I've had many animals in my life. From the tiniest reptile, thru rodents, birds, all my wonderful dogs and cats, and one horse. Loosing them thru illness or old age is a part of life. We grieve their loss. We understand that what happened was a natural event. But to loose a companion or to watch them bemome ill because we allowed them to be injected with an unsafe drug is devastating. The guilt we suffer is unbelievable.

Fate brought Holly into my family. In December of '97, I was a single mom. I'd bought my first house in the spring of '95 and had moved in with my son, Thomas, and our 3 cats-Keel, Motley, and Shannon. Thomas had his 6th birthday party a couple of weeks before Xmas of '97. Somehow, in all the commotion, our cat Motley got out of the house. Though I distributed over 250 flyers and searched the neighborhood, we never did find our little girl. She was 12 and arthritic. My search for her is what brought me to our local shelter. I'd hoped maybe they had picked her up. The day after Xmas, I decided to go there again. To look once again for Motley, and also to look at the dogs.

So many eyes beseeching me to 'take me home!'. So many wagging tails. There were some who just sat there, too sad to wag. A little beagle caught my eye, tho I hadn't been looking for a particular size or breed. She acted as tho she knew me! Her paper-work said she was a year old, born on Xmas day of '96 & that she was already named Holly. Her family had surrendered her because she had peed on their rug! I was dumb-founded. The shelter workers all thought Holly was my dog because of her happy reaction to me. I was so honored that Holly had chosen me to be her mom! My son was so thrilled with his first dog. They bonded instantly. With a little patience, Holly shortly became completely house-broken. She even learned not to chase our 2 cats-not TOO much anyway!! The summer of '98 brought me to a new job. Assistant manager in a nearby pet store/zoo. There, I met my next companion. A little 4 month old white boxer. We 'connected' the very second we met and her name, Rocksie came instantly. However, at the time, I couldn't afford to spend $899 to bring her home. Two months later, with tears in my eyes, I myself had to sell her to a very nice family. A week later, they brought her back in. She was so happy to see me and I thought they'd just come in for a follow-up booster. They wanted to return her because, shy as she was, she wouldn't play with their 2 year old daughter. When the owner refused to refund her, she gladly handed her over to me! That day, Holly got herself a sister to play with! Not long after that, we lost our elderly cat Keel. I brought our Manx cat, Mystique home from the store the day after Xmas. Shannon once again had a playmate.

Holly and Rocksie had a great life together. Always healthy, they had many walks along our beautiful lake. We made trips to a nearby cranberry bog which had 3000 acres of trails to explore. The only thing that slowed Holly down was a broken leg in the winter of 2000. She'd dug out of the yard to go hunting and had a run-in with a pick-up truck. Silly girl even got out once with the cast on! What a sight she was hopping along on 3 legs, ears flapping. Thankfully, I found her 2 blocks away. Needless to say, I purchased an electric fence to keep her safely in our yard. Eventually, we added 2 more cats to our family. I rescued Max on a scorching hot summer day in '01. He'd been hit by a car and left for dead by the side of the road. I syringe fed him back to health. His jaw had been broken. He was hospitalized for several days before coming home. Spring of '02 brought a tiny new kitten, Arnold into our loves. Now he is a HUGE bengal kitty! November of '02, I was married. Our family seemed complete. Holly and Rocks were always up to date on vet checks and protected year round from heartworms with Heartguard chew-tabs. They tested negative every year. The only time Rocks was ill was a bout with pancreatitis in June of '03. She recovered fully and gained all her weight back.

October of '03, I took Holly in for her booster and lymes shots. The vet tech told me there was a new, convenient way to protect my dogs from heartworms. Proheart6. I asked if a 6 month injection was safe. 'Yes, of course!'. So Holly had her first PH6 injection that day. I brought Rocks in Nov of 03, specifically to get her injection of PH6. A few weeks later, Rocksie had a 48 hour bout with vomiting. She didn't become dehydrated and recovered. Please note that from 7-98 to 8-01 (when I became disabled) I'd worked in the pet store. I'd become the 'Head of Meds'. So I had experience with dehydration. I set up the IVs when the pups and kittens needed them. My job was to keep the pups and kittens as healthy as I could. I gave all the boosters, did the worming, dipping, administered antibiotics, nasa-guard, etc. I basically did everything a vet-tech or even a vet would do. There, I had experience with seizures. Two 'drop-off' pups had come in covered in ticks. I dipped them and managed to remove all the ticks. However, both developed lymes disease. One survived with slight paralysis to his rear legs. The other died after seizuring for several days. I'd also had my own 15 yr old dog who had epilepsy during the last 5 years of her life.

