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Which Prednisone Dose For Heartworm Treatment?
Dear Editor,
I am a veterinarian in upstate New York. We don’t normally treat many heartworm positive dogs, but my associate and I are treating a patient with heartworm disease. In the article Principles of Treatment: Canine Heartworm Disease (March/April 2015), Table 2 gives the prednisone dosing for day 60 and day 91 as Q 12 H the first week, Q 8 H the second week, and then EOD the third and fourth weeks, while the text gives the dosing as Q 12 H the first week, Q 24 H the second week, and then EOD the third and fourth weeks. Can you confirm which is correct?
—Heather Highbrown, DVM
Hamilton Animal Hospital, Hamilton, New York
Editor Responds
Dear Dr. Highbrown,
Thank you for contacting us with this question. The text in the article is correct: Dosing of prednisone on days 60 and 91 is: 0.5 mg/kg PO Q 12 H the first week, 0.5 mg/kg PO Q 24 H the second week, and 0.5 mg/kg PO EOD for the third and fourth weeks. We’ve corrected this table in both the digital edition of this issue and in the article on our website.
—Lesley King, MVB, Diplomate ACVECC & ACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine)
Editor in Chief