My dog is sick from heartworm meds. Should I keep giving them?

Question

My 14 yr old black lab is undergoing heart worm treatment. He has been taking doxycycline and prednisone for 5 days. Early this morning he started vomitting and had diarrhea. He will drink water and has not vomitted for about 2 hours now. We have left several messages for our vet with no response. Should we continue administering the medication? Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 87 lbs

Dr. Leigh, DVM · Accepted Answer

Both doxycycline and prednisone can cause vomiting and diarrhea. I am not sure of the dose that your dog is on but maybe your vet could adjust the dose so he has less gastrointestinal problems. Feeding the medication with a meal can sometimes help with the gastrointestinal side effects so make sure to give with food. Your vet could also prescribe an anti-vomiting medication, probiotic, and GI protectant which may help, too. At this point, If he is just going to vomit the medication than it doesn't make sense to give it. You should wait and see if your vet can prescribe additional medications to help with the vomiting and diarrhea. If the vomiting and diarrhea has stopped, you could try to give one medication at a time with food and see how he does.

My dog is sick from heartworm meds. Should I keep giving them?

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