[Mike E]

I have a question. I’ve used heartgard for my pups for the last few years and have been reading up on Iverhart, Tri-heart plus etc and they all seem to get great reviews but I noticed that Walmart came out with PetTrust + 4 years back as their generic and wondered if anyone had any experience with it? I tried my best to find Iverheart or Tri-heart+ in town but no one carries ANYTHING but interceptor or Heartgard…well except for walmart’s PetTrust +…. has this one been broken down and seen whether it’s viable?? I’ve got two dogs instead of one dog and the heartgard seems like such an insane ripoff considering it’s nothing but ivermectin and pyrantel…. if the pettrust+ is crap or what not I can get the iverhart max or Tri-heart+ from online, but I just wanted to get local if I could.

any advice?

[anonymously]

There are some on-line pharmacies out of the country that may let you purchase heartworm meds without a prescription (laws differ). They not only charge a lot, but it is not recommended to by on-line meds as there is a lot of counterfeit stuff out there, you can’t be sure how it has been stored, expiration dates etc,
If anything goes wrong because of the med, the company will have no liability because you did not purchase it from a veterinarian.
The annual Heartworm Disease/Lyme Disease/Ehrlichiosis/Anaplasmosis test is important, I would not recommend skipping it.

per the search engine here:
/forums/search/heartworm+meds/

PS: I would listen to what your veterinarian recommends.

[Mike E]

I wasn’t asking about online pharmacies out of the country. I was asking about the PetTrust plus which is sold via sams club and walmart. your average heart worm med is nothing but Ivermectin and Pyrantel mixed (something I could do myself if I wanted) so I was just asking if the generic Pet trust + had a good rep like Iverheart and Tri-heart did. However, I found out one of the vaccine and neuter/spay clinics near my place uses Tri-heart as the one they sell and it’s just about as cheap as the Pet trust plus, and the Tri-heart has a great track record so I’ll be going today to get his heartworm test + years supply of pills

[anonymously]

The cheapest solution isn’t always the best. My point was that it is best to go by the dog’s primary veterinarian’s recommendations and buy from the clinic that they are affiliated with. That has been my experience.
You are talking about pesticides, the veterinarian that has examined the dog and is familiar with the dog’s history could make the best recommendation for your specific pet (imo).

[Mike E]

yeahhhhh, sorry but most vets know JACK about the meds they sell or the foods they prescribe. worked as a tech for years and can tell you this with 100% certainty (hell, we talk about it all the time with the crap they try and upsell with food like Science Diet *shudder). Heartgard is a name brand for a dog chew with a certain mcg dose of ivermectin and a certain dose of pyrantel injected inside. That’s like saying ONLY buy advil if your dr. says he likes that one vs. Costco Ibuprofen. if a medication has the EXACT amounts of ivermectin and pyrantel then it will work fine. You can literally measure the mcg’s and mg’s of Iver and Pyrantel and do as good as heartworm with 100% certainty. Iverheart has been scientifically proven to be the equivalent as Heartgard, and the same with Tri-heart…. I hadn’t heard of Pet trust plus so I asked about it. I bought my Tri-heart from Costco for years because when asked, my vet said verbatim “it’s the same thing as heartgard, just a generic, most ivermectin based pills virtually identical”, and told me to buy wherever I found them the cheapest.

again, this dialog is about the Pet Trust plus brand and it’s efficacy, not anything else. hell, if I had quick access to a local feed store that I didn’t have to drive 40 minutes away from, I’d just pick up the ivermectin myself along with some Pyrantel and do the dosing as I did growing up with our other dogs (country boy through and through)

(even though it’s kind of moot, I’m heading to the vet at our local low cost vaccine/spay/neuter clinic where he will get his normally yearly test and exam + the Tri-heart, which again is highly regarded as one of the best Iver/Pyr generics out there. My costco recently stopped selling Tri-heart a year back so I had to get Heartgard for a bloated name brand price for last year and wasn’t able to find another place that sold the Tri-heart locally. I didn’t want to buy online but instead from a licensed pharmacy or vet clinic and I was having a heart time locating one that sold Tri-heart or iverheart plus so I was asking about Pet Trust Plus which can be bought from Walmart/Sam’s club pharmacies)

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Mike E.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Mike E.

[anonymously]

Sounds like the vaccination clinics offered at Petco, they do the heartworm test and sell you the pills, however, you do not pay for an examination by a veterinarian, even though the blood draw may be taken by a vet.
They have a loophole regarding liability if anything goes wrong.

Best of luck.

[Mike E]

correct. The heartgard warranty is actually a PITA to to deal with (had to see people TRY and get merick to cover them for years when I was a tech, maybe 10% of them actually succeeded) so I have no problem with that. Heartworm is a VERY rare thing in my part of the country, I only do that because of the pyrantel included for de-worming tactics. Honestly, My dogs have gone to ACTUAL vets maybe 2-3 times over the last 10 years TOTAL. Otherwise they go to the low cost vaccine clinics for spaying/neutering and their every 3 year vaccinations (well, besides the puppy vacs) or else do it myself from the feed store (when I was close to one). I was raised country and even though I make sure my dogs get their meds and get their yearly fecal and blood tests done it’s almost NEVER by a vet who wants to charge $70 for an exam plus 50% more for the tests than what I can get at the low cost clinic down the road who has been great to us. Hell, even my vet doesn’t care. we took him in for his initial “brand new puppy” exam and our vet recommended that we use them instead of him for shots and heartworm stuff. His exact words were that since they don’t really make more than a few bucks off of the injections and almost ZERO money of of heartworm meds it was cheaper to go that route and just bring them in when they get sick and need a real vet’s care.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Mike E.

[InkedMarie]

I personally would not buy heartworm preventives at Walmart or the like. I’m very careful with my dogs (no over vaccinating, mostly raw fed etc), I buy most of my stuff online (would love to buy local but just too costly) but heartworm meds are something I will always buy at the vets.

[jakes mom]

I get HW meds through Drs. Foster & Smith pharmacy. I just get the RX from my vet and send it in. I wouldn’t trust just any online pharmacy but feel comfortable with them. Have used them for several pet meds over the years including heart disease meds, and thyroid meds. Better prices than the vet, plus he doesn’t carry the meds I use for heartworm now.

[Janice W]

I don’t know if any of you belong to Sam’s Club but when I was in Sam’s today picking up an Rx for me I saw that they have carry Nexgard, Heartgard, Heartgard Plus and also Tri-Heart Plus. The Pharmacist told me that I could either bring in an Rx, or have my Vet, fax or call in a Rx for my dog Boris.

[anonymous]

Yes, but, you may find that your vet will have you sign a waiver, in other words, you did not purchase the meds from his veterinary clinic therefore he is not responsible blah, blah, blah.
It’s a standard form.

[Mike E]

my dr. has never done that. he just writes me a script for whatever medication my pet needs and says “fill it wherever you want”

[Bobby dog]

I have never seen or been asked to fill out a waiver regarding my Vet’s responsibility either. My Vet has always forwarded any Rx to the pharmacy of my choice if I choose not to have it filled at their office or if they do not carry the drug. However, they have discussed that they will only forward an Rx to a pharmacy they approve of and trust. That goes for my large animal Vet as well. Their biggest concern is counterfeit drugs; I am fine with that.

[Author]

Posts