You should have the dog tested for heartworms first because once you start treating, the test won't work anymore. Ivermectin will not kill adult heartworms, although there is some evidence that it makes them sterile (can't breed any more so your dog is not a pool for infection) and that it may shorten their lives, usually about 2 years if untreated. So if your dog has heartworms and you start treating him without testing first, you won’t be able to tell later if he needs treatment for adult heartworms. It won’t show up on the test anymore.

That said I'm going to give you the straight skinny on proper dosage for heartworm using ivermectin. This is typically a topic that just pisses the he** out of people who have been doing it wrong for years on end because they are so positive they've been doing it right. Well, if you've been dosing your dogs in higher amounts than what is listed below, you've been doing it wrong. Whether or not that has had any sort of negative effect on your animal may well be arguable, since tolerance for ivermectin is generally quite high amongst those animals that tolerate it well. Try to look at it as you are wasting money, rather than an accusation that you're risking your dogs' health. I will note, however, that the "safe" dosage for dogs (other than collies) is considered to be no more than 200 times the recommended dosage. Some of the dosing schemes mentioned here seem to go considerably higher than that.

Here are some conversion factors to remember:

1 cc = 1 ml
100 mcg = 0.1 mg (100 micrograms = one-tenth of a milligram)
10 mcg = 0.01 mg (10 micrograms = one-hundredth of a milligram)

1% ivermectin straight out of the bottle has 10 mg of ivermectin per ml. As someone pointed out, a 50 ml bottle of this runs around $27 at Jeffers Vet Supply. This needs to be cut drastically to get it down to an acceptable dosage for dogs.

0.27% ivermectin would have 2.7 mg (or 2700 mcg) of ivermectin per ml. This is swine wormer, and I suspect the reason it isn't used by breeders is that it actually costs more than the 1%. However, most of us couldn't use up an entire bottle of Ivomec 1% cattle wormer in the 2 year period before it expires, so it may very well be a false economy to stick with the cattle wormer if you're not going to be able to use it all up anyway. I just checked, and this is $45 for 200 ml at Jeffers Vet Supply. You’d still need to cut this, but not nearly as much as it is already about ¼ strength compared to the 1% ivermectin solutions. If it were available in a 50 ml size, that would be most excellent.

To the person giving 1/10 cc of the 0.27% Ivomec to a 24 pound dog – the dose for your dog would normally be about 0.025 of a cc of this solution, so you’re probably giving your dog about 4 times more than necessary, but not a harmful dose.

USING IVERMECTIN TO PROTECT AGAINST HEARTWORM IN DOGS

The correct dosage for dogs is 0.0015 mg to 0.003 mg per pound of body weight. That's 1.5 mcg to 3 mcg per pound of body weight.

The formula someone gave that says to add .3 cc of 1% ivermectin to 1 oz of propylene glycol, and then dose at 10 mcg per pound of body weight, is for FERRETS. NOT dogs. That dose is about 3 to 7 times too high for dogs. Not likely to be actually dangerous, but it's not the correct dosage.

If you are using the 1% ivermectin straight out of the bottle and giving your dog 1/10th of a cc (0.1 cc = 0.1 ml) per pound of body weight, you are dosing your dog at the rate of 1 mg per pound of body weight. That is FAR FAR over the recommended dose of no more than 0.003 mg per pound of body weight. Even if you're doing it at 1/10 cc per TEN lbs it's still way too much. I don’t THINK anyone is doing this with the 1% ivermectin, but some of the posts were a little unclear on this. Doing it THIS way – straight, uncut – with the 1% ivermectin would be far riskier than anything I personally would want to be involved with.

If you are cutting it at the rate of 1:9 with propylene glycol, you end up with 1 mg of ivermectin per ml (it is now a 0.1 % solution).

If you then give 1/10th of a cc per 10 lbs, which I think is what people were recommending, you are still dosing at 0.01 mg per pound of body weight, or 10 mcg per pound. 1/10 cc has 1/10 mg of ivermectin in it. So a 20 lb dog would get 2/10 cc, with 2/10 mg of ivermectin in it, which is 200 mcg of ivermectin when the suggested dose for this size dog is between 23 mcg and 60 mcg. This is essentially the same as the ferret dosage, roughly between 3.5 to 10 times higher than it needs to be. Probably not dangerous, but why waste the stuff? If you’re cutting it anyway, why not just cut it down to something more precisely manageable?

