My pregnant dog has heartworms. Can I continue her herbal treatment?

There are several medications used in the treatment of heartworms. The "slow kill" method (which is not recommended) involves monthly heartworm preventative. This will be safe for pregnant dogs. The recommended "fast kill" method usually involves the use of heartworm preventative, doxycycline, prednisone, and injections of melarsomine. Other than the preventative, all 3 medications can cause abortion or congenital defects in pregnant dogs. If you have not had her examined by a vet, I would recommend doing so as soon as possible. Depending on how far along she could be, ultrasound or x-rays may be used to diagnose pregnancy. If she is pregnant, then heartworm treatment should be placed on hold until the puppies are weaned. You can't judge pregnancy based on how a dog's belly looks. An enlarged belly could be fluid building up from heart or liver failure caused by damage from the heartworms.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! HeartGard would be my recommendation. It is approved for use in breeding females, females that are pregnant, or nursing. A yearly heartworm test from Lucy's veterinarian is typically needed in order to receive heartworm prevention. I hope this helps!

This product has not been tested for safety in pregnant dogs. That said, a quick search of individual ingredients reveals that licorice root and nettle root should not be given to pregnant dogs and echinacea should be used with caution in pregnant/nursing dogs. Since these are in the ingredient list and to be safe, you should not give this product to Vienna until she has whelped and the litter has been weaned.

Yes, it is safe to deworm a dog during pregnancy. Fenbendazole is a good wormer that is absolutely safe to use to reduce the worm burden. There are other wormers you can use as well. Make sure you read the instructions, they should also tell you whether a particular wormer is safe to use in a pregnant dog.

Frontline and Revolution are safe for use in pregnant dogs. If you're already using a heartworm preventative with ivermectin, please continue to do so as it is safe for both the mom and pups and will help prevent her from passing parasites to the pups. And if they is due for vaccinations, getting them while she is pregnant will boost her and the pups immunity to disease. For tapeworms, Drontal is safe to use during all life stages, including pregnancy.

Praziquantel ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=35693 ) is the best medication available to treat tapeworms, which resemble grains of rice. It is considered safe for pregnant and nursing dogs, and is a category B drug during pregnancy according to the FDA (basically that animal studies have not demonstrated a risk to the fetus). It should be perfectly fine to give Lilu this medication. Since tapeworms are transmitted by eating either tapeworm infected fleas or rodents, be sure that Lilu is receiving a high quality flea preventative regularly. Frontline (while not always my favorite flea preventative) is safe for use in pregnant dogs. I hope that all goes well!

Just make sure that you wear gloves and/or wash your hands if you clean up any of your dogs feces. If your puppy has an accident in the house make sure you thoroughly clean the area. It might be a good idea to confine her to an area that is easy to clean until you know she is negative for parasites. Take a fecal sample to your vet after she is finished treatment to make sure she is negative for parasites