Table 1.
Practitioner questionnaire and results
| Survey questions | Individual responses | Average | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C | D | |||
| (a) Estimate the percentage of dogs diagnosed with HWI that receive slow/soft-kill therapy in this practice under your care. | 10% | 75% | 60% | 70% | 53.75% | |
| (b) When discussing protocols for heartworm treatment with clients, which adulticide method do you usually begin your discussion with? | Macrocyclic lactone | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Melarsomine | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| (c) Why do clients choose “slow-kill”? Please indicate the relative importance of each factor. | Owner’s convenience | 0% | 35% | 7% | 14% | |
| Arsenical concern | 0% | 10% | 6% | 2.33% | ||
| Advanced patient age | 0% | 20% | 10% | 4% | ||
| Concurrent life-threatening disease | 0% | 20% | 2% | 1.33% | ||
| Cost concerns | 100% | 60% | 75% | 78.33% | ||