Here’s what I do:

½ ml of 1% Ivomec injectable cattle wormer added to 49.5 ml of propylene glycol. There was 5 mg of ivermectin in the ½ ml of 1% ivomec, now suspended in 50 ml of propylene glycol, for a concentration of 5 mg/ 50ml. This is 0.1 mg per ml, or 100 mcg per ml.

For those slightly less obsessed with precision than I, you could make this ½ ml of the 1% Ivomec added to 10 tsp of propylene glycol (3 T plus 1 tsp). Measure this using an accurate 1/4 c measure and take out 2 tsp. It works out roughly the same. If you try to do it with a tsp or T at a time, you keep adding errors with every spoonful - use the 1/4c measure and take out 2 tsp, it'll be closer. Plus it's easier.

Multiply the weight of your dog by 2. This gives you, in MICROGRAMS, how much medication to give your dog. If it’s a little less or a little more you are still within the safe zone of 1.15 to 3 mcg per pound of body weight. You can actually use any number between 1.15 and 3, I just picked 2 because it’s easy to do in your head. Heartguard uses 2.72 as their upper limit; notice that smaller dogs are getting more, sometimes significantly more, than 2.72 mcg per pound in the weight ranges that Heartguard uses. So yes there is room for slop.

Then divide that by 100 to determine how many cc’s of the above mixture to squirt into the lil’ pup’s mouth.

SO if your dog weighs 24 lbs:

24 x 2 = 48; divide by 100 = 0.48 cc

We can’t measure in hundredths of a cc, so just round to the nearest whole 1/10th of a cc. In this case, a 24 lb dog should get ½ cc of the above mixture. (rounding 0.48 up to 0.5, or ½ cc).

SO, weight of the dog in pounds x 2 / 100 = # of cc’s of this mixture to give the puppy to protect it from heartworm.

A 100 lb dog using this solution would get 2 cc of solution. (100 x 2 / 100 = 2). Anything between 1.2 cc to 3 cc would be safe for a dog this size (it’s weight x the amount in mcg per pound, so where there is a 2, any number from 1.15 to 3 – the dosage range for heartworm control – could have been used).

Make sense?

Using the 1:9 ration, the amount of ivermectin per cc is (from above) 1 mg, or 1000 mcg. So the calculation for the 1:9 ration (1 cc of 1% ivermectin added to 9 cc of propylene glycol) would be:

For 1:9 solution ONLY: weight in lbs x 3 / 1000 = cc’s to give, or, for example:

100 lb dog => RANGE of appropriate dosage would be
100 x 1.15 / 1000 = 0.115 cc MINIMUM to 100 x 3 / 1000 = 0.3 cc MAX
50 lb dog => RANGE of appropriate dosage would be
50 x 1.15 / 1000 = 0.057 cc MINIMUM to 50 x 3 / 1000 = 0.15 cc MAX
20 lb dog => RANGE of appropriate dosage would be
20 x 1.15 / 1000 = 0.023 cc MINIMUM to 20 x 3 / 1000 = 0.06 cc MAX

We can’t give less than 1/10 of a cc, so you can see how much harder it gets to dose your dog properly the smaller they get. If you have BIG dogs, it doesn’t matter much, you can get something that falls within the recommended treatment range; but if you have SMALL dogs, you end up routinely overdosing them. That’s why I favor the lower concentration solution. I’ve never had a dog over 40 lbs, and most of them were 25 lbs or less.

Again, as long as you cut it at least 1:9 and use the formula above (more accurate than 1/10 cc per 10 lbs), you’re probably (PROBABLY) not going to do any lasting damage to your (non-collie) dog, but if you’re cutting it anyway, and you have smaller dogs, why not cut it to something a bit more manageable?

Of course, you can skip all this mixing and stuff and go right to the .27% ivomec for swine. Then the calculations would be as follows:

Weight of your dog x 3 / 2700 = # of cc’s of 0.27% Ivomec.

