PARASITE CONTROL

Ivermectin™ or Ivomec™ parasite wormers; calculated, converted dosage for canine hookworm, roundworms, tapeworms, and heartworm control.

IVERMECTIN PARASITE WORMER

Dosage Calculations and Personal Experience

by Breeder/Judge/Organic Chemist Fred Lanting

The main difficulty for people who want to dose their own dogs with Ivermectin to prevent or control heartworm and other parasites is that the dosage directions are:

1.  in milligrams per kilogram body weight (most people in the USA are not metric);

2.  for pigs or cows; or,

3.  in terms of vet-supplied Heartgard instead of over-the-counter Ivomec or generic.

But this is not really much of a problem. Customarily, breeders and multiple-dog families want to use the liquid ivermectin (usually 1%, and sold in 50-ml bottles), and for ease or convenience, administer orally via a 1-ml syringe (no needle – that is left in the rubber stopper of the bottle). Ivomec™ from the feed store or mail-order house saves a bundle of money, and the economics is almost algebraic when there are a few to several dogs in the household.

Calculating Ivomec/Ivermectin Worming Dose Per Pound:

Amounts recommended for cattle and pigs on the label and/or insert are difficult for most dog owners to extrapolate, and because of the secrecy in the vet profession (who want to sell the high-priced, high-profit version themselves and rake in an office-visit fee in addition), neither they nor the manufacturers will tell dog people what the effectual canine doses are, or package it in a concentration suitable for dogs, which are far lower in weight than swine.

Lengthy and convoluted “instructions” abound on websites, but usually require sensitive chemical scales or volumetric means, to mix it with propylene glycol carrier/diluent according to their directions.

1% ivermectin straight out of the Ivomec bottle has 10 mg of ivermectin per ml, or 1mg for a tenth of a cc/ml. (a cubic centimeter is the same, for all practical purposes, as a milliliter). For a 75-lb dog, 0.0015 x 75 = 0.11 mg; and 0.003 x 75= 0.23 mg. Average these and get 0.17mg for that size dog.

A 50 ml bottle of 1% solution will probably be priced somewhere around $50, so shop around. I do not offer this information as a professional or as a prescription, as one must be a licensed veterinarian to do that legally. This is just for general information.

Neither am I going to go to the bother of mixing my sterile ivermectin with propylene glycol and transferring to different containers. Not when, for decades, I have had great success and safety with the dosages I’ve used. A “maintenance” level of one-tenth ml every month or six weeks for my adult German Shepherds may contain considerably more Ivermectin than the makers of Heartgard recommend, but it still is both safe and effective, in my experience. Only if we have a very bad “tick summer” will I increase the amount one or two times during the season.

Ivermectin Wormer Safety:

Ivermectin has a very broad “margin of error” or safety margin, which means that very large doses can be and are used without bad effects, except in certain bloodlines of Shelties, Collies, and a few other breeds and crosses who have inherited a certain susceptibility to bad reactions. In fact, for some diseases, what we would consider enormous amounts are given on a daily basis.

Copyright © 1998 TheDogPlace.org 2001-2021   1109 https://www.thedogplace.org/Parasites/ivermectin-wormer.asp

SSI

SSI

Advertising ~ Disclaimer ~ Mission ~ Privacy