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Comment by Shog9 | Hacker News Reader

Dog heartworm pills are a MASSIVE rip-off. The active ingredient - ivermectin - can be purchased without prescription at any farm supply shop in sufficient quantity to last several dogs' lifetimes with plenty to spare. The maintenance dosage is miniscule.

Pet prescription meds are only slightly less of a scam than human prescription meds.

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I’m a retired DVM. What you say is true, but I just want to caution anyone reading this that ivermectin is deadly for collies and many herding breeds. Rule of thumb is “white feet, do not treat.”

Please don’t be offended, but I find this absolutely fascinating. Abstractly I know veterinary science is at least as complex as anything involving humans. But somehow I tend to dismiss just how much variability a veterinarian is expected to be able to account for.

please don't be offended but if you find yourself saying "please, don't be offended", LPT, you can generally reword what you are about to say so it's simply a compliment instead of containing the negative messsage.

You are impressed by how much variation a veterinarian must account for in a single species, and they handle multiple species.

Maybe he was about to write something else! Or word the same thing differently...

The “offended” would be “sometimes, I dismiss” – there's no way to re-word that to be less offensive (even though it isn't particularly offensive, I wouldn't think) without omitting it entirely.

I would imagine veterinary medicine is more complex than humans. Vets operate not just on different species, but on different different branches of the animal kingdom tree (reptiles, mammals, birds). But I guess maybe vets also specialize?

Thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware. Is this something I should flag to my vet? I have a herding breed dog but afaik the vet never did an ACB1 test. My dog has been taking the medicine for a long time though.

Good cautionary note, thanks. Yes, please, anyone looking to go this route should do their research first - I'm not kidding about the tiny doses required, they sell very dilute solutions for use in very large animals; a little dog potentially needs less than a drop!

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