the said products with greater confidence this time because of the results of studies conducted by the FDA.

The insignificant findings of the FDA laboratory tests gives Heartgard products a better endorsement since the FDA, being the authority to register and regulate pet products, has cleared Heartgard from the hazards brought about by wheat gluten. After the Heartgard recall, it was proven that all its pet products can be safely use. It does not contain the dangerous ingredient of wheat gluten as shown from the FDA reports after the conduct of Heartgard recall.

Owners of dogs and cats can be well assured that Heartgard products are well regulated by the FDA and proven more to be effective and safe for their pets. The issue against Heartgard products after the recall confirmed no negative effects on its market. In fact, the Heartgard recall did better to prove the safety of use of these products and more pet owners trust their dog’s health to Heartgard products.

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