Heartworm Advice/Input

[fairymum]

We adopted an Australian Shepherd mix last June who was HW+. We preloaded him with antibiotics and HW preventative for about 60 days. He had the set of injections followed by crate rest in September. We will retest next month to see if he's clear and I am super nervous about it! Our guy is about a year and a half and I'm hoping he sticks around for a good long while. He's a keeper!

 

[tzolkin]

Can you please explain how to go about the "slow treatment." I really don't have much time. The local animal shelter told us she 72 hours.

"Slow treatment" just means giving the dog the regular monthly heartworm preventative pills you would give. It does not kill the adult worms, but I think it prevents them from reproducing. The problem with this treatment is that you're just waiting for the adult worms to die off naturally, so they are continuing to do damage over the many months (to possibly years) that they live.

It is not the recommended treatment, but it is used by some shelters and pet owners who can't afford the normal "fast-kill" treatment.

You should have any dogs you own on heartworm preventative anyway, so you shouldn't be worried about your other dog becoming infected. If your other dog is not taking heartworm preventative, you should have him or her tested by your vet to see if s/he is already infected.

 

[PlutoPony]

Trying to adopt this chihuahua mix, but we were told by the vet that she might have had this heartworm for at least 6 months and he also said the heartworms had already started multiplying. We were also told that the cost of treatment is pretty expensive. How much did the whole treatment cost

We didn't pay for the treatment, the rescue organization did. But asked our vet what it would cost for them to do it and it was around $2k for the most expensive option. We do live in a high cost area though. The big expense is the med to kill the heart worms - ivermectin.

Btw, a year+ after treatment ours is doing well. The chest X-rays after treatment did show some permanent lung scaring but you can't tell it from his behavior. We walk him regularly and let him run for part of the walk, no problems. Maybe as he ages we'll see more of an issue but he's probably 6 now and seems fine. Good luck to you!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I wrote this before I read any of the other replies. But since reading, I see there are lots of ?s and concerns with something as serious as this.

Dogs seem to do a lot better than humans do with medical issues. They generally recover pretty well. Now recovery may not happen overnight, but given time, dogs generally do pretty well after an event. (Naturally, there are exceptions.) The issue with the heartworms is that they put strain on the heart and lungs. They invade the heart and, essentially, blood can't flow through the chambers and the heart and lungs (because a big amount of blood comes from the lungs directly to the heart to deliver oxygenated blood) become strained. Sometimes the heart enlarges when it's strained, and pressures can increase in the lungs when they're strained, etc. In "strongly positive" cases, the worms can actually be in the top part of the lungs as well, which severely blocks flow in both the heart and the lungs. It is really gross to see worms in a heart, and so sad to think it could be prevented relatively simply, when people CARE enough to get heartworm pills for their dogs. But anyway, killing off all those worms is a difficult process. That's why the dog has to be confined during that time. If the dog gets past that time ok, without complications, they generally do pretty well, especially over time. I would expect a young dog to do pretty well over the long term despite heartworm treatment. Maybe not excellent, but pretty well. Obviously you're going to have ANY dog begin a program that starts with a little and take steps to do more over time. It might be even more so, especially early on, with a dog whose system has been through such an insult. So you wouldn't want to do a three mile walk soon after treatment, obviously. But when she's free to start walking, you do a little bit and gradually increase, as your vet recommends. My guess would be that years from now, given regular walks, she'll build up to be a really great walker and companion. Ah, I now see the updates.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This shows worms in both the heart and lungs

A real one. This dog obviously died of his disease, sadly

This would be a less-severe case

How it starts, after an infected mosquito bite

How preventative works

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Problem is we have another dog, and my wife is worried that comes summer, with mosquitoes active, we might be endangering our dog with a heartworm positive dog.

Dogs don't get hearworm from other dogs, they get it from an infected mosquito. As long as your other dog is on HW preventative, he or she should be fine. (Where we live we have to give it year round.)

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/heartworms-in-dogs-facts-and-myths

There are other types of worms that dogs can get from other dogs and infected spaces, but not HW.

 

[tzolkin]

Dogs don't get hearworm from other dogs, they get it from an infected mosquito. As long as your other dog is on HW preventative, he or she should be fine. (Where we live we have to give it year round.)

It seems to me that new poster (who resurrected this old thread) knows that they are transmitted via mosquitoes since he mentioned "when summer comes and mosquitoes are active." That's why I became concerned about their current dog not being on HW preventative. (I'm assuming-- otherwise why would he be worried about him/her becoming infected?)

And, I always appreciate your educational posts

Can you please explain how to go about the "slow treatment." I really don't have much time. The local animal shelter told us she 72 hours.

I know you didn't ask for this advice, so feel free to completely disregard, but I would not adopt a dog with an unknown history from a shelter (especially one with health problems that you don't think you can afford to treat). Especially when they are pulling the "she only has hours left to live" card, but not willing to provide you with the medical information you need to make an informed decision.

I would recommend supporting a rescue organization. They will make sure their dogs are in good health and most will have lived in a foster home for a period of time (many places I know of wait a minimum of a month before offering the dogs for adoption) so they can give you more information about personality/behaviors and will work with you to ensure you find the dog that will be the right fit for your family.

 

[PlutoPony]

Our last rescue was initially picked up as a stray and went to the county animal shelter (Outer Banks of NC). From there the rescue took him in, as they are in regular contact with shelters in their service area and know when a lab comes in. The shelter itself did an intake vet evaluation which I got a copy of when we adopted. The rescue organization also had their vets check him and I have the paperwork from that exam as well. The shelter SHOULD have a vet form you can look at. If they don't, I'd be concerned about the shelter.

Actually, now that I think about it our other rescue lab was an owner give up to a county shelter in a different state (DE). We also have his vet intake form. So at least in the mid Atlantic area I think it's common to have that kind of info available.

 

[tzolkin]

Our last rescue was initially picked up as a stray and went to the county animal shelter (Outer Banks of NC). From there the rescue took him in, as they are in regular contact with shelters in their service area and know when a lab comes in. The shelter itself did an intake vet evaluation which I got a copy of when we adopted. The rescue organization also had their vets check him and I have the paperwork from that exam as well. The shelter SHOULD have a vet form you can look at. If they don't, I'd be concerned about the shelter.

Actually, now that I think about it our other rescue lab was an owner give up to a county shelter in a different state (DE). We also have his vet intake form. So at least in the mid Atlantic area I think it's common to have that kind of info available.

The poster mentioned "the vet said" that the dog had heartworms for a while, so I'm assuming there was some sort of intake vet visit/records that the shelter has. I was meaning more that the shelter should help to provide general medical information about heartworms, treatment options, approximate cost, possible side effects (including death) etc. so potential adopters would have some understanding of what they were taking on. Giving no info and just saying "decide quick if you want her or we're going to put her to sleep" does not seem in the best interest of either the family or the dog.