In this case a 24 lb dog would get : 24x3=72, 72/2700 = 0.0267 cc. Since it’s awfully hard to get less than 1/10 cc, you’d probably go ahead and give the dog 1/10 cc. This is still "overdosing", but it’s about the same as what folks are doing with the 1:9 solution or the Ferret Mix. It’s no worse, not dangerously high for non-susceptible dogs, and skips all the mucking about with having to cut the solution (and find a source for propylene glycol).

So if you wanted to skip any mixing at all, you could give 0.27% (NOT 1%) ivomec as follows:

20 lbs – 100 lbs 1/10 cc (delivers 270 mcg of ivermectin)
100 lbs – 200 lbs 2/10 cc (delivers 540 mcg of ivermectin)

I can’t imagine a dog bigger than 200 lbs, but if there are any out there, you could give them 3/10 of a cc of the straight 0.27% Ivomec. That’d be a scary big dog indeed.

I wouldn’t do this with puppies – they’re more sensitive to overdose. In fact you should not be giving ivermectin in any form whatsoever to puppies under 6 weeks of age – it can cross the blood-brain barrier just like it does in collies until they’re older. 8 weeks would probably be safer. If you’re going to dose really small dogs (under 20 lbs) and puppies, cut the stuff and stick to the recommended dosages.

Here’s a reference for dosing information that includes gastrointestinal worming and skin parasites:

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/ivermectin-ivomec-heartgard/page1 .aspx#

Here’s a treatment schedule for demodectic mange that includes the use of ivermectin:

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/demodicosis-red-mange-in-dogs/page4.aspx

WHERE TO GET PROPYLENE GLYCOL: Beg a cup or so off of a large animal vet, or if you know someone who raises cattle, they probably have some. I've never been able to find it to buy in anything less than a gallon size. We're talking TEASPOONS here, for most of us who aren't breeders anyway. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ETHYLENE GLYCOL, IT IS POISONOUS AND WILL KILL KILL KILL YOUR DOG!

Do not attempt to mix with water as Ivermectin is NOT water soluble. It won't distribute evenly in water, stick with the propylene glycol.

A final note: Using my formula you end up with 49.5 ml of 1% ivomec left in the bottle, and 50 ml of heartworm preventative. My dog weighs 23 pounds; her dose should be between 0.3 cc and .5 cc. Assuming .5 cc, there are 100 doses in that 50 ml of solution. The solution should only be kept for 2 years, so basically I have to throw the rest of it out. Nevertheless, at under $28 for a bottle of 1% Ivomec, it's way WAY cheaper than buying the stuff at the vet - 2 years worth of heartworm pills from my vet for my dog cost something over $250. (It's like $12 a month). When I had 4 dogs, there was just no comparison - four dogs were running me over $50 a month.

In short, it might be nice to go in with a group of friends to buy and make up the stuff. Otherwise most of it will go to waste. Better yet, if you know someone who raises cattle, I'm sure they'd be willing to spot you a half ml or so.

Hope that all helps.

Sojourner

I'm very interested in your post. For dogs, I've been dosing at 0.1 cc of Ivermec per every 10 lbs for the past 20 years to protect against heartworm. Therefore, for a 50 lb dog, I'd give 0.5cc of the 1% Ivermec solution. This is far less than the therapeutic dose for roundworms.

However, my recent concern is that my dogs are NOT being adequately protected against round worm, because they have access to "sheep berries", and the dosage for heartworm is totally ineffective for roundworm infestations.

For my sheep, when I WAS giving them Ivomec, I was dosing at my large animal vet's recommendation of 1 cc per every 50lbs of sheep of 1% Ivomec. I was also cautioned that it is better to overdose, than underdose to prevent more rapid resistance to wormers.

I'm not saying that I'm right, and you are wrong....If I'm doing it wrong, I want to be educated, and to change my practices. I certainly don't want to give a subtherapeutic dose, and neither do I want to waste my money overdosing, especially if it means potential harm to my animals.

Please share your sources for your very specific dosage information.

