Heartgard Plus Chewables - Page 1

Is it true and proven that this once a month Heartgard will make our gsd to become STERILE? I have been using it to my gsd for the last 3 years now. That is why my female dogs never got pregnant and my male dogs seldom get our bitches pregnant also. Could these be the side effects of Heartgard? Please enlighten me on this matter friends. Thanks.

Interesting. Did you ask your Vet if that could be a side effect?

Well, I have been giving all of my dogs heartguard(the pill) for the past year ever since the shot by the vet became unavailable. I am taking my new pup to the vet next Saturday; I'll definitely ask him. I have never heard of this. My vet always asks me when he does a heartworm blood check are you using heartguard? I purchase it online and not from him. We have not bred any of our females yet, but we are planning on it in the near future. We just bought our male from Germany, and that is why we purchased him. We have not found the chewable until today online. Is this all Heartguard medicine or only the chewable? Rodd........

I have never heard of this. My dog has sired 8 litters in the past 2 years and has been taking Heartguard plus once a month during this time. I am sure this information would be well-known by now if it were true since this is a very popular product which has been in use for sometime.

Check out this link and decide. http://www.showdogsupersite.com/sdbvet1.html

I currently use the once-a-month Interceptor tablets, not the Heartguard Plus Chewable tablets. I have used these for several years and have not had any problems with canine reproduction. Each time that I purposely bred a bitch she became pregnant and produced a normal to large litter. I read the article at the website furnished by Laurel H, and did find the statements to be interesting. From what I obtained from the information, the problem does not seem to be the monthly dose of Heartguard (or other brand) itself, rather it is the immune system's reaction to the sudden large quantity of dead parasite carcasses that are in the bloodstream. The body must of course digest these foreign objects and remove them from itself. I understand everything that I read on that website, but have to ask myself how many times in the span of a month (or any time period) is a dog bitten by a mosquito and receives the heartworm larvae-thus becoming infected until the preventative can kill the larvae? I realize that for some dogs in certain geographical locations this could be an issue. Essentailly, the dog would have a continual infestation of heartworm larvae caused by repeated bites. Again, I seem to have no trouble with my use of Interceptor. I have used Heartguard in the past with no apparent issues. I use the Interceptor because it is available locally. Interesting topic for discussion. Bob-O