But the seizures I was soon to witness in my two beloved dogs were nothing like any others I'd witnessed! Shortly after Rocksie's upset belly, Holly had a petite mal seizure. She started by salivating and chomping her teeth. Her eyes were glazed. She tried to come to me but her legs were stiff and she couldn't seem to get her back legs to function. Her front legs waved as she ended up going side-ways until her rear legs gave out and she plunked to the floor. I calmed her. She recovered after about 20 minutes. I wish to this day I'd connected Rock's vomiting to Holly's seizure... I called the vet and was told to 'moniter' her for any more seizures. She has never again had one to this day. She and Rocks both had their 2nd PH6 shot on 5-03-04. On 5-27-04, 3 weeks post (2nd PH6) injection, Rocks had two grand mal seizures, one in the morning and one in the evening. I was again told to 'moniter' for further seizures. I found it very odd that both dogs would suddenly develope epilepsy at the same time. On 7-30-04, 12 weeks post (2nd PH6) injection, Rocks began to seizure again.

This time, she would never come out of it. On 7-31-04, I had to have my brave girl euthanized. You can read her complete story in the memorial section of this site. Holly lost her sister. Her buddy. I then lost my 15 year old cat, Shannon, just 2 months after Rocks. I took Holly for her 3rd PH6 shot on 11-04. That's when I was told it had been taken off the market.

"Is that what killed Rocksie?" 'NO!!' is what I was told! Several weeks later, I learned of all the dogs who have suffered and died because of PH6. And of all the survivors, like Holly. Holly still mourns for her playmate.

Holly gained 5lbs because she doesn't have her buddy to run around our yard with. I stepped up her walking regimen to get her back into shape. You see, she is 8 but a beagles life gives her many more years with us. So I plan to keep her healthy.

I plan to NEVER again allow the poison that is PH6 be injected into my baby. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

CHERYL

On April 4, 2004 I took Chloe to the vet to get her heartworm pills.
We were a little late so she had to be retested for heartworms and I was advised that I should try the 6 month injection for heartworms.
I was advised that it was "as safe if not safer than traditional heartworm pills" and that the vets office would call and tell me when it was time to come back in for her next shot.
Since they did not tell me that there were any possible side effects, I decided to try it. Big mistake.

Chloe got her shot about 5:00 pm and by 7:00 pm, my husband and I were rushing her to a pet emergency clinic. Her face, chest and front legs started to swell grossly and she developed huge welts/hives all over her body. By the time we got to the emergency clinic, her eyes were swollen shut and she looked like a Shar Pei! By the way, Chloe is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so there is no resemblance at all under normal circumstances. They gave her a shot of cortisone and benadryl and made us sit there for an hour or two to make certain that the swelling was going down. It actually took approximately a week for the swelling to completely go away.

The other thing we noticed is that during that period, the puppy in her seemed to go away and we weren't sure if it was just timing or due to the shot. We got our answer several months later. On September 16th, 2004 I took her back to our original vet in Ft. Lauderdale because she had a lump on her neck and we were afraid she had a dermoid.

It turned out to be an abscess which started as a small hard lump and grew from almost one side of her neck to the other almost overnight and had to be surgically removed and she had 4 drains in her neck. By the time she recovered from the surgery the next day, the puppy was back!

The culture did show that it was an injection site abscess and Proheart 6 was the only injection she had there.
It is now March 12, 2005 and Chloe seems to be doing great!
The only signs of Proheart 6 are a huge scar from the surgery and she still has a small rash running over her back, but otherwise she is healthy and happy.
I hope we are safe to say, she is a survivor!

We are so happy to hear that Proheart 6 is off the market and I hope Proheart 12 never makes it on the market.

Cathy

Ruger has had a very tough life. It started the day he was born in my living room and his mom was having trouble having him.

I was working at a vet at the time and had to help her deliver because she had already had nine pups and was to tired.

When he was 8 weeks old playing with a friends pup... he got a hematoma on his ear and at 1 year old, I found out after alot of unknown cuts that were always showing up on him, that he has a rare skin disorder "Fragile Skin Syndrome". He has thin skin, it is paper thin and cuts on everything from crusty snow to branches or even when a bug bites him, he itches until it's a grapefruit size hole.

Ruger has had more than 150 Major to Minor surgeries and he is so brave! They don't have the regular nerves in the skin a dog with normal skin has so he will lay on the floor and let me staple him and clean his wounds when he is hurt. He is a real trooper!

Ruger is now 8 years old and he really did not need seizures in his life. He has had seizures since a month after his first Proheart 6 injection. We almost lost him after the third seizure, it was just horrible! That is when they put him on phenobarb and he still has a small seizure about every 6 months. The poor guy, my Mom always said he is lucky to have me, but I'm lucky to have him!

When Ruger was a pup and he was going to go to his new home, I had a bad feeling and told the young couple that I decided to keep him. He has been my baby ever since and I will be here with him until the end.

I hope the end is years down the road and not from a seizure, but of old age. I call him my 'old buck.' He is great and I love him. There is hope for Survivors!! Ruger is one to the core!!

Colleen