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I really want to do the right thing, as do most people. It's hard to change habits and beliefs, when 9/10 people say one thing, even if that nine are wrong. However, if we are to change current beliefs and practices, then most of us need some verification and proof!

Best wishes, and PLEASE contradict me - I'm all about education.

The 1/10th cc per 10 lbs dose is what I have been told numerous times by the vets who treat my dogs. They also warned me to keep the rubber stopper in the bottle and keep the bottle in a dark place, because ivermectin deteriorates upon exposure to light and/or air.

To my knowledge, ivermectin isn't effective against roundworms.

Zensojourner -

The dosage told to me by my vets is one-tenth of a cc per TEN POUNDS of dog. In other words, a 50 lb dog would receive 1/2 cc. I have been using this dosage on my dogs for literally decades with no problems. I don't have herding breeds presently; I understand they can now be tested for susceptibility to ivermectin reaction.

Our vets ask if the dog is receiving ivermectin, and if they are and we still want to do a test for heartworm, there is a different test available that works.

I appreciate your formulation, but I don't know if there's much point in going to all that trouble to get the dose down, as the larger dose doesn't seem to be harmful to the vast majority of dogs. The dosage for demodectic mange given orally) is even higher than the HW dose, and it's given DAILY until the dog grows all its hair back - again, per instructions by my vet.

Also, given that I have been told to be sure to keep the rubber stopper in the bottle and use a syringe to draw it out, to minimize exposure of the med to air, I wonder if it's really such a great idea to open it all up and mix it, etc., from that aspect.

Again according to my vets, puppies don't need to be started on heartworm prevention until they're four months old due to the time it takes the larvae to develop past where they're susceptible to the med.

I think the best idea is for people to check with their vet about the dosage. Our 3 different vets over the last several decades were all very forthcoming about this; I suspect most vets would be, especially for clients with multiple dogs.

One dog, 23 pounds, would receive 2/10ths of a ml/2/10ths of a cc?

Five dogs at 45 pounds would get 1/2 a ml/cc of the solution?

One Dog at 65 pounds would get 6/10ths of a ml/cc?

One dog at 90 pounds would get 9/10ths of a ml/cc?

Is this too much? I'm dosing every seven days for three weeks or until every bit of hair grows back in.*sigh*

All I can tell you is this ~ A dog with Demodectic mange can receive .1 % of a cc per ten pounds of weight, daily.

If you look online for regimens Vets prescribe for dosage times, say once monthly, every week, bimonthy etc. when they treat a heart worm dog you'll find the how often of your question.

My dogs have Sarcoptic mange & are various weights as described above in my previous posts.

I give them Ivomec 1% every 3-4 days because their mange is so bad. It has not hurt them at all. One pup (7 months old now) literally has flourished since we began treating him April 24th.

We give the 50 pound pups a half a CC.

We give our Great Pyr (92 pounds) .8 of a CC. (I didn't want to give too much)

We will continue doing this until all their hair begins growing back in the areas where they have the mange.

I syringe it in to a tablespoon of left overs or Ramen Noodles. My dog (the pups & other dogs are my children's & my Husband's) won't eat the food unless I sprinkle it with cheese & real bacon bits.;-) She's too smart for that & knows there is meds in her food let alone the yucky taste of the Ivomec.

I hope this helps you.

Revolution is convenient but there are too many reports of dogs getting serious skin lesions from it for me to risk it.
This is an earlier post that addresses your question.

mrtlrtst5, I'm glad you have decided not to proceed without solid numbers! More than the danger of overdosing the dog on Ivermectin is the danger of the dead heartworms causing a heart attack. If you do get solid info and proceed on your own, be sure to keep the dog VERY QUIET, like in a kennel too small to even move around much (I know it sounds cruel). I don't remember how long the dog needs to be kept from running around. I did a lot of rescue work for many years, but I never did a heartworm treatment at home - just knew some other rescuers who did. There was only one vet out of the many associated with our group who would give info for doing it yourself, and even he did not condone it in all cases. It can really be dangerous.

There isn't much I won't take on myself as far as caring for my animals, but heartworm treatment is one thing that, personally, I shell out the $$ for the vet to do.

pam

Donna
Chinese Crested Breeder

Is this safe for pomeranians?

It is safe in HW prevention doses if your Poms do ok on other HW meds like Heartguard for dogs.
As far as dosage goes,if you refer to the original post by zensujourner it is covered in great detail. Read the section that refers to "this is what I do" .
If things are still not clear please post again.

Ivermectin (antiparasitic agent). While the dose of ivermectin used to prevent heartworm infection is SAFE in dogs with the mutation (6 micrograms per kilogram), higher doses, such as those used for treating mange (300-600 micrograms per kilogram) will cause neurological toxicity in dogs that are homozygous for the MDR1 mutation (mutant/mutant) and can cause toxicity in dogs that are heterozygous for the mutation (mutant/normal).

This agree's with the OP that .1 cc per 10# of 1% solution is about 10000 times to high for heartworm preventative.

1% has

100mg per ml
10mg per .1ml
10000 mcg per .1ml

So if you give your dog .1ml/cc of 1% solution you are giving
the dog 10,000 mcg, when the dose is 6mcg per 2.2lbs.

Here is a link to their smallest size which is 4oz https://fulluvscents.com/store/dipropyleneglycoldpglowodor4ozntwt-p-58 031.html

Personally, though I picked out the 16 oz size which is equal to roughly 475ml, and since there seems to be a little extra room in the bottle I figure I can just pour out 25ml and then empty the standard 50ml size of 1% ivermectin into it and thereby easily achieve the desired 1 to 9 ratio. This will of course give me way more than I need for one little 55 pound dog, but I've got lots of friends with dogs and if this experiment turns out to be a good idea I will just suggest it as a gift.

Hey, and in other "I don't like paying rediculous ammounts of money to keep my dog healthy" news, Frontline's patent on fiporil just expired and they apparently have a competitor called petarmor. While I can't find a place where I can actually buy it yet Sams had a price listed for the big dog version that was half of the going rate for Frontline ($34 for 6 mo worth vs. $66 with Frontline).

Ivomec is 1% ivermectin = 10 mg/ml = 10,000mcg/ml

1ml Ivomec + 19ml pg = 10,000mcg/20ml = 500mcg/ml

dog dose = 2 mcg/lb (acceptable range 1.5 - 3)

50lb = 100mcg = 0.20ml - (0.30ml max)

60lb = 120mcg = 0.24ml - (0.36ml max)

70lb = 140mcg = 0.28ml - (0.42ml max)

80lb = 160mcg = 0.32ml - (0.48ml max)

90lb = 180mcg = 0.36ml - (0.54ml max)

100lb = 200mcg = 0.40ml - (0.60ml max)

It appears that the treatment will eventually kill all the heartworms. Below is a link to a semi-technical article on the topic. Doxycycline treatment apparently helps eliminate heartworm because it kills an organism in the worm. Interesting.

*Follow your vet's instructions.*

I haven't had any problems getting my dogs to swallow the ivermectin. Pull up into syringe, take the needle off, open mouth and squirt in back of throat. Voila.

I'll repeat, I would greatly hesitate to get propylene glycol and dilute and mix ivermectin, since I've been told by several different vets over the years to use one-tenth of a cc (of the type I purchase) per ten pounds of dog, or 1 cc per 100 pounds. I would not want to end up diluting it to the point where it didn't work. Thirdly, the typical dose for treating demodectic mange is larger than 0.1 cc per 10 pounds of dog. I have not seen ANY side effects with dosing my dogs with the vet-recommended dose. She did caution me to keep the vial in a dark place and don't remove the rubber stopper, as the med deteriorates on exposure to light and air.

The BEST idea, if you have multiple dogs and the monthly pills are too expensive, is ASK YOUR VET.

Don't rely on the internet or even on us posters to accurately answer questions when it comes to medication ;-).

I thought I understood the directions and used a horse paste with our dogs last year.

One was blind the next morning from too much ivermectin because he must have licked it off the other one's mouth. They didn't like the apple paste, so I put some on their lips. Big mistake!

A rush to the vet to make sure he wouldn't need his stomach pumped. He recovered fine, but if I had just gone to the vet to get proper dosage and usage instructions we would have saved $, time, & worry.

I regret it forever because that same dog a few weeks later had a sudden illness and eventually showed a liver tumor. Could it be that he had the tumor that affected his response to the ivermectin or did the tumor grow as a result of the overdosage? He didn't eat and despite numerous vet visits we were unable to improve his rapidly declining condition. We put him down 3 weeks and nearly $1,000 later.

I will never use ivermectin on dogs again.

---> I am not a vet. This is from my own experience with my dogs.

Ivermectin paste for horses is usually 1.87% - NOT the same percentage of ivermectin in the more commonly-used liquid, which is 1%. That is the percentage upon which the 0.1 cc or 0.1 mL per 10 lbs dosing for dogs is based.

So it's possible that your dog got more than a double dose, which could indeed cause problems.

Herding breeds (Collies, Border Collies, Shelties, etc. and mixes of same) should not be given ivermectin unless they are tested for the genetic anomaly that makes them too sensitive (which is carried by around 25% of those breeds). Some vets, including mine, are being ultra-cautious now with ivermectin, and following the saying "White feet, don't treat."

I BEG AND PLEAD that a person gets info from a vet regarding dosing for ivermectin for their dog. I am hesitant to advise the mixing down because I have used the 0.1 cc per 10 lbs of body weight for literally decades with NO problems. Plus I was told by my vet that I did not have to keep it refrigerated, but keep it in the dark and keep the container closed, because light and air can cause it to deteriorate. That tells me it might not be a good idea to open the container and mix it to a lower percentage.

The dosing for demodectic mange that I was told by my vet is quite a bit higher than the HW prevention dose, given DAILY. So ivermectin in dogs has a pretty nice margin of safety. That is, if they get overdosed - as long as it isn't more than a double dose, and not to one of the sensitive breeds - they'll probably be okay. At any rate, the symptoms of a dangerous overdose would make a person rush their dog to the vet.

As to whether or not ivermectin causes cancer in dogs, I doubt it. Dogs are living longer. Cancer seems to be, very often, a disease of old age - repeated insults over time and/or cell system breakdown getting closer to end-of-life. There are a LOT of natural substances that can cause cancer, so I don't jump into the chemicals = bad camp. Ancient man developed cancer; some researchers are now saying they did so at around the same rate as modern man, adjusting for things like age and smoking. JMO.

I am unsure how ivermectin is metabolized in dogs, so can't tell you whether a liver cancer might have affected sensitivity to it. I tried to look it up, but the references I found are all pretty technical, and I'm also not a pharmacologist ;-).

Ivermectin is *supposed to be* one of the drugs that can be given to HW positive dogs without problem. In fact, a fair number of rescues are using the "slow-kill method" in dogs that are light HW positive. This involves a couple weeks of doxycycline, then ivermectin. Doxycycline helps kill the heartworms, or keeps them from reproducing, or something. I have a dog here being treated in that way.

The HW preventative that was dangerous to give to HW positive dogs was diethylcarbamazine, or DEC. That was given DAILY back in the 60s and 70s, before the newer drugs came on the scene. The belief persists, though, that HW-positive dogs can't take ANY of these meds, including ivermectin.

My questions are: (1) should I dilute the 1% with water/oil, and if so by how much? Or just use one drop or two straight from the bottle on some peanut butter? Or is there any other treatment for mange on boarder collies?

Thank you

Probably a dumb question: Can you do one of three types of applications of Ivermectin?
Orally, OR, on the back of the dog, OR, in the dog's ear (as you can do with cats)?

Does anyone know if the 5mg per ml is 1/2% per ML (.5%)

Thanks in advance

As for the person with the border collie i would have the dog checked for ivermectin intolerance before giving it ivermectin....

What i buy is .05% ivermectin a company called jr enterprises who has already diluted it down for dogs and cats and he gives you the dosages for dogs and cats based on their body weight too ... I have been using it for several years now as has my dad....jr enterprises has a web site and it costs $25 for a bottle that will last 5 , 35 pound dogs 2 years so very inexpensive ... I buy t this way now instead of buying the ivomec 1% solution and having to figure out the dose ... Because even with very small dogs he has given you a. Dosage .....also it is oral ...